Fun fact: According to some investigating by Dennis Ellingsen, who wrote an article in the Oregon Knife Club newsletter, an advertising program conducted by a tobacco company let customers collect coupons from inside tobacco cans to redeem one of three new Ulster Old Timer Knives.The dates for these Ulster knives vary, but the 50OT and 58OT Ulster Old Timer were made as early as 1961.The true origin of the Old Timer is unclear with stories and snippets on how the brand came about coming from many sources, including some that are reliable and some that aren't.
One that was comfortable to hold and that would be practical for whittling and carving, and husky enough to stand the rough treatment by the home handyman.' That story is probably some parts reality and some parts legend, but Schrade was not the first to use the name Old Timer on a knife.That group (which would later become the more familiar Imperial Schrade Corp) had already consisted of two established knife companies: Ulster Knife Company and Imperial Knife Company.We're skipping over a ton of Schrade history, but since this article focuses on Old Timers, we're jumping directly to 1958.The markings below show which tangs where used and when.For many, the mere mention of Old Timer knives elicits positive feelings of warm summer evenings wandering through the woods or whittling small trinkets on the back porch.