All About Pocket Knives

I hope that I am not hijacking the thread; I did not go back and see how it started. Here are two variants. The 4-pin 7OT was released in very small numbers, starting (I think) with this one. They very soon went to 3 pin and the 7OT was dwarfed in numbers by the LB7s. Here are a couple more:

Nice show there Cal! Dale that Is great info and new to me. Thanks for sharing that. Mike I’m going to shoot some pics and post later on tonight. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of these great knives posted and learning more about them and the history. As a side note I remember being told how Schrade ramped up production of these knives so quickly some of the production/assembly space they moved into still had red shag carpeting on the floor that they did not even bother pulling up. That must of been a sight to see.
Jay

This is going to fun!
I think I have 3 - 7OT variations and maybe a couple of the LB7 variations. I can't wait to see more of these guys!

Cal... those are some REAL BEAUTIES you have there!
That birds-eye maple version is a KILLER!!

I wanted to show this one for a reason. First of all it is micarta, not Delrin and therefore not a common creature for Schrade. It is part of the American Express SFO series, all in micarta. There is another unusual attribute to these knives in that series. If one has several examples in one pattern (and I am thinking of 3 different Thomas Jefferson folding hunters, in my own experience) I have noticed two different little signatures on the "scrimshaw" art on ONE pattern, and looking at some of the other patterns in the series which I have, I saw a third signature. But the art is 'almost' identical on two knives of the SAME pattern. So, what is going on? Are these actual scrimshaws instead of hot stamps? Maybe Eric has a thought?

Here is the picture I took this afternoon of the 5 inch LB type blades.

I listed the variations of blades I have that fit this frame.
I will post it for you and try to come back and answer any questions I can later on this evening.

Hope this is helpful

That is a cool knife Cal. Those are the kind of details I enjoy hearing about. Hope nobody minds me posting these two but I wanted to show them off and maybe get some input. The one is customized by David Yellowhorse. This collaboration may have paved the way a bit for the D’Holders that followed. And of course Herman is Herman. They are part of my uncle henry collection for me they are an interesting and appropriate part of the story.

The famous athletes and entertainers that go by one name are numerous but Herman is one name pretty renowned in knife circles.

Someone had mentioned earlier that blades for the scrimshaw LB7 are listed in the catalog as 507SC while the number actually stamped on the knife is SC507. It bothered me when I saw that because I thought I remembered this blade.
The two blades in this picture are the SC507 which is what we are used to seeing stamped on the tang of a scrimshaw series LB7 the other blade is the one that we never seem to see, the 507SC. I thought I remembered this blade, but when I looked before I couldn't find it, this time I found the blade. I don't know when this 507SC was manufactured.

Here is a Heritage blade that I overlooked in the first picture, compared to an LB7 blade.

By way of explanation: you will notice there is a little tip at the very point of the blade. This indicates the blade is a new blade that has not been installed in a knife and sharpened. That little extra material at the end of the tip acts as a heatsink when sharpening the blade. In the first picture I posted many of the blades were used and did not have that. The use blades, especially the LB8 blades are very difficult to find unused.

Very good info Dale. I have a Heritage blade after heat treat before grinding. It is at my work so I will look for it tomorrow. Very interesting stuff. As you know the drop point lb7 is a little tricky to find. I was lucky enough to find a blade blank for these. Here they are.

This is a pattern you don't see much, 9OT Golden Claw. I don't have any blades for it, apart from the limited edition blades, I have plenty of those.

Dale maybe you can help confirm something for me. This is heavy piece of metal. It came from Schrade. It was explained to me that the assemblers used it as a gauge to make sure parts fit correctly. I’m guessing the rosewood handles?? But not sure. PS that old timer with the gut hook is way cool. Never seen one.

I agree, that looks like a jig that is used for checking a handle for the correct dimensions.

I have never seen one of those before, but it makes sense that you would double check the size of a handle blank, especially in a fast pace manufacturing environment. Way cool!

Thanks Dale. Looking forward to posting some more tomorrow.

JAMESC41001 wrote:Dale maybe you can help confirm something for me. This is heavy piece of metal. It came from Schrade. It was explained to me that the assemblers used it as a gauge to make sure parts fit correctly. I’m guessing the rosewood handles?? But not sure. 8F7C9567-E058-4911-ACCE-71B50CAD5B43.jpeg
PS that old timer with the gut hook is way cool. Never seen one.

Jay that's a bolster scale block. The integral brass scales were formed from powdered brass that was put into a mold and pressed and heated under pressure to forge it together. What you have there is the first step in making the mold. That piece has a scale formed to the mold dimension (slightly oversize for the knife). It's hardened, then pressed into soft steel to form the actual mold. The mold was then hardened and was ready for service. The reason your piece is so thick was so that it could withstand the pressure of pressing it into another piece of similar steel without cracking or worse exploding.

Eric

Thank you Eric, that's very interesting!
Is this the process of sintering, or at least sintered metal is used as a part of the process you describe?
As I understand it, Schrade (and other cutlery's like Camillus) used the powdered metal technology to make both bolsters and frames, as in this case.
It is my understanding correct, and if so when did Schrade and other cutlery's began using this technology extensively in their manufacturing processes?
Thank you.

Eric, thanks so much for clearing that up. Makes a lot of sense now that you explained it.
Here is an LB9. I my experience from collecting Uncle Henry Knives this is among the hardest to track down. I’ve seen way more LB4’s for example then these. If anyone has an LB9 please post it I would really like to see them. Also I have a North American hunting Club knife. This one came out of the factory during the auction. It has no serial number on the knife or filled in on the certificate. I think it may be from the custom shop.

JAMESC41001 wrote: If anyone has an LB9 please post it I would really like to see them.

My LB9 was made for the Rocky Mtn. Elk Foundation. I think it's the only one I've seen for sale.

Schrade also made a few factory stag handled LTD knives. I can't remember if I've seen another one of these.

I don't own the two on the bottom. But since we are looking at rare ones I thought I'd post them. Only ones I've seen, unfortunately. Obviously the wrong box for the Scrimshaw knife.

orvet wrote:Someone had mentioned earlier that blades for the scrimshaw LB7 are listed in the catalog as 507SC while the number actually stamped on the knife is SC507. It bothered me when I saw that because I thought I remembered this blade.
The two blades in this picture are the SC507 which is what we are used to seeing stamped on the tang of a scrimshaw series LB7 the other blade is the one that we never seem to see, the 507SC. I thought I remembered this blade, but when I looked before I couldn't find it, this time I found the blade. I don't know when this 507SC was manufactured...

Well, now I have seen one. Note to self.. Thanks Dale

tongueriver wrote:I wanted to show this one for a reason. First of all it is micarta, not Delrin and therefore not a common creature for Schrade. It is part of the American Express SFO series, all in micarta. There is another unusual attribute to these knives in that series. If one has several examples in one pattern (and I am thinking of 3 different Thomas Jefferson folding hunters, in my own experience) I have noticed two different little signatures on the "scrimshaw" art on ONE pattern, and looking at some of the other patterns in the series which I have, I saw a third signature. But the art is 'almost' identical on two knives of the SAME pattern. So, what is going on? Are these actual scrimshaws instead of hot stamps? Maybe Eric has a thought?SC 507 G.Washington.jpg

These Amex Presidents knives are real scrimshaw on micarta. The original artwork was not done by Frank Giorgianni. They were made in large quantities (6000 sets x 5 knives = 30000 knives). To get the 30000 done the scrimshanding was outsourced to a number of different artists hence the different signatures. Any knives that came back to Schrade with less-than-saleable scrims were touched-up before shipping by Frank Giorgianni.

Link with flyer & original artwork: http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/Ads/Amexs.pdf

More info including Tom Giorgianni's comment on his father's involvement: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/fiv ... et.397969/

Here's mine. Scrim signed "PS".

Cool examples folks! I love this pattern! Big canvas for embellishment. Keep the variations coming!

More real scrimshaw on yellow linen micarta. Harry Gant Commemorative:

Another "Harry Gant" HG7LTD:

Ducks Unlimited 2000. Blued carbon blade with gold Baron Technologies etch:

Great show guys. Keep them coming. Here are my 4 pin knives. #20111 and #M1215.
Also a craftsmen and Staglon LB7. The Staglon does not have a serial number. I believe the Dixieland land sets and the like that featured staglon on the LB7’s has their own serial #’s for the sets but I had heard there were some with standard LB7 serials and ones like this with no serials. I notice this one shares the same rounded, pertruding rocker pin as the craftsman version so I am wondering when the craftsman’s first appeared and whether the Dixieland sets shared this feature as well??

orvet wrote:When one considers all the variations on the LB7 such as; LB7, LB8, 6OT, 7OT and the Heritage versions together, it causes me to wonder whether the design teams ever talked to one another?

I will need to take some pictures, but I know there are at least 2 variations in the placement of the rocker pin in the lock bar, at least 2 sizes of locking lugs on the end of the lock bars. There are at least 2 different size pivot pin holes in the blades and there may be a couple locations for the pivot hole in the tang of the blade. I will have to double-check that.

Originally I had thought the parts between these different lockback knives, all built on the same frame, should be interchangeable. I found out that is not the case.
I will come back later with some pictures to show some of the differences between these patterns, and some are design changes.

JAMESC41001 wrote:...I notice this one shares the same rounded, pertruding rocker pin as the craftsman version so I am wondering when the craftsman’s first appeared and whether the Dixieland sets shared this feature as well?

As far as I can tell every staglon Bear Paw from 1978 until 2000 shared this feature. The raised, spun lockbar pin is on every LB8 I can find pictures of. The 4-pin Craftsman would be the same era as 4-pin LB7 so 1978 to 1980 or early 1981.

Here are three of the 1980 Dixie Collection knives. All have the raised pin.