All About Pocket Knives

Greetings Everyone!

I have this Schrade Cut Co pen knife but I can't find a serial number on it and would just like help identifying it, model #, the year it came out, etc and gaining some more info on it. I don't know how I came to possess it, there's a good chance it was my grandpa's. After doing some initial research on here, I did come up with two possibilities based solely on description, a Senator 842 or a 865 Sunfish Lobster but I don't think this particular knife is either of them since both those models have marine pearl handles, and mine has fake bone, or at-least what I believe to be fake bone. There is also the possibility that it could be counterfeit. Regardless of whether it is or not I plan to restore it. It has Schrade Cut Co Walden N.Y. stamped on the bottom of the bigger pen knife, the bottom of the smaller pen knife, a long nail file, fake bone handles, brass linings, brass posts, nickel silver tips, an oval shield/ propeller stamp? and it measures just at or a bit over 3". Between the pictures and this description hopefully someone on here can shed some light on this knife!
Any information in identifying this knife would be greatly appreciated, in addition I'm also happy to provide additional photos to aid in this endeavor!

Cheers!

Zach

Here are pictures from the 1926 catalog, page 32 and 36. Yours looks like real bone to me.
I believe yours is an 8423B

Welcome to AAPK.

I agree with Hal. Those handles are real bone and beautiful bone at that. If that were my knife, I wouldn't do a thing to it and be happy to have it. It's a dirty shame the tip is broken off the nail file blade but as they say, "Into each life a little rain must fall."

As for age? Sorry I can't help you. Sure looks pre-WWII to me.

Still unsure about the handles. Get yourself some good magnification and take a closer look. You will be looking for the spots on the bone that are indicators of the haversian canals that all bone has.

Delrin was first used for knife handles in 1960 by Schrade-Walden, years after this SCC Senator Pen was made.
Hal you typed in: "8423B" but the catalogue image is "8143B". You almost never make a mistake but i think you meant to type "8143B" ?
kj

Joe, the second image in Hal's post shows a celluloid version as 8424, but at the bottom of the description it shows a bone stag version was available as #8423. The last number in the old catalogs usually signified what the handle material was. The B signified brass linings instead of the standard steel, and the P after the celluloid knives signified that it was smoked pearl celluloid.

The 814 pattern had sunk joints, which was evident by cutouts in the covers to access the lower nail nicks.

Eric

Thank you Eric. I had thought the "B" was for bone, but now i know it is for brass.
I had not seen the bone stag option under the pearl knife description. Hal is right, again.
The only difference i see between 8143B and 8423B is the shape of the shield. Am i missing something else here ?
kj

And, in addition to corroborating the premise that the covers are genuine bone, I would say definitely pre-World War II. This, because of the jigging style, and also, it is my unsubstantiated belief that they never resumed more than a handful of patterns after the war, the Baers buying them out in December of 1946. Nice knife! Do not "restore" it!

kootenay joe wrote:Thank you Eric. I had thought the "B" was for bone, but now i know it is for brass.
I had not seen the bone stag option under the pearl knife description. Hal is right, again.
The only difference i see between 8143B and 8423B is the shape of the shield. Am i missing something else here ?
kj

The differences are sunken joints, full crocus polished blades, and as you mentioned, the shield.

Thanks Hal. Now i see it: no cut-outs for nail nick access = common joint, not sunken.
Seems odd to go to the extra work of having 2 set ups for knives of the same frame and same blades.
The pivot pin holes in blade tangs would need to be located in a different spot to make for the sunken joint, i think. Why not just make the sunken joint one ?

Wow, thank you everyone for the insight! I had no idea! I have a few further questions though.

- The nail file puzzles me, since it doesn't look like the tip of it broke off at all, rather that it was made with a flat tip that tapers. Unless it was a super clean break. Is it possible and or worth it to reforge a point on the nail file?

- Now that I know the handles are real bone and it looks pre-WWII, any idea on the value of it?

- Also I should have elaborated on what I meant by "restore." I just want to clean the blades/ hinges to get them moving smoothly and looking better then sharpen them, that's it. I'm not talking museum quality, just enough to make it a practical and functional piece of art/ history. However, that being said I'm sure the answer(s) to my previous question will play a role in whether I do any of this or not.

I greatly appreciate all the insight and information!

Zach

The nail file is broken.