34OT blade steel?

R

Ray5118

Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
257
Just to confirm

The OLD TIMER 34OT made from 1964 -2004 - great knife, handy, perfect size, and a little workhorse.
My question is about the blade steel ?
I am under the impression blades are carbon, not stainless steel.
I own at least 3 of them and am sure of the older ones, but a newer one, recently obtained ( USA) is resisting stain well, almost too well.
I know the Uncle Henry line has the " + " indicating stainless steel.

Thanks

Ray
 
If you cut a lime, or a potato, or dip it in mustard and don't get any patina, it's not carbon steel. All of the boxes up to the end said high carbon steel, but I've heard it said a some of them were stainless towards the end.
 
thawk said:
If you cut a lime, or a potato, or dip it in mustard and don't get any patina, it's not carbon steel. All of the boxes up to the end said high carbon steel, but I've heard it said a some of them were stainless towards the end.
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Thanks thawk

I have my suspicions about this one 34OT
It's in excellent condition, and may have been made in the last year(s) production at Schrade factory

Ray
 
i do know that after '93 the 7OT went to Stainless blades. wonder if they did that across the board for all OT's? or just the lock backs? i have a 34OT in the box with papers. having just read it, the document does say that the blades could be either carbon or stainless and stainless would be marked Scharde+.
 
It's my understanding that if the blade does'nt have a + stamped on it's carbon steel.
 
Schrade started to change over to stainless on the Old Timer range around the late eighties early nineties without marking the blades as such, they worked them in even without advertising the fact, unlike the Uncle Henry range which always sported a + mark. Some models like the 858OT did have a + marking but most of the standard range did not early on, only later on were some produced with a + . I have various Old Timers with and without stainless blades, the majority of stainless are not marked. It is not always a given but stainless blades have a sort of sheen on them that carbon blades do not if you look at them together, other than that you will have to try them as noted by Hal above.

Russell
 
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Thanks everyone
I believe I have a stainless steel 34OT
It has been a test project using all the home remedies to force a patina

I was going to post a question last week for all, and decided not to.
But, now with this discussion, it doesn't seem like an unusual question

I was going to ask if anyone else found the older Old Timer's like the ones stamped i.e. "NY USA" easier to sharpen
and achieve a sharper edge, than some other Old Timers
My guess, now, is the difference in steel used.

Ray
 
Sorry I can't help but wanted to say that I have a 34OT and a 8OT in carbon steel that are from the late 70's. I still think they are some of the best pocket knives I own.
 
From the link above "they did this hoping that if the tang stamps were not changed, no one would notice." tang stamps remained the same whether stainless or carbon" Via Debbie Chase, tang stamps are not an indication of blade material. Just an FYI.

Russell
 
Rusty1 said:
From the link above "they did this hoping that if the tang stamps were not changed, no one would notice." tang stamps remained the same whether stainless or carbon" Via Debbie Chase, tang stamps are not an indication of blade material. Just an FYI.

Russell
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True and untrue. You have to take those remarks in context of when they were referring to. In the 70's-80's Schrade+ meant 440A stainless and Schrade meant 1095 carbon. You could judge by the stamps with the very odd exception.

First to get hazy was the stainless with a running change from 440A to 420HC around 1996-1998 IIRC. These all remained stamped as "Schrade+" so you can't tell. IIRC The Debbie Chase remark was referring to the "What's Schrade+ steel?" question. Schrade+ could change anytime Schrade liked and still be called Schrade+. That was marketing driven for sure.

Next to get hazy was the Old Timers. Originally they were all carbon. Then came the 7OT changeover to "Schrade+" stainless in mid-nineties and the 6OT was always stainless. In Schrade's final years my understanding is that some Old Timers stamped "Schrade" only were actually the cheaper stainless.

To sum it up you have to establish when the knife was made and then do more digging. The tang stamp, type of box and included paperwork are also important clues because they will nail down the production era. If you have a '70's "Schrade Walden" "NY USA" "34OT" for example the tang stamp tells you it's the early production. At that point that means it's 1095 carbon for sure. If you have a 34OT with the later "Schrade" over "USA 34OT" stamp that tells you it could have been made in the last years of Schrade when cutting costs meant changing steels. It could be 1095 carbon, 440A stainless or 420HC. That's when it's tricky. For an example like this latter one you have to look to the packaging and paperwork to provide date clues which you can then translate into the steels used by Schrade at that time.

Timing is critical! Stamps may tell the whole story or muddy the waters depending on production date. If it's stamped "Schrade+" it's always some sort of stainless but if it's just stamped "Schrade" it could be a lot of different things depending on when it was made.

Quite the rant, I know lol Please correct me if I'm off the rails here Most Wise Schrade Gurus. This apprentice Schradeophile is still to get his PHD in Schradeology.
 
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Next to get hazy was the Old Timers. Originally they were all carbon. Then came the 7OT changeover to "Schrade+" stainless in mid-nineties and the 6OT was always stainless.
Click to expand...

There were few absolutes with Schrade. Like the 153UH Golden Spikes and 165UH in carbon steel and the short run 41OT (141 fixed blade pattern) that was stainless (in that case stamped "stainless" on the blade obverse). The only absolute I can think of offhand was that if a knife was stamped "SCHRADE+", it was stainless. Not all stainless knives were stamped thus, like the last 34OT, 8OT and 152OT. There are some minor absolutes like the 897UH (1967-2004) was always stainless, but there were both OT and open stock versions of that pattern which were carbon.
 
Useful information, thanks to all

Well heat treated stainless steel is OK but, carbon steel is my personal preference, for a number of reasons
 
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