This should be fun .. from the old George Schrade auto's .. to .. you name it .. they made a bunch !!!!

... an old George Schrade "PRESTO"

... another George Schrade auto .. in a purse.

Hey D ale!

You're obviously the person to ask. Can you explain, in detail, how the button and the "slider / switch" work on these knives? I've seen so many historical references but it's always assumed that the reader has experience with these.

George S. sure wasn't hesitant about including info in his tang stamps!

Hey D ale!  Trust Bernard Levine to have DETAILED drawings available to the rest of us.

I should have been more specific about what I was hoping to learn. How do you make the knife do its thing?

1) do you have to unlock (the slider?) before

2) pushing the button makes the blade swing out fully -- does the

3) blade lock open?

4) Do you have to release the slider to enable folding the blade back into the handle?

When I was a kid (late 1950's, early '60's -- switchblades were what "juvenile delinquents" (a/k/a "JD's") carried. No one not involved with gang fights (a/k/a "rumbles") would have had any use for such a knife.

I lived in NW New Jersey where we all knew (somehow?) that switchblades were illegal. My best friend had what we called a "gravity knife". It looked like a switchblade but had no spring-assisted opening. We had to practice for hours to develop just the right wrist flick to swing the dagger blade fully open into its locked open position.

I was with you there .. late 50's early 60's .. 'n am still a kid.  Mastered that wrist flick @ an early age .. but, on the farm .. didn't make it to Jersey till late '75 .. Ft. Monmouth.

     Jim said:        When I was a kid (late 1950's, early '60's) .........

@ D ale...I will be interested in seeing the innards of your "dis assembled units", but I feel bad. I really only wanted a rundown on how one of these "push button" knives operates. I'm guessing I must be close in the 1, 2, 3, 4 of my previous post or you would have corrected me.

"...on the farm." I'm jealous. One of the NYC TV stations broadcast the "Modern Farmer" on Sat. and Sun. mornings at 6:30. They'd show 4H kids' projects -- my Mom couldn't tell me why there was no 4H in suburban NJ. 4H looked way better than Cub Scouts.

Ft. Monmouth in 1975. Have you seen the "Jersey Shore" reality show??  :-( By 1975 I'd been through my "Jersey Surfer Boy" phase, gotten married and me and Pam were living in London while I learned how to be a photographer. ...and then I was an insurance broker in Manhattan (living in NJ again) and then, finally, I moved to Maine and became a farmer.  LOL 

George Schrade PRESTO ... an inside look.

.. based on a unit given to me by fellow member Micheal Kelly Sr  .. I think we can have some fun with this :D