Originally Posted by
CalHunter
That raises a good question about Schrade knives. Mine is maybe 15 years old. My buddies is over 30 years old. What year did Schrade start going downhill in quality? And just to clear the air, neither my buddy nor I had to sharpen the Schrade knives, just dress the edge from hitting some hair on the buck.
Yeah hair is a killer for about any knife.
2004ish I think. They are really just not Schrade anymore....just a money grab company that bought the Schrade name.
Does yours rust? Does it say U.S.A on it?
That was really a pretty good guide in the past. Good knives rust although now days they do have some pretty good stainless steels. I still prefer carbon myself..Its has a good combination of not so hard you can't sharpen it but still hard enough to hold a good edge.
Some companies like buck defy the rules with there superior processing of cheap not so great steals like 420hc which can be found in lots of really cheap junk knives but buck has a hardening process that makes it pretty decent.
A lot of the mainstream companies go this route. Gerber,Buck,Cutco,pre 2004 Schrade stainless etc. They use steel that is not very good but still care enough about there product to figure out a way to make it work pretty decent.