That is a nice collection you have there Ken.
Now, as to the knife in question, the one on the front right of pic # UH - 3:
A- I can't see the numbering inside the liner, can you read it? If so, what does it say?
B- Is the pull on that any longer than the other 885s you have there? I really can't tell from the pics.
C- The file work on the back is actually not filework, it is called "jimping." and yes, it is definitely done in the factory. They had a special machine that they would run the knife through that makes those marks on the liners and in some cases they would also jimp the backsprings. This was usually done to set the knife apart from the regular production knives, to show them as something special. Occasionally you can find it on a knife that is seemingly just a regular stock knife, but not too often. IIRC, I have seen the jimping on some older knives, going back to Schrade Cut Co, prior to WW II.
Here is an example of jimping on the liners. The knife is an Old Timer 25th Anniversary knife, a 34OT. This knife had sterling silver bolsters and a special sterling silver shield.
This knife is a Grand Dad’s Old Timer Barlow. As you can see the jimping is not only on the liners, but on the backsprings as well.
As you can see from the side view of these knives they were something special and out of the ordinary. The jimping helped to make the knife a little bit more special. It was one more step in the manufacturing process. Each manufacturing step costs money and adds to the price of the knife. Jimping is something they could do that adds a lot of eye appeal (and with it perceived value) without out the addition of a costly component to the knife. Basically it is just the addition of a little time, one more step, but it adds a lot of bling and eye appeal.
That is a very nice example of the 885UH. I would love to see the numbers in the liner if you can get a pic of it.
The knife that really interests me in this lot is the one on the lower left in pic # UH – 5.
It appears to me that that has a visible pivot pin. Can you see it in the middle of the bolster? It also has the S.C.C.+ tang stamp.
Schrade made their multi blades knives on the Swinden machine. They were made with Swinden Key construction. I have explained this system in other postings if you are interested in the process. The Swinden system has rivets that holds the blades, single ended springs and center liner all together in one sub-assembly. The head of the rivet sets in a keyway in the partly hollowed bolster and is invisible from the outside of the knife. That is why you rarely see a pivot pin on a multi blades Schrade knife made after the early to mid 1960s. But it appears from the photo that the pivot pin is clearly visible on your knife. Therefore it was not made with the Swinden machine.
Now, we know that Camillus made a lot of knives for Schrade, they were owned by the same man, Albert Baer. If Schrade had their production line too busy, they would have Camillus make them. Schrade was the only company that had the Swinden machine. (It was invented by Dave Swinden, a longtime Shcrade employee). Camillus did not have a Swinden machine; therefore any Schrade knife made by Camillus will be made with pin through bolster construction, not with the Swinden Key. This is the first reason why I think your knife was made by Camillus and not by Schrade.
The second reason is the S.C.C.+ tang stamp. Tom Williams, the company historian for Camillus, told me that he thought Camillus was the only one who used the S.C.C.+ tang stamp. Tom has some of the records from the Camillus factory. Among them are S-cards, cards used by the production folks that had a detailed description of the materials used in the knife including the tang stamp. I have copies of a few of these S-cards; among them are cards for knives with the S.C.C.+ tang stamps. I do not have a specific card for the 885 UH with the S.C.C.+ stamp, but I do have a card for the 898 UH with the S.C.C.+ tang stamp.
To this point in my collecting and research I have not seen any Schrade knife made with the S.C.C.+ stamp that did not have visible pivot pins. I have a few knives with the S.C.C.+ stamp, and have seen many more, but all were non-Swinden knives. This supports the theory that the S.C.C.+ stamp was unique to Schrade knives made by Camillus.
You have a nice collection of 885UH knives! You have one made by Camillus and one with jimping on the liners. That is impressive to have 3 variations of a pattern in a sampling of only 5 knives! These little details are what makes collecting Schrade so much fun for me.
Dale
