Schrade questions

[coffeecup]

I went down to visit my little brother last night, and as usual we did a bit of knife swappin'. I came away with two Schrades I'm just not familiar with.

The first is an LB-7, nothing special; I've just never paid attention to them before. How do I go about figuring when it was made?

The second is marked
SCHRADE-WALDEN
N. Y. U. S. A.
one one side, and "147" on the other. Not in too bad condition, looks like it was used once. Leather-stack handle, leather sheath. Again, not one I've ever owned (actually, I can only think of a few fixed-blade Schrades I've owned).

Questions: was the handle originally lacquered or similar? (The handle appears to have some remaining lacquer; not sure when it was applied.) Does this date to before the name change, or was the S-W stamp brought back at some point? Stainless or has it just not had the chance to acquire patina?

Thanks,
Cc

[justold52]

Hello coffeecup;

I sure would like to see a photo of these knifes.

One thing I do know is on the LB7 is it 4 or 3 pined?

I was told the 4 pins are older.

[coffeecup]

I'll try to get some pics posted Monday PM when I get home. As best I recall, the LB-7 has three pins. In that case, I'm just wanting to be sure it isn't something unusual before I think too hard on it and replace the blade with a drop point.

[Chase]

Schrade made an LB7 Drop Point- LB7DP

I have a couple............just no pictures I could find! I think someone posted them here on this site not too long ago.
I'll see if I can find them!

Tom

[relodr36]

The second is marked
SCHRADE-WALDEN
N. Y. U. S. A.
one one side, and "147" on the other. Not in too bad condition, looks like it was used once. Leather-stack handle, leather sheath. Again, not one I've ever owned (actually, I can only think of a few fixed-blade Schrades I've owned).

Questions: was the handle originally lacquered or similar? (The handle appears to have some remaining lacquer; not sure when it was applied.) Does this date to before the name change, or was the S-W stamp brought back at some point? Stainless or has it just not had the chance to acquire patina?

Thanks,
Cc

Coffeecup,
The 147 I had did not appear to have a lacquered handle but it had been used a good bit.
Mine was marked Schrade-Walden,but apparently the pattern was carried over from the Walden knife company.

From my copious notes of the old Schrade forum:
" Walden 147 leather handle
Walden 147 plastic handle

The leather handle knives (147L?) were popular in their day, before the advent of the plastic handles in the '60's-'70's. They harken back to the early Geo. Schrade Knife Co. days pre WWII. The 147 was one blade pattern of a series that included the 137 and several more. I only have a 137L "Wonda-Edge", as I have learned it is called with serrations. If I am not mistaken, the 147 et al was the blade pattern series used for the '49ers series available in both leather (497L) and Staglon (497S). The series included the 491, 497, 498, and 499. I seem to remember reading that these were "gold rush" commemoratives, and that they came in a box marked "Benchmade" with a squared sheath embossed with the "'49ers" emblem. I have a 498S of this series."
Some more trivia:
"I have a 137 from the same series as the 147, I think, but mine has the leather washer handle and black, white spacers. The '49ers used the same staglon design handles, also offered in leather, and the thin brass guards as well, though they had flat butt plates in place of the classic pommel.

The blade on the 147 reminds me of the sword grind and slight upsweep of the 165OT, though the bottom of the tang is shaped differently. It has proven to me to be the ideal hunter blade shape with an excellent blend of sweep to the cutting edge and thick, stiff spine."



Ron

[coffeecup]

Oh cruminilickers! I got sidetracked with the garden and forgot to post pics! Sorry about that, I'll go find a camera and get on it.

[coffeecup]

OK, let's see if I can figure this out. Sorry for the lousy pics and glare off the blade, I was forced to use a digital camera instead of my preferred scanner (am changing computers here at the House of Chaos, and all is, well, you know. . . ).

First up, a shot of the knife and sheath:

147 and sheath.jpg (56.03 KiB) Viewed 2853 times

In this one you can sort of see what I suspect may be lacquer, along the edge side of the handle. Yes, I wiped the fingerprint off the blade.

Possibly a better shot of the lacquer:

lacquer.jpg (42.78 KiB) Viewed 2853 times

Schrade-Walden stamp:

s-w.jpg (30.81 KiB) Viewed 2852 times

Does this provide any useful clue as to vintage or steel? (Carbon steel or stainless?)

Number stamp:

147.jpg (38.03 KiB) Viewed 2853 times

Just "147" not "147L," which makes me wonder if it was a re-introduction of some kind. The knife was purchase several years before the factory went under, so at least it is USA-manufactured.

Ron, is your 147 similar to this one? I've seen pictures of that squared-off 49ers sheath, and it looks much safer than the one I have. I may make one like that for one of my hunting knives and see how it works out. I"m not sure who you're quoting there, but we sure have differences in our preferences for blade shapes--I'm not a fan of upswept blades for working on game. To each his own, and less competition for the ones we each like!

Now for the LB-7. Side shot (as you can see, it has 3 pins):

LB7 side.jpg (24.56 KiB) Viewed 2853 times

And a tang stamp:

LB7.jpg (38.94 KiB) Viewed 2852 times

Again, any idea of vintage? And what is "Schrade +" steel? 440C?

Thanks!
(And thanks again to Philco's daughter, Sarah, for her tutorial!)

[relodr36]

I don't have the 147 anymore,traded it for 2 new 34OT's,but it appears to be similar.
Mine didn't show any trace of lacquer on the leather.Mine also had a lot of patina on the blade,which led me to believe it was carbon steel.
Ron

[coffeecup]

Time to clear off my desk, and I took another look at that LB7. Mostly I was wondering "if some of these were serial numbered, where did they stamp the number?"

Oh. Right there. The serial number is T34685. Does that help any establishing an approximate vintage?

Thanks