Gerber folding sportsman IID

Did Case ever use VascoWear steel?

Gerber did from what I understand in some kitchen/serving sets. I'm not sure about folders though. I asked a Case collector/ dealer at a NC gunshow over the weekend and he stated he had never heard of the steel and tried to tell me about the CV steel ( which is the only case knives I buy now)...
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This thread mentions Gerber sportsman & vascowear.
 
In those days, each company had trade names for the steels they used. It was not always easy to find out the specific type of steel.
 

Vasco Wear

Hello everyone. My question for the day is, what is vasco wear? Does it have a proper name? Or does anyone know what it was used to make? I have a book written by Jim Hrisoulas about bladesmithing and he names it as one of the strongest steels. I would like to get my hands on some of it but I can...
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This is interesting, too.
 
I don't think it's a Vascowear blade. It would say "V-Steel" on the blade. That would make it 440C which would explain the lack of rust as they were made between around 1982-86. All the old Vascowear Gerbers have at least some pitting or black spots. Vascowear is indeed a great steel. It is still used except it is called " CPM Cruwear", "PD-1", "Z wear", "Spectrumwear" and probably some more I forgot. The original company that produced Vascowear was "Vasco Pacific and they are long gone. Dr. Larrin Thomas has a great article about the development and use of this steel. All above except Spectrumwear are powder steel now and actually do better in the attributes needed in knifemaking and work easier than the original Vascowear.
 
1)Gerber Sep 1984 catalog.
2)Gerber Sportsman II with V-Steel markings.
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3) Gerber Folding Hunter in 440c
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yes, interesting indeed. i spose mine is not the v-steel then..would consider using it as an edc but they forgot to add a side clip! what gives! nice knife, and looks brand spankin new! is there anyway to date those? just curious..
 
most of the FSII Gerbers I had were 440 C steel and held up well I do know there was a "V" steel made as well but not in great quantity
 
dec11ad said:
Would anybody know what kinda steel was used on this knife?

wanted to post pictures but i couldn’t figure out how..
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mf9zJg32DukqMTtE9Mj9f1rTsr8Prdww/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v1QWkhPwHAJS0JiRbLdK3hgWRDmDpx87/view?usp=drivesdk
Click to expand...
Seeing the reddish box in your picture that knife was from the 1980's. If it was from the 1970's the boxes used to be black with gold lettering. The 1970's Folding Sportsman's were 440C and sometime in the 1980's Gerber switched form 440c to the 420 series steels, I believe 425M. I think the switch happened after Pete Gerber sold the company to Fiskars. I have several of the various 440c models and fixed blades from the 1970's and they are all great blades with pretty decent edge holding. I have skinned many a deer with them. The tool steel Gerbers like the Vascowear folders or the tool steel (M2) armorhide fixed and folder blades were ahead of their times. They also used L6 on their Vietnam era combat knives. The great Al Mar worked at Gerber designing and making knives before he formed his own company.
 
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