All About Pocket Knives

New member, first post. Just bought this knife. It was listed as a L 66 but didn't look like one. It resembles an L 48 pattern but longer. Blade and handle are in great shape. The mark side stamping is WESTERN over BOULDER, COLO., over PAT'D. MADE IN USA. It has a brass guard that does not appear to be original to the knife, unless they were using up excess parts. It appears to be from a knife with a wider tang. There is a space between the bottom of the tang and the hole in the guard. It's a beautiful old knife. Any help ID ing it would be much appreciated.

I did some more searching on this site. Im thinking it may be a 1950 L58. That's the first I've heard of that pattern. That still doesn't explain the gap between the bottom of the tang and the guard. I hope someone can straighten me out. Thanks

Yeah, I'd say your right about it being an earlier version of the L58.

As far as the gap in the guard, I see the same gap on some later L58's (pics below). According to Tom Williams of Camillus Cutlery (owners of Western), the L58's with the blade fuller are from 1959 and later.

By the way, in your first pic the knife is in the sheath the wrong way. The curve of the blade should match the curve of the sheath. Perhaps you already know this, but I just thought I'd mention it.

From a 1955 catalog-

Thanks for the reply. I had the knife slipped into the sheath that way so I could see the tang stamp. Took that picture to show the black sheath. I read in a much earlier post that the 1950 L58 had a 5.25" blade and a half guard. That matches my knife. The person that sold the knife obviously had no idea what it was. I have several 48 pattern knives but I think I like the 58s better. Looks like I've found a wealth of Western knife knowledge. Thanks again.