All About Pocket Knives

Just wondering if anyone knows who made knives for LL bean in the 60's and early 70's?
I have a trapper with yellow delrin handles, nickel silver bolsters, blank oval shield I bought around '68
a trapper with wood handles and a 3-blade with wood handles from early 70's
also a single blade "dress" knife with wood handles. all 3 have brass bolsters.
I also have an "LLBean Utility camp knife" single blade that locks, rosewood handles,
looks like a locking sodbuster only bigger.
They are very good quality...I always thought they were made by Case or Ka-bar but I can't find a reference to either maker. None of them say anything but LL Bean Made in USA on the blades.
I have used the delrin trapper a lot but it's still in good shape, the camp knife and dress knife were used some, the other two are brand new never even sharpened them.
anybody know anything about this?

i don't think case or ka-bar made em unles they were stamped as so.. but a lot of companies have been contracted to make l.l.bean,,,gerber, schrade,boker,wenger, even companies like bowen. i would also assume camillus was in there somewhere.
and no doubt others. to find the company that made yours, with only, made in the usa, on em, might be a little tough to pinpoint.
but someone might know

I don't know who made yours , but I'll bet that you can figure out who made mine !

Bob

LOL..is is a Schrade possibly?
I have two of those, one is the 100th anniversary in the tin can...
The delrin trapper might be, but the handle shield is oval and bare. LL Bean is stamped on the blades.
The other trapper and stockman have rosewood handles and more rounded bolsters.
The fit and finish looks better than Scrade. I know Schrade made good knives, I just never
liked the looks of them...except for the 2-blade button switchblade my dad gave me, he carried it thru WWII. That's a nice lil Scrade knife.
I'll have to post some pics of them.
Thanks
Ed

Kabar made most of the earlier LL Bean knives, 1940's through 1960's. Western made some. Then in later years Schrade and I think Queen made a few.

A lot of the L.L. Bean Knives were made by Kabar. Some had Kabar markings on the back of the tang and some did not.

Pretty sure many were KA BAR.....I have seen swing guards tang marked LL Bean and Ka Bar and except for the stamps they were identical

Bowen made repros of some of the Remington bullet knives for LL Bean.

I just picked up these 3 LL Bean knives from the mid-90s, 2 Bokers and a Robeson. Not sure why the Robeson is in a Queen Steel box though.

1967redrider wrote:I just picked up these 3 LL Bean knives from the mid-90s, 2 Bokers and a Robeson. Not sure why the Robeson is in a Queen Steel box though.

The Robeson was made by Queen.

robeson made some patterns for them also i had a swing guard that was identical in every way except bone color

I have their 1999 collectors edition knife it is a stag swing guard with a Boker Solingen Germany tang stamp. If this thread is still active this weekend I post some pics.
wazu013

knifeaholic wrote:

1967redrider wrote:I just picked up these 3 LL Bean knives from the mid-90s, 2 Bokers and a Robeson. Not sure why the Robeson is in a Queen Steel box though.

The Robeson was made by Queen.

Cool, thanks for the info Steve!


wazu013, I'd love to see it. There was a 1998 stag Anglo-Saxon that I didn't get but it was sweet too.

Here's a pic for one that sold a while back. I'll get mine up Sat.
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/b ... 9-75844805

wazu013, I'd love to see it. There was a 1998 stag Anglo-Saxon that I didn't get but it was sweet too.[/quote]

Here are some pics of the 1999 LL Bean collectors edition knife. It's a stag cheetah made by Boker. It has the Boker Tree Solingen Germany stamped on the tang.

I have one LL Bean. I will have to find it.
I am not sure if it is Schrade or KaBar.

orvet wrote:I have one LL Bean. I will have to find it.
I am not sure if it is Schrade or KaBar.

Dig deep Dale
wazu013

My knife has already been shown, but yep, it is a Robeson, made by Queen.
Some nice knives shown here. I've found any knife with the bonus of the LL Bean mark gets a little premium added when sold.

Top knife is LL Bean...steel bolsters and liners with bone handles.

Second is KA BAR...nickel silver bolsters and liners with composition handles.

On the time frame I'm not real sure...I would guess 1950's.....

My LL Bean knives showed up yesterday, took some pictures this morning. All of them are pretty sweet but the 1997 Queen made Robeson is super sweet! Has a reel and fishing lures ecthed on the blades which I tried to capture in the pictures. The stag on the 1996 Boker trapper is really nice too, not sure what the wood is on the smaller 1995 Boker barlow, maybe maple?

mine look like these:
sorry if they're not in order
LL Bean trapper- bought this from Bean 1965-66 4 1/4" long 3 1/4" clip and spey blades, yellow delrin handles
LL Bean trapper II- 4 1/4" long, 3 1/4" clip and spey blades, wood handles never used xmas gift from uncle early 70's
LL Bean utility camp knife- 5 5/8" long, 4 1/2" locking blade also bought this from bean late 60's
LL Bean "Pocket" 3 1/8" long, 2 3/8" blade got this same xmas as trapper II

there are no markings on these except for LL Bean. From the looks of them, I believe the yellow trapper and the big camp knife might be ka-bar, the trapper II and pocket may be case.

All the yellow trappers I have seen with the blank oval shields like you describe we made by western. The large lockback looks like a pattern KA-BAR offered. The brass bolstered knives you show appear to be either kabar (jack) or camillus (trapper) manufacture

Very nice knives, guys!

Here's my only L.L. Bean knife. It's a fish bat/knife combo made by some German company. I wish I knew which German company made it.

Here's a couple that I believe were made by KA-BAR.

Here's the Buck 055 they used for 2008.