Off Topic Chrome plated blade ?

Hickory n steel

Hickory n steel

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Has anyone ever heard of a chrome plated stainless steel knife blade ? For all intents and purposes the edge behaves and reacts like stainless so I'm confident that it is.

Ok so over a year ago my grandmother gave me an old Chinese copy of the classic imperial Barlow ( according to her she bought it in the early 90's ) And from the get go something about the blade was strange.
It had a hard rust spot that wouldn't wire wheel off the same way as normal steel and just left the surface of the blade looking unusual. The surface of the blade is also resistant to sandpaper.

Then the other day I decided to modify it and subtract the pen blade which I was able to do with relative success. After I sharpened it up I was testing it on an orange to see how well it performed, and well I went inside to use the bathroom and I guess I forgot it in the garage stuck in an orange half.
I discovered it today and there was some black corrosion or potentially patina on the blade, so I wire wheeled it off which was easier this time and noticed something strange.
This was what is not like normal corrosion / pitting , it's like it ate through a layer of something and on the edge at the spine I can see a faint hint of copper on one side.

I took the best picture I could, but my phone wouldn't focus on the knife blade and postimage won't load right now so I'll have to post the picture later.
 
I'm intrigued. I'd like to see it. How did it behave when you sharpened the edge?
 
traumkommode said:
I'm intrigued. I'd like to see it. How did it behave when you sharpened the edge?
Click to expand...
It was harder to put an edge on than I've experienced with typical " 440 stainless " marked Chinese blades, and it's still not hair popping sharp though it's definitely capable of taking an edge.
It's not stamped stainless or anything besides " CHINA ".

BTW I've got one other chrome plated knife blade, it's a made in Korea copy of a trim Treo from an old manicure set, and in it's case they chrome plated over even the edge.
 
Hickory n steel said:
It was harder to put an edge on than I've experienced with typical " 440 stainless " marked Chinese blades, and it's still not hair popping sharp though it's definitely capable of taking an edge.
It's not stamped stainless or anything besides " CHINA ".

BTW I've got one other chrome plated knife blade, it's a made in Korea copy of a trim Treo from an old manicure set, and in it's case they chrome plated over even the edge.
Click to expand...

Was the sharpening/apex kinda "gummy"? There's a possibility that the heat treat is just really soft and poorly designed.

The image I have in my head is of that plated zinc that you see on a lot of the old Jimenez pistols - flakes off after the gun has been hot and used, and then you have, basically, pot metal underneath, that destroys itself as the gun works.

Some of the Case stainless I have sharpened has has this "gummy" feeling on the stones, and not that it doesn't get sharp, but it wasn't really hard enough (and probably the heat treat didn't really optimize the metal for much, either). I don't know much about heat treatment protocols in specific, but I do know that there are factors that affect all the properties of a metal, and so if the HT wasn't optimal, it could yield a "stainless" blade that has weird staining issues.
 
Here's the best pic of it I could get.

Hopefully you can see the hint of copper at the spine.
 
traumkommode said:
Was the sharpening/apex kinda "gummy"? There's a possibility that the heat treat is just really soft and poorly designed.

The image I have in my head is of that plated zinc that you see on a lot of the old Jimenez pistols - flakes off after the gun has been hot and used, and then you have, basically, pot metal underneath, that destroys itself as the gun works.

Some of the Case stainless I have sharpened has has this "gummy" feeling on the stones, and not that it doesn't get sharp, but it wasn't really hard enough (and probably the heat treat didn't really optimize the metal for much, either). I don't know much about heat treatment protocols in specific, but I do know that there are factors that affect all the properties of a metal, and so if the HT wasn't optimal, it could yield a "stainless" blade that has weird staining issues.
Click to expand...
No, it seems pretty hard.
 
Now an Galvanized knife blade would be super rust resistant, Though not quite as attractive as Chrome.

I left an Galvanized mop bucket in the garden for many years, before my aunty mentioned she would like one, I dug mine out and poured out a gallon of toxic mud and dead bugs and after a quick power wash it was virtually as good as new, No Rust at All.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Here's the best pic of it I could get.

Hopefully you can see the hint of copper at the spine.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that. This is pretty wild. So that hint of copper - do you think it's actual copper, or could it be remnants of burning the blade during a grinding procedure?
 
Silver plating would be good, As Silver is extremely Antibacterial, Napoleons Generals supposedly ate off silver plates but that might have just been showing off.
 
I believe that knife would be post 2004 or 2005, when Schrade shut down, and Taylor bought all the Schrade brand names and intellectual properties, and moved production to China.
As far as I know, that model Barlow when made by Schrade USA was only made in Providence, RI, or in Ireland, after the plant in RI burned.
All the Taylor Schrade Imperial's have stainless steel blades.
It is possible you have a very early Taylor Schrade. I've heard that some of them had problems. (I have not experienced this. The few Taylor Schrade's I have are late production, just prior to BTI Tools taking over, or after BTI ownership.)
Can you feel any lips or ridges, like you would if the chrome was flaking?
If you can, you can try sanding off the chrome.
That model Schrade Barlow will never be a rare "collector's item", regardless of where it was made ... at least not for a few hundred years, anyway ... based on how many were made by all three companies.
 
Not long ago, I sold a plated folding knife with stainless steel handle on the Exchange. ...Don't remember the brand... maybe Kutmaster.

Some of the all metal plier and wrench tool knives from the 1950s-1960s had plated blades.

I think there were several types of plating used on knives. Off the top of my head... iirc... nickel, cadmium, chrome.
 
afishhunter said:
I believe that knife would be post 2004 or 2005, when Schrade shut down, and Taylor bought all the Schrade brand names and intellectual properties, and moved production to China.
As far as I know, that model Barlow when made by Schrade USA was only made in Providence, RI, or in Ireland, after the plant in RI burned.
All the Taylor Schrade Imperial's have stainless steel blades.
It is possible you have a very early Taylor Schrade. I've heard that some of them had problems. (I have not experienced this. The few Taylor Schrade's I have are late production, just prior to BTI Tools taking over, or after BTI ownership.)
Can you feel any lips or ridges, like you would if the chrome was flaking?
If you can, you can try sanding off the chrome.
That model Schrade Barlow will never be a rare "collector's item", regardless of where it was made ... at least not for a few hundred years, anyway ... based on how many were made by all three companies.
Click to expand...
There's been a misunderstanding.
It's not a Taylor brands Chinese copy, but a no name Chinese copy.

And yes like I said, it's like the corrosion ate through a layer of something. It's not wanting to flake or chip off, and is really hard and resistant to sanding, but I believe it's a layer of plating.
 
The electrician blade on this old Schrade is plated. You can see patina where the plating is missing.

Rc3IMTG.jpg


The knife that's second from the top has a plated blade and stainless handle. The blade steel is carbon and the plating resists oxidation. If I recall correctly it was Kutmaster but I don't remember for sure. You can see some patina where the plating is missing.

C9bTeng.jpg
 
supratentorial said:
The electrician blade on this old Schrade is plated. You can see patina where the plating is missing.

Rc3IMTG.jpg


The knife that's second from the top has a plated blade and stainless handle. The blade steel is carbon and the plating resists oxidation. If I recall correctly it was Kutmaster but I don't remember for sure. You can see some patina where the plating is missing.

C9bTeng.jpg
Click to expand...

That looks like it, huh?
 
Hey, I think I must've had to get through a layer of plating on the edge or something because before it was hard to remove material during sharpening but now it's not too hard at all.
This would make sense because the layer of plating seems pretty hard whatever it is.
 
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