Anyone help me with this knife?

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Spoofo9t9

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Found this knife at a garage sale and paid $1 for it I can't find any info on this anything helps. Thanks

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Welcome. Low quality. "440 Stainless" is a warning sign. 440 series steels have a letter in their name. 440C is a high grade cutlery steel. 440B and 440A less so. Just 440 is mystery steel.
 
marcinek said:
Welcome. Low quality. "440 Stainless" is a warning sign. 440 series steels have a letter in their name. 440C is a high grade cutlery steel. 440B and 440A less so. Just 440 is mystery steel.
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I wasn't looking to use it. I just got it for the look of it. I'm not sure if it's worth anything that's what I'm mainly concerned about
 
Looks like something you would get at the local fair or boarder store. Sorry, it's just novelty crap man. Good thing you only paid a dollar.
 
Tachead01 said:
Looks like something you would get at the local fair or boarder store. Sorry, it's just novelty crap man. Good thing you only paid a dollar.
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The thing is, that I know what really cheap border store/fair knives feel and this feels like it is a high quality knife
 
Need to be gold or up to ask questions about monetary value. Welcome to the forums, though.
 
Valor Corp of Miami, I believe existed from the 1970s-to about 2002. They were purveyors of guns, gun accessories, outdoor gear and knives.
Their knives were mostly imported from Seki Japan and the bulk of their offerings were pretty cheap. Your knife looks like one of the earliest
ancestors of the "mall ninja" knives we see today. However among Valor's rather cheap offering were some notable knives of higher quality.
Valor produced a copy of the famous Gerber Mark II as well a dagger which resembles the Kershaw 1007 Trooper but with a stacked leather
handle. Both of these particular models became the official commemorative knives for two separate US Army Special Forces Units. Valor also had a couple
of knives made by Ichiro Hattori and are so marked on the blades, These knives command much higher prices on the collectors market than most
Valor knives. Valor became known unfortunately in a firearms lawsuit where they were held liable in an incident involving a Valor .25 cal handgun.
http://www.davekopel.com/NRO/2002/Gunned-Down.htm
Your knife is marked 440 and for a Seki made knife that meant either Aus6 or Aus8 as US importers preferred the knife t use a designation more familiar to
US consumers at the time. Unfortunately they often didn't get specific enough leaving many people guessing. Most Valors have the model number on the ricasso but yours does not. But guessing from the "Japanese Tanto" look I would guess it is from the early 1980s. It's also kind of cute that they used an image from a Japanese woodblock print on the blade rather than some silly dragon or whatnot.
 
Spoofo9t9 said:
The thing is, that I know what really cheap border store/fair knives feel and this feels like it is a high quality knife
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It looks like Valor was a small company from the 70's. Just Google them, I was able to find a bunch of stuff on them. My guess is you have vintage crap there. The grinds are weak, it's made of 440(most likely 440A), and it has a cartoon samurai on it lol. Vintage maybe but, still crap nonetheless. Still probably worth more then a dollar though and old stuff is still cool.
 
Although I've never seen that exact model, Valor is/was a reasonably-decent quality line of imports. Seems they were common in the 1970s and perhaps later. The steel is most likely 440a, and probably on par with Gerber's mystery "400 series" steel.

You aren't allowed to ask about value, but I think it's safe to say that you could easily double or triple your money on it. :)
 
I would rather have this knife than a Taylor Schrade or most any Smith & Wesson. I remember Valor knives, and the Boot knives were very popular with the motorcycle riders around here in the 70's
 
Austinaftermath said:
It's made in Japan which puts it head and shoulders above China and most Taiwan stuff.
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Not necessarily. Back in the 70's and 80's Japan was one of the worlds main sources of cheap manufacturing. Back then "Made in Japan" generally meant junk when it came to knives (with some exceptions of course).

Then China got into cheap manufacturing, and Japan lost that market. Now "Made in China" is generally thought of as junk.

Times change, and perceptions change with them. Today, knives made in Japan are generally regarded as high quality. It's entirely possible that in the future the same could happen with knives made in China.
 
I collect these as a hobby. They remind of the 80's. All the ones I have that are pretty similar to these actually take a pretty good edge. They'll cut receipts up like they're nothing. They are pretty solid to. Outdated yes, bad knife not really.
 
KenHash said:
Your knife is marked 440 and for a Seki made knife that meant either Aus6 or Aus8 as US importers preferred the knife t use a designation more familiar to
US consumers at the time. Unfortunately they often didn't get specific enough leaving many people guessing. Most Valors have the model number on the ricasso but yours does not. But guessing from the "Japanese Tanto" look I would guess it is from the early 1980s. It's also kind of cute that they used an image from a Japanese woodblock print on the blade rather than some silly dragon or whatnot.
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That's interesting. It makes sense it performs better than garbage steel.
 
Spoofo9t9 said:
Can someone come up with a dollar Value to it?
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Again as a registered member that question is against forum rules. You are not allowed to ask it and your going to get yourself gigged by the Mods. You really need to read the rules before you start posting.
 
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