All About Pocket Knives

Hello, all. First time poster here, but long time lurker. Lots of great info here. I've learned a lot already.

After my dad gave my son two mint Schrade 881s, I liked them so much that I wanted one to carry. Here's what 19 dollars and a bit of time on the auction site resulted in -- a Craftsman 95044, which I believe was made by Camillus based on the swedge of the clip blade. It might have been made between 1977 and 1979, since it appears in the Sears catalogs over that period.

It had some corrosion but otherwise retained the factory edge. I've sharpened all 3 blades, and they'll slice copier paper cleanly and easily.

Welcome, Al.?
It looks like you have a nice clean knife there. And sharp.
Good show.

Welcome to AAPK

Welcome aboard Al.
I think your 95044 is a Schrade product. If it is made by Schrade you will not see any pins through the bolsters, because the Swindon key is hidden beneath the bolsters. If you can see a pin through the bolsters it is a Camillus product.

Nice knife and a great EDC.

It's what orvet ( Dale ) said.Both companies made knives for Craftsman.
and
Grant

Beautiful knife!

Welcome to AAPK!

Well then, I stand corrected! . Good to know that I accidentally bought a true replacement for the 881 and 881Y that my son now has from my dad!

Thanks, all, for your responses and your welcome. Dale, thanks for reminding me about the pin vs. Swinden key. I now recall reading your and others' older posts about that. What tripped me up was looking at so many pics of Camillus knives and seeing that swedge. The Schrade and OT knives I have lack that dramatic profile. Of course, I've seen an old post on here (possibly yours) showing the order from Schrade to Camillus for 30,000 pieces each of different blade profiles. So, this is likely a mix.

Tangentially, I sought out a Craftsman-branded knife after seeing examples on here and surmising that they would generally be available for less money than the manufacturer's brand. Now I'm on the lookout for more, although I'll try to rein in my impulses! I've got enough pocket knives already for 3 lifetimes.

Moderators, feel free to move this to the Schrade forum, and I'll see if I can edit the thread title!

In knives and believe it or not firearms. Sears branded ones can be real treasures or real clunkers, depending on who made them for Sears. J.C.Higgins was a name Sears used.

After looking closely at the pics in the Frontier thread on the Schrade forum, I'm convinced that Imperial was making both sets of knives at the same time.

If you compare time frames and construction, everything seems to align. For example, the knife I pictured above was produced during the same timeframe as the Frontiers that had the same ivory Delrin handles as an option. Clip blades on both have that unique swedge. Finally, I recall Orvet posting elsewhere that Imperial had a method of using bolsters that have no through-pin.

Second example: During the same timeframe that the wood-handled Craftsman knives were being sold, Imperial was selling identically handled Frontier knives under the Double Eagle monitor.

It's certainly conceivable that Imperial was using the tooling for both lines to maximize production capacity.

I would welcome competing views, since I'm wrong more than I'm right.

These are very adequate knives, great for an EDC