knife display

M

mashduck

Joined
Aug 21, 2006
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I have a question?? I am putting my knives in a glass case. I have several Ducks unlimited, Schrade knives, and was thinking of showing them 1/2 open (Folders) would this be bad for the knife?? wear on the springs,ect..
Thanks
 
I'm no expert but have done, I think enough research, to safely say no. I would discourage this for several reasons but number one on my list would back spring problems especially long term. The only way I would do it is fully open or knives w/ half stops. I'm sure if this isn't true I will be corrected. My best advice would be to look at alot of the knives in the collector displays that (lrv)has here.
 
For those of you familiar with me, I have no answers but many questions. Since displays are in question at this thread, could anyone tell me if it was customary for Schrade to mix "inferior/seconds" knives on their display boards when the imperfection of the knife would not be readily apparent upon view?
 
Not usually. At least in the modern era, the knives were shipped in multiples seperately in their boxes. And they were also for sale. Schrade did have a factory employees store and sold seconds there. Some were obviously flawed, and some, I understand, the average guy could hardly detect a flaw unless it was pointed out to them by an employee. In the last years some obviously flawed knives did make it to the retail market. But then all sorts of stuff from reject bins and the company store was sold at auction in October 2004.

The "open or closed display" question comes around on a regular basis. Those in the industry who know seem to agree that half opening two blades on a common backspring damages the spring. Full open blades do not stress a spring (usually) any more than full closed blades. I've never personally noticed a difference in the knives which I have removed from clampacks with blades displayed and those that came full closed in a box. But it makes sense to store a spring with the tension released.

Michael
 
I have bought quite a few knives that had been displayed in country hardware display boards and the only problem I have found is the fading on outside handle scales particularly staglon, depending on how long displayed and obviously where placed if in a window for years.Sellers invariably only show the 'bright' side which has been facing in.
I personally have never seen a knife 'weakened' by remaining partially opened in my gift sets to answer Mashducks question above and some have been that way for years. Something I have encountered several times I have found knives with factory dings in bolsters in my multiple knife Gift sets which had never been opened, which you could not see when on display so they may have come under less scrutiny? I just replace the offending knives with mint versions.
Slimknot every factory second I have encountered have Tang Stamps partially blurred or similar marking making them pretty obvious as factory seconds.You see a lot of LB7's like this. Hoo Roo
 
I too doupt that displaying a knife half way open would weaken the spring.

For example the seven peice Schrade LB7 and bowie WW2 commemorative stag set was designed to be displayed in a felt lined case that gave no other option but to display the 6 LB7s in a partially open possition due to the molding of the insert.

I doupt Schrade would approve if it adversely effected the knife even after prolonged display, especially as it was a $2500 set.

I might check mine every 50 years or so just to make sure.
Tim
 
Thanks for responding. I purchased a display set a few months ago. I wish I had it handy to review, however, I recall one butter and molasses that was split on the side facing in. There were some problems with other knives. The set was very one.

How were the knives on the standing displays usually held in place?
 
It seems like most of the factory produced Old Timer, Uncle Henry and Scrimshaw display sets all hold the knives in a half open position. Even in the pictures of the Schrade Factory Collection most of the knives were displayed with all of the blades at least part of the way open.
If you think about it, even when a knife is closed there is still a considerable amount of tension on the back spring, otherwise it would not snap shut the way they do. So when they are stored half open you are only adding a little more tension to the spring. In the long run in might weaken the spring somewhat but if a knife is going to be for display only it doesn't really hurt it.
Now having said all that, I store all of my folders either full open or closed.
 
Just to add to all thats been said I dont touch my half opened display knives because the act of closing and even reopening blade can sometimes cause a metal scrape trail across tang because mine are running dry of oil so I dont have oil residue on box liners. Finnicky aren't I?? Hoo Roo
 
The only real exception is to store autos (switchblades) in the open position. There's a heck of a lot of tension on the spring when the knife is closed, and I've seen a good number with broken springs due to them being stored for years in this position. And as Codger said, half opening two blades on the same spring puts tremendous tension on the center, and on a similar vein, trying to open all the blades on a lobster at once can be a catastrophe, not only are you stressing springs, but sometimes blades on the oposite sides of the same end share the same spring, usually resulting in bent or broken manicure blades or scissors. If your knife has half stops, opening it to that position usually relieves a lot, and sometimes all of the tension. I hope all this makes sense, now that I've read over it even I'm confused:confused::D
The best thing for your springs is to never open the knife:D:D

Eric
 
The National Knife Collectors Association made a set of knives with two Case smooth red bone handled knives in it, one a whittler, the other an '88 pattern 4 blade congress. The box displayed the knives with 2 blade half open, and two at 45 degree angles. Eventually anyone who displayed the knives to fit the vacuum form discovered that backsprings broken in nearly every one. Case did replace most of them.

If you display a knife half open it should have a square half stop on the tang.
If it is rounded, and you put stress on that backspring, you are taking your chances.
 
Here's an example of an old Schrade-Walden dispay. I've thrown a few knives in it to show how I believe they were positioned for display. There are metal hooks that hook over the liners to hold them up.There's also another display where the knives stand up, as in the knife on the bottom of the case. The blades actually fit into a notched piece of wood that runs across the middle of the display. I don't display my knives like this as I'm a bit more paranoid about the spring tension as Tennknifeman pointed out. I generally keep them closed in a pillow backed hanging display. Also, I've found that you can close the knives in most of the Schrade boxes and displays without harming anything as long as you don't force the knife back into it's pre-formed mold. You can see by this Walden case that it was probably near a window as the sun bleached the images of the knives that were hanging in it into the felt.
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Here are a couple of cases of how I keep the knives (opened to cut the glare):
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Eric
 
:thumbup:Where's the rag for the drool puddle???:cool:Oh crap the key booooaard isss shooorting out.:D
 
You guys are too funny. :) Some of your comments probably explain the issues I have with some of the knives on my display (actually, my husband's--it was a gift for him. He was thrilled and surprised!) His interest in Schrades has fostered my own. Do you know if maybe the early knives were held on the display boards with wire?
 
I think there were some of the older boards that used wires and coated wires, threaded through holes to the backside. I've certainly seen some older Imperial displays that funtioned like that.

In recent times, I've found quite a few knives in the red felt slot displays, wanted to to buy, then cringed and shuddered to see the tactics (like using a 77OT as a pry bar) an employee might use to extract a mint trapper or stockman out of the slot. Several times I had to intervene and ask if I could do it myself using more delicate maneuvers.

I've never detected any spring problems from buying displayed knives left in the open position. I bought several last fall that were left in there for many years, and they were fine. I have seen a few that were really faded, especially Old Timers.
 
Just to add to all thats been said I dont touch my half opened display knives because the act of closing and even reopening blade can sometimes cause a metal scrape trail across tang because mine are running dry of oil so I dont have oil residue on box liners. Finnicky aren't I??
Click to expand...

Im the same Larry, Ive seen it happen, opened and closed blade once carefully and scratched the blade. Its what Id call completely normal and for the most part unavoidable but still annoying.

Regards Tim
 
slimknot said:
You guys are too funny. :) Some of your comments probably explain the issues I have with some of the knives on my display (actually, my husband's--it was a gift for him. He was thrilled and surprised!) His interest in Schrades has fostered my own. Do you know if maybe the early knives were held on the display boards with wire?
Click to expand...

Slimknot -

You could look at this old catalog, or some of the other catalogs here to get an idea of how knives were arranged.

http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/Catalogs/images/1965-SW-CATS.pdf

In the 1965 catalog for example, there are several examples of knife displays with knives wired in place. The http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us web site is a great place to learn more about Schrade than you can imagine. The site carries the Addicted Schrade Collectors Seal of Approval, and has a 5 thumbs up rating. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
I can't believe someone who loves old carbon steel knives would not oil them!! How mint will they be when corrosion forms on the internal mating surfaces, and they move with a crunching, scraping sound??
 
I was discussing the original question re displaying Ducks Unlimited Schrades half open which would be Schrade+.Any previously loved/used old folders with carbon steel I oil and wipe over.Having said that I have never ever touched the mint 2OT or 3OT in any way and dislike even opening them for the photos I took. They are each wrapped in their own cotton cleaning cloth in a Schrade pouch surrounded by those moisture removing pouches far removed from any other knives particularly cellulose scaled.I have not oiled them perhaps I should? They remain exactly as they were delivered to me. Mint is mint to me.All my knives are surrounded by, without touching, those moisture removing packets. My wife works in Security at KMart and brings home 1000's for me from all the packages delivered. I live in the driest State of the driest Continant on Earth so I try and maintain a "constant" atmosphere without changes, we can experience high humidity at times however.
One of the reasons I took photos for Larry Vickery's site was that I can view the majority of my knives without ever having to touch them. <Thank you Lrv>I inspect probaby every 3 months to check for any black spots.Hoo Roo
 
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