All About Pocket Knives

Schrade made several "3rd Generation" knives, and Bear and Son is currently making "4th Generation" knives. What does this refer to? Generations of cutlers?

For Schrade it was a "hip" way of saying modern. Maybe Bear & Son sees themselves as the new Schrade, they have copied several old and famous Schrade designs, but I think they are also saying that line of knives is modern, state of the art, etc. AKA Marketing. OH

Old Hunter wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 11:57 am AKA Marketing. OH

Well said.

Old Hunter wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 11:57 am For Schrade it was a "hip" way of saying modern. Maybe Bear & Son sees themselves as the new Schrade, they have copied several old and famous Schrade designs, but I think they are also saying that line of knives is modern, state of the art, etc. AKA Marketing. OH

It's true the Schrade "3rd Generation" knives had more modern styling and did not resemble Schrade's tradional patterns. It's also true the name celebrated the fact that members of three generations of a certain family were all working for Schrade (at the time these knives came out) and were instrumental in the design of these knives.

Further implications were that Schrade was an American "family" business having a long history of knife making.

My understanding is that it referred to the "Buley" family. Harold Buley was one of the three generations of cutlers that the name refers too. He's also part of the Canal Street Cutlery story.

aapk member "Chase" (Tom) is the nephew of Harold and Barry Buley and posted great info regarding these knives. He also worked for Schrade. Here's his pic from thread below showing the 3rd Generation design team:
Top Left to Right: Harold Buley, George Eck, Norman Zelinski, Russell Gray and Rolf Owe
Bottom Left to Right: Barry Buley, Danny Jones and Rob Brown


viewtopic.php?f=64&t=54533&p=607444&hilit=buley#p607444


Bear & Son's "4th Generation" knives seem to be traditional patterns in a few different handle materials. I think the idea is your kid can carry the same type of knife that you, your father and your grandfather all carried so families can end up with 4 generations of stockman users etc.

"4th Generation

Ken Griffey comments that the inspiration for this style was the pocket knives that he remembers his grandfather carrying and using. He wanted to recreate these traditional knives as accurately as possible.

The 4th Generation style includes 36 specific knives, all but five of which are slip joint folders. All feature 1095 carbon steel blades, brass liners and nickel silver bolsters. Handle scale materials include walnut, red stag bone, rosewood, yellow Delrin and G10. Except for the G10, which appears on only four knives, the materials and styling of these knives are as traditional as it gets."

https://www.chuckhawks.com/bear_cutlery.html (history of Bear & Sons including above quote)

Great information; thank you! I might have known some of that at one time but it was soon forgotten.