Boy's Knife question

cwood8656

cwood8656

Joined
Oct 7, 2010
Messages
181
Hey all,

I recently received this terrific GEC #15 Boy's Knife and I'm wondering about the steel used to make it. I believe the blade and spring are 1095. What about the liners and bolsters, are they nickel silver and stainless? All 1095? Thanks for any light you all can shed on this.

Chris-

15BoysKnife_zpsad10cb72.jpg
 
im thinking the bolsters are some sort of carbon steel..mine developed rust while i was busy carrying another knife for awhile...one side is pitted now
 
Corrected to show all carbon steel:

1095 steel blades. Carbon steel bolsters and linings.
 
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The #15 Barlows have carbon steel bolsters, but the Boy's Knives are nickel silver.
 
Bob, is that for the boys knives too? I thought only the Charlows had carbon bolsters.
 
I don't think a magnet sticks to Brass does it? Nickel Silver is just a form of Brass. The magnet sticks to the Bolsters on my Boys Knife.
 
RobbW said:
I have a #15 Boy's Knife in my hand. It is a single blade. Unless it is different from all the others, the Boy's Knife has Nickel Silver bolsters. I believe the Tom's Choice Barlow is different.
Click to expand...

If your Boys Knife has Nickel Silver Bolsters, it IS different from all the others.
 
Thanks for all the help. So, is low carbon steel less likely to rust/pepper spot/patina than 1095?
 
rma100 said:
I don't think a magnet sticks to Brass does it? Nickel Silver is just a form of Brass. The magnet sticks to the Bolsters on my Boys Knife.
Click to expand...

Whoa, the magnet sticks! I would have never guessed the bolsters were carbon steel. They look shiny, just like Nickel Steel. You are correct, sir! This knife was a great value. Now I realize it was even a bigger value than I had know. Thanks for correcting me. I'll go and correct my previous post so as not to mislead anyone.
 
I believe low carbon steel is basically very close to 1095, maybe not quite as hard. I'm sure somebody here knows more about this part of it than I do. I believe they will patina about the same. Patina, and rust, are just different types of oxidation. A softer steel is probably necessary to coin the Bolsters.
 
Rust is iron oxide and iron hydroxide. Carbon content should not affect it. Wrought iron rusts and it has no or little carbon. For some reason, though, I have some notion that high carbon steel is more susceptible to rust than lower. Don't know why and can't back it up.
 
Cool, apparently all of my Case knives have steel bolsters, as do all of my other GECs since they all seem to attract a refrigerator magnet!


Or possibly, since they have plenty of other steel components inside the bolsters, the magnet is actually attracted to the steel under the bolsters, kind of like how a refrigerator magnet can stick to the fridge through paper and the enamel paint that are between the magnet and the steel.

Nahhh... They must all be steel.
 
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The Northfields have Nickle-Silver bolsters and Brass liners. The Tidioute GEC's are all steel - bolsters and liners.

This pic shows my two Northfield GEC's. The dark grey patina of the spring on my #55 contrasts very obviously with the Brass liners and N-S bolsters. Next to it is my new #6 Pemberton that had not yet begun it's patina - it's spring is bright and shiney in this pic.

2FFBB181-E66D-4B9B-B9E7-6E138F26A39D-165-0000000A4BA8FD5E_zpsfa619f08.jpg
 
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The tube cap will have "STL" on it indicating the knife is all steel. I just tried the magnet test with a single bucky ball magnetic bead on my 15 and 92 and it stuck to the side of the bolster. Same like my Ken Erickson jack. Tried it on a 48 jack and the bead spun around from the bilster to the back spring. It did the same on a case peanut and Queen 26 stckman.
 
rma100 said:
I believe low carbon steel is basically very close to 1095, maybe not quite as hard. I'm sure somebody here knows more about this part of it than I do. I believe they will patina about the same. Patina, and rust, are just different types of oxidation. A softer steel is probably necessary to coin the Bolsters.
Click to expand...

The bolsters on my all steel GEC's (Both of which are Northfields) do discolor over time (I have to admit to "encouraging" this by carrying them while doing things like snow camping, sledding, ice skating, etc). Not as quickly as 1095, though. I was told they were lower carbon than the blades. Medium carbon.

I don't baby them. If you don't put them away wet (or with fruit juice or blood) the bolsters will stay pretty shiny. Just rub them on your jeans occasionally if you want to keep them shiny (or on your strop).


I don't believe that the Tideoute models are typically all steel. Here is a quote from http://tidioutecutlery.net/ "Tidioute Cutlery branded knives are simple elegance: satin finished blades, brass liners, nickel silver bolsters, and slabs too numerous to count. Made of 1095 carbon steel in the old Cyclops Specialty Steels factory in Titusville, PA"


On greatesaterncuttlery.net, there are all steel Northfields, and Tidioute.
 
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