Do you prefer Brass or Steel Liners?

Do you prefer Brass or Steel Liners?

  • Brass

    Votes: 2 100.0%

  • Steel

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No preference

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    2
george65 said:
steel, less stinky



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What a grand old knife too!:thumbup:

I admit that in some contexts, brass can look good as a contrast. But yes, it stinks and imparts a smell on the hands and on foods! :barf: Worse still, on stag and light colour bone , verdigris often forms offering you a 'nice' green stain from the brass bleed of the liners/pins. Not good.

Nickel-silver liners are OK as the brass is covered and doesn't reek, stainless liners (found on nearly all custom knives, wonder why?? :rolleyes: Buck knives and many French contemporary Traditionals) are excellent and so are all steel. The latter just needs a bit more internal maintenance. It seems to me, that all steel liners offer a tighter fit too with less gaps, could be wrong though. But remember, brass is cheap and easy to work, that's why it was used - all that glitters is not gold:D

Thanks, Will
 
Even for a hard use knife, brass is plenty strong and never rusts. I think brass looks classy (different than the monotony of today's ONLY STAINLESS lined modern knives).

I do like a nice all-steel knife with Ebony scales!
 
In a perfect world, either would be fine for me. By 'perfect world' though, I wish the brass liners in some (actually, many) production knives were a bit thicker & stronger. I've seen too many that are too thin to keep the knife as rigid and strong as I'd hope for. It's a glaring fault on some knives with corkscrews or screwdrivers that need the extra strength for the twisting/torquing they're sometimes subjected to. I have one knife that tries to pull the pin through the walnut scale and too-thin brass liner every time I've used the corkscrew on it, and that annoys me. Just not enough pin-support strength for the tools built into the knife, rendering those tools little more than ornamental. I've also seen a lot of brass-lined knives that bend or flex into permanent disfigurement over time, maybe due to back-pocket carry and the occasional sitting-on that likely happens in that circumstance. I usually like the 'old school' aesthetics of brass liners, but they often could be stronger than they are. By contrast, I've not seen such problems with steel-lined knives, and especially if they also include steel pins.

I voted for steel (preference is stainless), if only for the above reasons. Otherwise, if brass liners were built stronger as a whole, it'd be a pretty close choice for me, based only on individual aesthetics for the most part. I don't even mind the 'stinkiness' of brass that much anymore; I see it as an integral part of it's long-historied character in Traditional knives. :)


David
 
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There are some knives especially when new, that just look better with the contrast of brass and steel.
I'm not one who appreciates patina so stainless steel is my choice if I have that option.
 
I also prefer steel however with that said some of my old vintage slipjoints just demand the brass liners.
 
I haven't used enough brass liner knives to notice a smell but I really like the contrast the brass gives.
 
Dadpool said:
Depends on the knife. On some knives, it looks great when the furniture matches the drapes (all-steel), but on others the contrast of brass is just lovely.
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This exactly. As good as some of those customs look with the "wall of steel" uniformity across the backsprings, a nice set of brass liners and pins can sometimes really set off a knife just right.
 
I like steel both for the weight and the look. I also like the Nicole Silver liners case did in the 70s and earlier.
 
Steel for me.
On some knives, brass looks very nice as well, but I'd go for steel anyway, both for aesthetics, and function.

Fausto
:cool:
 
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