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A Pair of Western Boulder Boot Knives; Long Story About One of Them

I got the 757 in the '90s, just as you see it. The 75 came ~15 years later, as an unfinished steel blank in a box of misc junk. Then 5 years ago I stumbled on about 30 pounds of fine-grained Micarta as slabs ~3/8" thick at an estate sale. A few months later, at a gun & knife show, met a local fellow who displayed his own work in one-off fixed blade sharps, simply an' lovingly crafted. Fell to chatting with him, mentioned the Micarta, an' my Western 75 blank. The upshot was a trade; he got the Micarta for the completion of the blank, straight-up, an used the Micarta I traded him for the scales. Took him about 3 months, as we agreed it was a spare time, no hurry project. The blank was already tempered to about 60 Rockwell, if I recall correctly. but there was no edge, an' aside from the hollow grind both sides, was only roughly finished otherwise. He suggested adding the red fillers, which I really appreciate. Note that the 757 is not hollow ground, though the pattern is very similar otherwise to the 75. His thought on where the blank came from was that when Western quit production, many of their patterns were bulk sold in the blank condition, an' mine was just one of those. My question has been why two nearly identical knives, save for the bevel grind? Or was the even the only difference? I haven't done any research about these; perhaps a few of you Western fans can fill me in. Thanks for lookin'!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin D on September 1, 2026 at 15:15

The lack of a 'W' in front of the model number I believe points to the mid 80's, when Coleman and Western were working together. As far as the 75 and 757 numbers? If things follow the precedent I found on other knives in that same era, the trailing '7' indicated a different type of handle. The 75 should have been wood whereas the 757 may have been micarta or an epoxy coated with a resin plastic grip.

Hope that helps a little bit!

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Permalink Reply by Lars on September 1, 2026 at 22:41

Well done Kevin - good stuff. The Western models 757 and 777 were the same as the Model 75 and 77, but with molded black synthetic handles for a more "tactical" look and feel. I see both of yours Warren have the circle J. That's the date stamp for 1986. They came in two colors - bright blade with black handles, and black epoxy coated blades with black handles, for that extra "black ops" look and feel.

Here's a 777 I pulled from ebay to show as an example with a bright blade...your 757 would have originally looked like this one:

That's a nice pair of boots you have too, and from the photos, a great job on the rehandling. I think you may have got the better end of the trade!

I'm sorry to say I don't have any real answers as to your other questions about the grind and such. Anything I offer there is just speculation. However, while not necessarily common, finding Model 75 and 77 blanks is not all that rare, so you very well may have one of those that had an edge put on it.

Thanks for sharing your knives - I think they are wonderful!

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Permalink Reply by Warren L. Whittier on September 2, 2026 at 13:12

Wow!

Thank you both, very much! I'm pleased to have all this background on this pair...I'll dig up the link to the site of the fellow who did the finish on the 75, as he certainly deserves great credit.

Is it appropriate for me to show such a link in this thread? I doubt that he would have any issues with that, but as a noob here, I'm unsure about the protocols, an' wanna offer no mis-step or offense.

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Lars on September 2, 2026 at 20:21

Hey Warren - it really depends on the link. If it's his personal link, ask his permission first. Better still, ask him to join iKC! If it's a public link to his business - by all means, share it!

I'd hate to see anyone get in trouble by good intensions gone bad....such as sharing info without permission.