All About Pocket Knives

Good find Mike.

I am going to place this one here, but not entirely sure if it is produced by Schrade as there were several companies who produced knives for Sears/Craftsman over the years. But here it is.

It is a Craftsman 3-3/8" two blade equal end Jack Knife, pattern number 9522. It has a Clip & a pen blade. The Clip blade has blade etch with the word "Craftsman" with the long tail "C" that underlines the entire word. Below this it has "Forged Steel" with the pattern number "9522" to the right. There are no tang stamps on the blades, and no shield on the handles. With this pattern number I date this knife around 1948. I will give the reasons below. According to the 1948 Sears Summer Catalog the 9522 2 blade Jack Knife has Vanadium Steel blades, brass liners, plastic imitation staged handles, and Nickel plated bolsters. The blades have good snap with no wobble. They have the original luster, with the blade etch visible, but do have age spots. The handles do have some shrinkage but are tight and no cracks.

Now for the dating. In the early 1940"s in the Sears Catalog, a 9522 Pattern Jack Knife was listed, but the blade etch at that time was "Craftsman over Sta-Sharp". Around 1947 which is the next Sears Catalog I had access to, The blade etch changed to the "Craftsman Forged Steel." In 1948 Sears also introduced another two blade equal end jack, the same dimensions as the 9522 but it was pattern 9466. The difference was that the listing for the blades was High Carbon Steel, handles were listed as simulated bone stag. No mention of plastic. In 1949 there was no pattern 9522 listed and none listed in the catalogs afterwards. So it seems the 9466 replaced the 9522. This is why I date this one around 1948.

Just for information purposes, the pattern number was re-used by Sears for Craftsman in the 1965 and 1966 Sears Catalog as the 9522 3 blade Old Timer, which was only 2-3/4 inch, was a three blade serpentine stockman style knife, a totally different knife design.

But here is mine

I think your Forged Steel 9522 could have been made by Ulster.
kj

Papa Bones wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 2:45 am I am going to place this one here, but not entirely sure if it is produced by Schrade as there were several companies who produced knives for Sears/Craftsman over the years.

Just for information purposes, the pattern number was re-used by Sears for Craftsman in the 1965 and 1966 Sears Catalog as the 9522 3 blade Old Timer, which was only 2-3/4 inch, was a three blade serpentine stockman style knife, a totally different knife design.

Smitty,thanks for including the info from your research. It makes it more interesting of a knife .
Roland mentioned Ulster , it does look and seem the dates would support that
Where did you find the Sears catalogs. Need to do some research on my pile of Craftsman and your info seems better than what I’ve been able find .
Thanks for posting this and the info.

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 4:53 am I think your Forged Steel 9522 could have been made by Ulster.
kj

Appreciate your input! I was kind of leaning towards Ulster myself.

Ripster wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 11:48 am
Smitty,thanks for including the info from your research. It makes it more interesting of a knife .
Roland mentioned Ulster , it does look and seem the dates would support that
Where did you find the Sears catalogs. Need to do some research on my pile of Craftsman and your info seems better than what I’ve been able find .
Thanks for posting this and the info.

Appreciate it JP. I was kind of thinking it might be Ulster.

There is a site that has many years of Sears Catalogs with most of the pages. I will include a link below. It is a useful tool for Looking up Sears or Craftsman items. It kind of works on the eyes a little. But it usually has all pages of the Catalogs and if you can find the page with the index listings, then you can find the page number with knives or pocket knives listed. Most of the later catalogs posted, the pages listed for the site do coincide with the pages of the catalog. But some of the earlier catalogs will be a page off or so. The site lists the catalogs by year and when they came out. such as 1960 Spring Summer, or Christmas Wish Book. It also has a few Montgomery Ward Catalogs.

Here is a link to the site https://christmas.musetechnical.com/

Papa Bones wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:10 pm

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 4:53 am I think your Forged Steel 9522 could have been made by Ulster.
kj

Appreciate your input! I was kind of leaning towards Ulster myself.

Ripster wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 11:48 am
Smitty,thanks for including the info from your research. It makes it more interesting of a knife .
Roland mentioned Ulster , it does look and seem the dates would support that
Where did you find the Sears catalogs. Need to do some research on my pile of Craftsman and your info seems better than what I’ve been able find .
Thanks for posting this and the info.

Appreciate it JP. I was kind of thinking it might be Ulster.

There is a site that has many years of Sears Catalogs with most of the pages. I will include a link below. It is a useful tool for Looking up Sears or Craftsman items. It kind of works on the eyes a little. But it usually has all pages of the Catalogs and if you can find the page with the index listings, then you can find the page number with knives or pocket knives listed. Most of the later catalogs posted, the pages listed for the site do coincide with the pages of the catalog. But some of the earlier catalogs will be a page off or so. The site lists the catalogs by year and when they came out. such as 1960 Spring Summer, or Christmas Wish Book. It also has a few Montgomery Ward Catalogs.

Here is a link to the site https://christmas.musetechnical.com/

Thanks Smitty
Will check it out .Just fished a Shrade Craftsman Cadillac knife yesterday and am having a hard time finding this one . It’s got a Caddy shield, with Caddy and Craftsman etched main , not sure of tang stamp yet , it’s in the mail .
Stay dry down there my friend

Ripster wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:15 pm
Thanks Smitty
Will check it out .Just fished a Shrade Craftsman Cadillac knife yesterday and am having a hard time finding this one . It’s got a Caddy shield, with Caddy and Craftsman etched main , not sure of tang stamp yet , it’s in the mail .
Stay dry down there my friend

Hey JP. I've not got one in my collection, but I've seen a few at shows and seen that knife popup from time to time on auction sites. It was not produced as a Craftsman knife, but rather by Schrade to commemorate either Craftsman who built Cadillac automobiles, or the Craftsmanship of the Car. They are usually a 708B pattern number, with a shield that looks like the Cadillac Automotive emblem and were a SFO through Schrade. The only thing I have not found out yet is if it was given as an anniversary gift or safety gift to workers at one of the Cadillac plants, if it was at some time a promotional given when you test drove or bought a Cadillac, or just as a commemorative of the Cadillac Craftsman who built the cars? There was also an all metal handle pen knife with "Cadillac Craftsman" on it. I believe Jerry has one.

Papa Bones wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:29 pm

Ripster wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:15 pm
Thanks Smitty
Will check it out .Just fished a Shrade Craftsman Cadillac knife yesterday and am having a hard time finding this one . It’s got a Caddy shield, with Caddy and Craftsman etched main , not sure of tang stamp yet , it’s in the mail .
Stay dry down there my friend

Hey JP. I've not got one in my collection, but I've seen a few at shows and seen that knife popup from time to time on auction sites. It was not produced as a Craftsman knife, but rather by Schrade to commemorate either Craftsman who built Cadillac automobiles, or the Craftsmanship of the Car. They are usually a 708B pattern number, with a shield that looks like the Cadillac Automotive emblem and were a SFO through Schrade. The only thing I have not found out yet is if it was given as an anniversary gift or safety gift to workers at one of the Cadillac plants, if it was at some time a promotional given when you test drove or bought a Cadillac, or just as a commemorative of the Cadillac Craftsman who built the cars?

Hey Thanks ,now that makes Sense!
Going to give it to a friend who has bought a couple of Resto Caddy’s from our Car shop ! He maybe able to tell us more from the Cadillac end of it . He’s the Go to here in the Valley on Anything Caddy .
When it gets here and I’ve had a chance to talk to Rick , and go thru his Caddy literature, will post anything that we find out .
Thanks for pointing this ol Soldier in the Right direction

Ripster wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:38 pm
Hey Thanks ,now that makes Sense!
Going to give it to a friend who has bought a couple of Resto Caddy’s from our Car shop ! He maybe able to tell us more from the Cadillac end of it . He’s the Go to here in the Valley on Anything Caddy .
When it gets here and I’ve had a chance to talk to Rick , and go thru his Caddy literature, will post anything that we find out .
Thanks for pointing this ol Soldier in the Right direction

That would be great JP. I have also heard that they may have been given out to possibly dealers or Workers at certain Seminars,or technical update training. You might ask him if he has heard of Cadillac giving out knives for these reasons. This must have been done for years. I have seen them with Schrade Walden tang stamps and also with just the Schrade U.S.A. tang stamps.

The Sears catalogs are very helpful but what you will discover is how frequently the Craftsman knives changed their pattern numbers. There were at least 4 major catalogs per year and you can often see the 'same' knife with 2 or 3 pattern numbers, each having had a minor change, maybe blade position, or blade finish different, etc.
It soon gets confusing and then on to mind boggling.
And, Expensive ! Some catalogs can sell for over $100 and 4 per year for about 100 ? years.
If anyone ever was able to get all the knife pages from all the Sears catalogs and assemble them in chronological order, that would be an incredible resource for the Craftsman collector. You would be able to date a Craftsman knife sometimes down to the exact year and month.
Then if you had catalogs from Schrade Cut Co, Schrade Walden, Schrade, Camillus and Ulster Knife Co and Ulster Knife (no "Co." = after 1941),
you could try to match patterns of same age range and see who made which Craftsman knife.
O.K., JP and Bones, you can work on this and become The Authority on Craftsman knives. There are at least 10,000 different Craftsman folding knives so it is not too narrow a focus.
Good Luck.
kj

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:25 pm The Sears catalogs are very helpful but what you will discover is how frequently the Craftsman knives changed their pattern numbers. There were at least 4 major catalogs per year and you can often see the 'same' knife with 2 or 3 pattern numbers, each having had a minor change, maybe blade position, or blade finish different, etc.
It soon gets confusing and then on to mind boggling.
And, Expensive ! Some catalogs can sell for over $100 and 4 per year for about 100 ? years.
If anyone ever was able to get all the knife pages from all the Sears catalogs and assemble them in chronological order, that would be an incredible resource for the Craftsman collector. You would be able to date a Craftsman knife sometimes down to the exact year and month.
Then if you had catalogs from Schrade Cut Co, Schrade Walden, Schrade, Camillus and Ulster Knife Co and Ulster Knife (no "Co." = after 1941),
you could try to match patterns of same age range and see who made which Craftsman knife.
O.K., JP and Bones, you can work on this and become The Authority on Craftsman knives. There are at least 10,000 different Craftsman folding knives so it is not too narrow a focus.
Good Luck.
kj

Roland didn’t realize there are that many catalogs per year. But it makes sense, they where a huge mail order outfit at the time,and there catalogs had so much stuff. And the numbers you mention,Craftsman is a hard one to get sorted out,and the catalogs are a huge help.

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:25 pm The Sears catalogs are very helpful but what you will discover is how frequently the Craftsman knives changed their pattern numbers. There were at least 4 major catalogs per year and you can often see the 'same' knife with 2 or 3 pattern numbers, each having had a minor change, maybe blade position, or blade finish different, etc.
It soon gets confusing and then on to mind boggling.
And, Expensive ! Some catalogs can sell for over $100 and 4 per year for about 100 ? years.
If anyone ever was able to get all the knife pages from all the Sears catalogs and assemble them in chronological order, that would be an incredible resource for the Craftsman collector. You would be able to date a Craftsman knife sometimes down to the exact year and month.
Then if you had catalogs from Schrade Cut Co, Schrade Walden, Schrade, Camillus and Ulster Knife Co and Ulster Knife (no "Co." = after 1941),
you could try to match patterns of same age range and see who made which Craftsman knife.
O.K., JP and Bones, you can work on this and become The Authority on Craftsman knives. There are at least 10,000 different Craftsman folding knives so it is not too narrow a focus.
Good Luck.
kj

Plus during some years with four different catalogs posted, only one catalog might post a few of the knives available through Sears, but not all of them. So although a good reference, there will still be gaps of what was offered by pattern number for certain years.

I added this one to my Craftsman and EDC family today. A Craftsman 9481 3-7/8" Trapper with the Craftsman Crown Shield. It is basically a Schrade 285UH. The blades are tight, but have patina and spotting. The Clip blade has moderate snap, not weak but not strong, and the secondary spey blade has great snap. It will made a good EDC Craftsman.

A 285UH would have stainless steel blades. Your Craftsman has the patina of a carbon steel. It is more like a 94OT, 3 7/8".
kj

Couple nice additions Smitty! Very nice!

Papa Bones wrote: ↑Sun Mar 28, 2021 2:28 am I added this one to my Craftsman and EDC family today. A Craftsman 9481 3-7/8" Trapper with the Craftsman Crown Shield. It is basically a Schrade 285UH. The blades are tight, but have patina and spotting. The Clip blade has moderate snap, not weak but not strong, and the secondary spey blade has great snap. It will made a good EDC Craftsman.

VERY nice find!!
The one I just found did clean up pretty nicely.
It looks so much like an Uncle Henry, that I put it in my early Uncle Henry display.

Mike all UH knives are Schrade+ stainless steel. The Craftsman Trapper has carbon steel blades same as most of the Old Timers. However the Delrin handles on the Craftsman do have a UH-like look to them.
kj

Thanks for the info Roland!
I never thought about the UH line being all stainless. INTERESTING!!
Here is my Craftsman amongst all it's Schrade-Walden cousins.

Added this to my Craftsman and Pony Jack Family today. A Craftsman 9518. A 2-7/8 inch closed Pony Jack.It does not have a tang stamp, but has the Craftsman Blade Etch with the Long Tailed "C" that underlines the word Craftsman, with the model number to the right. This one still has part of the Blade etch, and the blades have great snap and positive half stops. The blades do have scratches and spots, but do retain some of their original luster. It has the brown imitation stag plastic handles as Sears listed them, and has a easy open cutout.

From what I've researched, The First 9518 in this configuration appeared in the Sears Catalogs around 1948. The early years just listed them as a Pen Knife or Vest Pocket Knife. It wasn't until 1957 That Sears listed it as a Pony Jack Knife. Also the early catalogs listed it as having Chrome Vanadium Steel Blades, then in 1954 Sears started listing them as having High Carbon Steel Blades. The 9518 Pen Knife or Pony Jack was listed from 1948 until 1958. In 1959 it was replaced with the 9507 Pony Jack, which was basically the same knife but probably by a different manufacturer.

Here are some pictures of mine.

Interesting knife Smitty. I have not seen handles with the reddish color on Craftsman knives before. Is the pivot pin proud on the mark side ? Looks to be protruding above the bolster in the picture.
Some of the smaller Craftsman folding knives were made by Ulster but i cannot tell an Ulster from a Schrade from a Camillus.
kj

Papa Bones wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 1:08 am Added this to my Craftsman and Pony Jack Family today. A Craftsman 9518. A 2-7/8 inch closed Pony Jack.It does not have a tang stamp, but has the Craftsman Blade Etch with the Long Tailed "C" that underlines the word Craftsman, with the model number to the right. This one still has part of the Blade etch, and the blades have great snap and positive half stops. The blades do have scratches and spots, but do retain some of their original luster. It has the brown imitation stag plastic handles as Sears listed them, and has a easy open cutout.

From what I've researched, The First 9518 in this configuration appeared in the Sears Catalogs around 1948. The early years just listed them as a Pen Knife or Vest Pocket Knife. It wasn't until 1957 That Sears listed it as a Pony Jack Knife. Also the early catalogs listed it as having Chrome Vanadium Steel Blades, then in 1954 Sears started listing them as having High Carbon Steel Blades. The 9518 Pen Knife or Pony Jack was listed from 1948 until 1958. In 1959 it was replaced with the 9507 Pony Jack, which was basically the same knife but probably by a different manufacturer.

Cool find Smitty! Like how that one looks! Looks a bit different than most pony jacks.
Not that I don't like how the other ones look.

Nice find Smitty!

You have found some great history of this Craftsman knife. I always enjoy the history part just about as much as I enjoy seeing a knife.

Way to go!

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:16 am Interesting knife Smitty. I have not seen handles with the reddish color on Craftsman knives before. Is the pivot pin proud on the mark side ? Looks to be protruding above the bolster in the picture.
Some of the smaller Craftsman folding knives were made by Ulster but i cannot tell an Ulster from a Schrade from a Camillus.
kj

Yes it does. It is almost like they didn't finish polishing it down. As you can see from the pile side, the pin is flush. There is no excessive tightness or while looking at the blade tangs and inside the well any deformation of any of the liners or bolsters. No blade looseness or spread of the frame to indicate a broken pin. From my experience, usually if you find a bolster pin proud, there will be some other indicators present. I don't know, could have just been a quality issue.

Meridian_Mike wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 11:25 am Nice find Smitty!

You have found some great history of this Craftsman knife. I always enjoy the history part just about as much as I enjoy seeing a knife.

Way to go!

Thanks Mike. I am the same way!

I have seen both Schrade Walden 8813 square bolstered stockman and 861 round bolstered stockman with the Craftsman 9514 number. Does anyone know the years the different models were used as the Craftsman 9514? Anyone have Sears catalogs from the 1960s to possibly check this out? Thanks, Jeff