All About Pocket Knives

I recently became more interested in old pocket knives after investigating the history of my Schrade Old Timer. This knife belonged to my dad and I acquired it from him some time ago. I've carried it around in my pocket as a daily use knife for years, but recently became interested in trying to find some more information on schrade knives and knives in general. My dad always carries a pocket knife with him no matter where he goes, and he switched between this and another knife (a Western 657 stockman) throughout much of my childhood. He's a rancher, and both knives saw extensive use (he used both to castrate calves during branding season). When I was a teenager, he gave me both knives. I have always liked the style of the Old Timers, and this particular model has the useful leather punch tool which I used to punch holes in many belts throughout the years.

I can't seem to find a lot of information on this knife, I see it was only available from 1990 to 1992 according to a list of schrade models I found on this site, and they don't seem to show up on ebay very often. Is this a somewhat scarce model of Schrade? I also can't find much information on the Western. Regardless, I'm going to keep both because of the sentiment that it holds for me, as well the usefulness. I still use it almost daily.

Here are pictures of both knives; any info on either would be greatly appreciated.

I think you know about all there is to know about the Old Timer. It is not common and fetches a good price on ebay. There is an identical model out there with green Delrin handles and a "GREENWING" shield. Probably for Ducks Unlimited. The Western goes back quite a few years earlier than yours, and, oddly, some of the earlier genuine bone handled specimens had crescent nail pulls instead of a long pull. Almost all American knives went from bone to DuPont Delrin plastic in 1960 or shortly thereafter, and yours is probably not an exception.

Welcome to AAPK.

The 36OT pattern did not last long in the regular Old Timer line.
Patterns with a punch on them were much more common in the first half of the 20th century when people actually used leather more in their daily lives, in saddles, harnesses, etc.

The 36OT pattern probably got as much production as SFOs (special factory orders) as it did as the regular Old Timer.
Cal mentioned the Greenwing SFO. I have a Skoal SFO version to the 36OT. I believe there were multiple runs of the Skoal version.
BTW, the name for the 36OT pattern was the Saddleman.

Here is a pic of my Skoal Saddleman. It doesn’t show up because of the background, but the handles are green.




Welcome aboard!
Dale

Thanks for the welcomes and the info. That Skoal version is very nice. This has always been my favorite pocket knife, and the leather punch was actually very useful for me as belts were always too big for me so I had to punch an extra hole in them, and the Schrade did a very nice job of punching.

I understand, I had the same problem, well, er sort of..........mine were too small.