All About Pocket Knives

My tireless obsession with online auctions was rewarded again today when I landed an ellusive Schrade Cut Co "Fisherman's Pride".

The knife has a couple minor issues but appears to be in excellent overall condition. My knife has a metal scout-knife-type lanyard loop that I have not seen on any other examples. I have seen these knives with and without a liner-lock and I think this would be a third possible variation.

The closest model number that I can find is SSC114 3/4S as listed in the 1936 supplement. There are a couple discrepancies between the supplement and what I've seen in forums regarding these knives.
The supplement calls it a "lock back" but that's not what's pictured. I think these knives had a liner-lock. I have seen examples posted with and without the liner-lock but never have I seen a lock-back version.

I know lt632ret really likes these knives after reading a bunch of stuff he's posted about them.

viewtopic.php?p=17132#p17132

lt632ret wrote: ↑Thu Dec 21, 2006 5:29 pm ...The three big knives are jigged bone and variations of the fishermans pride ( similar to a large barlow pattern two have the backblade scaler one is a liner lock version.. I hope you enjoy the pics. LT

Questions for LT and anyone else who has an opinion are listed below. Any comments welcome!

Should I refer to my knife as a "SSC114 3/4S" as listed in the 1936 supplement?

My guess is my example might have a slightly different number (or not).

Do you think metal lanyard loop is an original factory part?

I haven't seen another example with a metal lanyard loop. It looks proper to me but that also does not match the catalog description which does not mention a "lanyard loop" etc. Perhaps another possibility is the knife also had a chain attached like the 2023.
Should I re-profile the tip?

It looks broken to me. My guess is that carefully fixing it would neither raise nor lower the knife's value. Opinions regarding pros or cons of fixing it would be most appreciated.


The 1932 pricelist also has a slightly cheaper "HSSC114 3/4S" listed? Was that the same knife with a different handle material (perhaps the black celluloid one in LT's collection)? or?
Who else owns Cut Co "Fisherman's Pride" knives? Post 'em if ya got 'em!

I will hi-res scan the knife when I get and add the new pics to this thread.

BC Nice score!

I don't think re-profiling the tip will affect the value. It looks like some of the spine may have already been ground down right at the clip. You can see some of the teeth for the scaler are missing or short. The shackle may have been special ordered, or could have been added later. For someone like a large retailer Schrade allowed quite a few add ons to their knives. I think they just referred to the liner locks as a lockback on those days. They call the TL-29 style knife (C2041SD - p100) a lockback as well. Same liner lock on that too.


Here's one that I have. Most of you have probably seen it before, I need to take a new pic! :
Eric

Very sweet find BC!

ea42 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 3:49 am BC Nice score!

I don't think re-profiling the tip will affect the value. It looks like some of the spine may have already been ground down right at the clip. You can see some of the teeth for the scaler are missing or short. The shackle may have been special ordered, or could have been added later. For someone like a large retailer Schrade allowed quite a few add ons to their knives. I think they just referred to the liner locks as a lockback on those days. They call the TL-29 style knife (C2041SD - p100) a lockback as well. Same liner lock on that too.


Here's one that I have. Most of you have probably seen it before, I need to take a new pic! :

Schrade Fisherman's Pride 2.jpg

Eric

Thanks for pointing out the teeth issues. Originally I missed that but it was easy to see beside other examples. I'm going to continue to think of the bail as being a factory option.

Meridian_Mike wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:35 am Very sweet find BC!

Thanks!

" I'm going to continue to think of the bail as being a factory option."


I would too, it definitely looks factory in the photo

Eric

PS- I tried to isolate your quote out of that last message but it was an epic fail. Figured just typing it was much easier

ea42 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 4:54 pm ...PS- I tried to isolate your quote out of that last message but it was an epic fail. Figured just typing it was much easier

quote (in square brackets) before and /quote (in square brackets) after will turn stuff yellow. The rest just adds who and what you are quoting. Highlight, copy & paste would be a third option. There are a few equally good ways to get the job done.

This is a recent find. There's a couple of differences from BC's and Eric's knives. This one is sawcut, not jigged and it's got thin brass liners with a curved thumb tab just like an 18OT/194OT set up. Are the liners on your knife steel? The liner and tab on yours are a lot more substantial than on my knife. Also mine has a STAINLESS STEEL stamp on the back whereas yours is SS. I'm thinking mine could be a later version - although not too much later because if it really started in 1936 it didn't have a very long run.

jxr1197 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 25, 2020 6:38 pm This is a recent find. There's a couple of differences from BC's and Eric's knives. This one is sawcut, not jigged and it's got thin brass liners with a curved thumb tab just like an 18OT/194OT set up. Are the liners on your knife steel? The liner and tab on yours are a lot more substantial than on my knife. Also mine has a STAINLESS STEEL stamp on the back whereas yours is SS. I'm thinking mine could be a later version - although not too much later because if it really started in 1936 it didn't have a very long run.
fp1.jpg

That's a nice old Schrade for sure! I'm afraid my Fisherman's Pride is still sitting at my parcel forwarders place. I'm having it shipped this week though. I will answer your question when it arrives.

jxr1197 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 25, 2020 6:38 pm This is a recent find. There's a couple of differences from BC's and Eric's knives. This one is sawcut, not jigged and it's got thin brass liners with a curved thumb tab just like an 18OT/194OT set up. Are the liners on your knife steel? The liner and tab on yours are a lot more substantial than on my knife. Also mine has a STAINLESS STEEL stamp on the back whereas yours is SS. I'm thinking mine could be a later version - although not too much later because if it really started in 1936 it didn't have a very long run.
fp1.jpg

One more time!

My knife arrived safe and I took a bunch of as-found pics.

Handles look great with lots of very crisp jigging. Liners are brass. The liner that serves as the lock is about twice as thick as the other liner. There is a gently rounded nickel silver tab soldered(?) on to the thick liner to make it more thumb friendly. Walk & talk is excellent. Tight lock-up. Blade near dead-centre when closed. Etch looks better in person. Bail looks totally factory.

Blade has seen nearly no use but someone busted off the tip and it does appear to be missing a few scaler teeth at the peak of the blade. Why someone would carefully grind that off I can not imagine. It's square. Weird... but still a beautiful knife.

I'm going to clean and polish it. Once the dirt, verdigris and scratches are gone it will look even better. I will take more pics when I do.

A very good looking knife, bladecollectorr.

A very wonderful knife just as it is.

Will you be showing that to a bass?

Very nice!

Thanks for adding the updated pics and info. Do you get the impression that tab was added after it left the factory? Either way it's a nice addition.

FRJ wrote: ↑Mon Nov 23, 2020 6:54 am A very good looking knife, bladecollectorr.

doglegg wrote: ↑Mon Nov 23, 2020 3:12 pm A very wonderful knife just as it is.

Thanks!

tongueriver wrote: ↑Mon Nov 23, 2020 3:16 pm Will you be showing that to a bass?

Unlikely, I like the big, flexible blade on my Steelhead 167UH for taking the skin off the fillets. It just might turn out to be the last thing a trout ever sees. I just gut them and remove the head and tail.

jxr1197 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 24, 2020 6:00 pm Thanks for adding the updated pics and info. Do you get the impression that tab was added after it left the factory? Either way it's a nice addition.

I have no way of knowing if the tab was a post-factory add-on. I haven't seen enough examples of this knife or enough examples of how Schrade soldered things between 1936 and 1946. The way they soldered the RL-2 guard, decades later, would likely have nothing in common with these oldies. As the story goes, soldering was an expensive addition to the manufacturing process which is why the PH1 ended up with a different pinned guard.

Schrade could have done it. The metal seems the same as the bolsters. Soldering was a part of a cutlers skill-set. Tab is refined and well-fitted. A careful craftsman could have added it themselves though.

I will do some online searching to see if I can come up with another knife like this one but they are few and far between and a half-dozen examples doesn't really tell us much if they made these for ten years. They could have pumped out a lot of them but very few have survived to this day.

I cleaned and polished my knife. Jigging on the handles is so sharp that polishing cloths almost catch on it. The crevices are so deep and narrow which made it a bit hard to clean. There was a lot of toothbrush and cotton-ball work involved. These handles are very non-slip. Looks much better without the unnatural green verdigris colouring the bone.

I still have no idea whether or not the thumb-tab is a post-factory addition. After carefully studying and using it I do know I like it and that it does match the bolsters. It's sitting parallel to the liners when knife is closed.

Maybe the same fellow who decided to narrow the blade by losing some scaling teeth added the tab as well. I find it a bit odd that someone would go to all that trouble and never use the knife though. There is zero pocket-wear or tackle-box damage on the handles. Nothing much has rubbed that etch. This knife has seen very little use over the past 80 years. A handsome mystery.

Some close-ups.