All About Pocket Knives

I keep coming across Schrades (especially Old Timers) that look awesome, like the 19OT Land Shark, and the Case Hunter Trapper copy, that I hoped were made during the Ellenville era when Schrade was still in the US, but find they were a creation of Taylor and aren't real Schrades at all?

Anyone have a list of Old Timers that are Taylor creations and were never actually made in the USA by Schrade?

No, but there is a list of USA made Old Timers in the AAPK Research Section under Schrade.

There is at least one Old Timer I overlooked when I made the lists;
The 7OT was made in 1979 & 1980 the first issue and then was reissued in 1991 and remained in the catalogs until 2004.

U.S.A. made Schrade knives are marked "USA". Offshore made Schrade knives do not have "USA".
kj

kootenay joe wrote:U.S.A. made Schrade knives are marked "USA". Offshore made Schrade knives do not have "USA".
kj

Yep and that the TRUTH.

That is a true statement is so far as it goes; however there are knives made with the Schrade name and USA that are made after Taylor Brands LLC purchased the rights to the Schrade name.

They are stamped SCHRADE & USA but I would not consider them to be "real" Schrades. I am aware of knives made by Camillus, Utica, Bear & Sons and GEC.
All are good knives, but none were made in Ellenville, NY by Imperial Schrade Corporation.

All Schrade made knives are marked "U.S.A."
But not all knives marked with "Schrade" and "U.S.A." are real original Ellenville Schrade knives.
This is to clarify my post above and is just re-stating what orvet has posted.
kj

kootenay joe wrote:All Schrade made knives are marked "U.S.A."
But not all knives marked with "Schrade" and "U.S.A." are real original Ellenville Schrade knives.
This is to clarify my post above and is just re-stating what orvet has posted.
kj

To add to this and to further address the OP question, I do not believe that any of the Schrades made for Taylor by Bear, Camillus, Utica, or GEC were Old Timers.

So it may be safe to say that all Old Timers sold since Taylor took over will not have the USA.

I can muddy these murky waters more. Not all USA Schrades from before closure in 2004 were entirely made (or even just 'made') in USA.
The frames for the 60TX and the 70TX were imported from China to Ellenville where the rest of the knife was built. There is some Schrade paperwork that seems to say the last few batches of these 2 knives were imported as complete knives even though still marked "U.S.A."
This might be the iceberg's tip. In an effort to stay alive financially Schrade might have been having other X-Timers made in China for a couple of years prior to closure in 2004.
All of this was first posted in the Schrade forum at BF in about 2007-' 08, i believe by the Schrade collector who purchased the paperwork (minutes of meetings, shop floor notes, etc.) at the post closure auction.
kj

Here are pictures of the 60TX & 70TX, the knives with frames made in China & then knives finished in Ellenville, N.Y.
They are full size 5" knives like the 7OT and 6OT, but slender not as heavy. Blade action is smooth and lockup rock solid.
What i'm trying to say is that these are Very nice knives. Note too how blade is shaped at base so that tang is covered when closed. Nice feature, well thought out.
If you are shopping for these i think there are also ones made in China after 2004 that look the same but no "U.S.A." stamped into tang.
kj

OOPS, i just realized i am a bit off topic here. Thread says "Old Timers" and these are "X-Timers". Still it's all Schrade so good to share what we know.

kootenay joe wrote:All Schrade made knives are marked "U.S.A."

That is true so far as I am aware with the exception of the Badger Series. The Badger Series were produced and assembled in China though I have one in my collection that is tang stamp Ireland. So apparently they had some SX-4B knives made in Ireland. That’s the only model I have seen with the Irish tang stamp.

knifeaholic wrote: To add to this and to further address the OP question, I do not believe that any of the Schrades made for Taylor by Bear, Camillus, Utica, or GEC were Old Timers.

So it may be safe to say that all Old Timers sold since Taylor took over will not have the USA.

I agree with Stephen statement this modification: to date there are no Old knives made in the USA by any company other than Imperial Schrade Corporation, and predecessors of that corporation, that I am aware of.

As you know Taylor Brands, LLC recently sold the Schrade/Imperial branding. I believe Smith & Wesson purchase the rights to these brand names. Who knows what they’re going to do, or have been doing to this point? It seems to me a great way to initiate the new ownership of the brand would be to bring production of some models back to the US!

How about a US made version of the 2OT produced by GEC, wouldn’t that get the knife collecting communities juices flowing?

I'm not saying this is in any way in the works! I wish you were!
My point is that Schrade has been so unpredictable throughout their history that we can never be sure what has happened or what may happen.
As I have often said: There is nothing about Schrade that can be carved in stone, however a few things may be etched in Jell-O.

Smith & Wesson branded knives of the last ~ 10 years, as far as i know, have all been made in China. Stewart Taylor did have some Schrade branded knives made in USA. I think S&W are far more likely to go with production in China for all Schrade & related brand names.
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Smith & Wesson branded knives of the last ~ 10 years, as far as i know, have all been made in China. Stewart Taylor did have some Schrade branded knives made in USA. I think S&W are far more likely to go with production in China for all Schrade & related brand names.
kj

Correct.
Correct.
And I agree China would be the obvious choice for Smith & Wesson.
I am sure Smith & Wesson will continue to have the Old Timer branded knives made in China.

But Roland, buddy, you are missing my point……

Can you think of a better way to initiate interest in newly manufactured Old Timer knives than to bring the production of certain patterns to the United States and have someone who can produce a high quality knife, like GEC, make beautiful bone handled versions of some rarer patterns like the 2OT, 13OT, 14OT and even the classic 8OT, 15OT and 165OT in bone handles! How exciting would that be to have classic US made Schrade Knives again?


OK, rant off - wishful thinking done

I will go back to the shop..... maybe I can make my own 8OT

Dale, i did understand your idea and agree it would be exciting to see a top quality USA Schrade being made. My point is that Smith & Wesson's present knife business is based on knives being made in China so that is most likely what they will do with Schrade.
But, maybe you have a connection inside Smith & Wesson who has shared some 'secrets' ?
We could all email Smith & Wesson and request top notch USA made Schrade knives.
Canal Street Cutlery was the new Schrade USA with Wally Gardiner as president and all the staff being long time Schrade employees. Their knives were hand built semi custom level but after 10 years recently went out of business. The knives did not sell well even though priced competitively.
This recent history likely will discourage S&W from going with USA made folding knives.
But the Knife World is full of surprises so ya never know.
kj

You are right that Canal Street was the last legacy of ISC and they are no more.
And no, I haven't any inside connection with Smith & Wesson.

As a Schrade Aficionado I would like to see an occasional special issue of an old Schrade pattern by GEC or a company of similar quality.
I think there would be enough of a collectors market to support such an endeavor and it could promote the sale of their low end import products, especially if they made an import version and a USA collectors version of the same pattern.
But I guess that is a knife lover's day dream; probably not on in the thinking of a big time knife importer.

orvet wrote: Can you think of a better way to initiate interest in newly manufactured Old Timer knives than to bring the production of certain patterns to the United States and have someone who can produce a high quality knife, like GEC, make beautiful bone handled versions of some rarer patterns like the 2OT, 13OT, 14OT and even the classic 8OT, 15OT and 165OT in bone handles! How exciting would that be to have classic US made Schrade Knives again?

Anyone who would like to have an original 2OT (and who wouldn't?), I have to say that the Washington jacks by GEC are stunning. I hope I am not going too far afield here.

Not far afield as orvet did say it would be great to see a new Schrade 2OT made in USA. The GEC Washington Jack you show is a recently made USA knife that is a close replica of the Schrade-Walden 2OT.
It is such a fine pattern that i think if Smith & Wesson were to have a new Schrade 2OT made in USA if would sell well. The relatively small run of the GEC Washington Jacks was not enough to saturate the market.
kj