Mystery Shrade folder blade from the closed Ellenville factory?

A

AlexI

Joined
May 5, 1999
Messages
49
Hi all,

I bought this old and rust spotted Shrade blade at a garage sale, to use in a hobby knifemaking project.
The seller said it came from the Shrade's Elleville, NY factory when it was closed (about 8 years ago) and was never assembled into a complete knife.
Here is the picture of it as I bought it:
http://images53.fotki.com/v715/photos/2/1100312/13534231/blade_before-vi.jpg


As you can see, it was intended for a non-locking folder, which is a little strange for its huge size (it was supposed to be at least 4 1/2" blade length when mounted). It is 1/8" thick and flat ground from back to edge (which was not sharpened). There is a single "X" mark on the tang.
Can you guys identify what knife model it was intended for (if those were ever produced before the factory closed)?
I am extremely curious to see what the original Shrade knife looked like, and compare with what I made out of it (which was my first try at a folder, I only made fixed blades before).

See more pictures of the knife I made with this blade here: http://public.fotki.com/aindman/folder-with-old-shr/
I re-profiled the blade a little (never liked upswept clip points), sanded out the rust spots and finished to 600 grit satin finish.
The handle scales were extended forward from axis pin more than originally intended, to bring open blade length just a hair under 4" (to comply with NYC law).
Scales are 1/4" thick black paper based Micarta, with stainless steel pins.
I made the spring from 1095 steel and heat treated with a gas torch. Came out pretty strong, requires significant force to open the blade. I don't mind as it means the open blade is also held pretty strongly for a non-locking folder. Also makes it flat out impossible to "flip" the blade open by centrifugal force (another crazy aspect of NYC knife law, though it isn't really supposed to apply to non-locking folders).
There is a nickel silver spacer in the butt end of the handle (I decided that there is no point having another piece of carbon steel there to risk internal rust).
Since it is too big to carry comfortably in a pocket, I made a form fitted leather belt sheath (belt loop fits 1 1/2" belt tightly).


If the discussion of my knife project doesn't belong here, let me know and I will repost it on another forum. But the question about the Shrade knife this blade was intended for belongs on this forum for sure, and I would very much appreciate help finding the answer to it.

Thank you.
Alex.
 
I'm confused by that one. If it were an original I'd expect a SCHRADE-USA tang stamp. But if it were a Chinese import, I'd expect the blade to be stainless, and that staining/corrosion on the Before picture makes it look like carbon steel.

The "X" could mean it was a factory second - anything and everything went out the doors during the bankruptcy auction including many factory seconds and things that probably came from bins of trash.

So in short, I have no dang idea. I like what you did with it though. :thumbup:
 
Yes, that is a carbon steel blade. The corrosion went pretty deep in spots, no way it could happen in stainless. By the way it was easy to sharpen, it felt like relatively low hardness, maybe in low to mid 50s Rc at a guess.
The guy I bought this blade from had a few dozen of them, all more or less in the same condition. So I would think this blade pattern was made for some mass produced knife model... Maybe it was a new model that never went into full production/retail before factory closed?
 
I've been looking at Schrade knives on eBay and in the forums for 6 or 7 years, I've never seen a blade like that on a Schrade USA folding knife. You did nice things with it. I think it belongs here as well as anywhere. Interesting the guy had a lot of them.
 
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So as not to break out of my long-held role as iconoclast, I shall vote PAKISTAN.
 
Was that an insider joke? Or do you actually believe someone in Pakistan (or China for that matter) would go to the trouble of producing a small run of counterfeit Shrade blades (not knives, just blades) that don't look anything like known Shrade patterns, get them rusted, and then have them sold by the side of a road in Ellenville for a few bucks a piece (I paid either $3 or $5, can't remember)? It just doesn't make any sense. No, Occam's razor says the blade really came from that factory (which was less than a mile down the road from where I bought it).
Unless Shrade sourced the blades from abroad somewhere and delivered them to the Ellenville factory for assembly just before the closure. Doesn't make much sense to me either, but at least a possibility.
 
Every scenario I can think of seems equally unlikely. But by the looks of them, I would say the Schrade factory is possibly the least likely source of all. I wasn't joking, though. Hopefully somebody knows and will chime in. I was not suggesting that the flow of blades from the beginning source to the end destination, and the abuse they endured on the way were the intended result of the source supplier. Sometimes s*** happens. May be quite the story behind them. I bet you make some nice fixed blades.
 
Well, looks like most likely we will never know for sure.
Last chance - I will try to ask this question at the Ellenville Historical Society and Knife Museum when they reopen next summer. I understand there are some people who worked at the factory at the time it was closed. Unfortunately they are closed for the winter, and don't seem to have any contact info online.

As to my fixed blades, I make only a few - not much time for hobby projects. Last several years I was mostly interested in reproducing older "historical" types so was posting on another forum.
Pictures of a couple relatively recent projects that I think came out nice:
http://public.fotki.com/aindman/saxon-dagger-or-lan/
http://public.fotki.com/aindman/hanger-or-hunting-s/
 
G'day, looks to me like the blade for one of Schrade's many Commerative large clasp knives...like this Village of Walden for example....many similarities...including similar SCHRADE tang stamping..you did a nice job on it AlexI..Hoo Roo

Bingo lrv...we posted our reply's at the same time....soulmates....or Rsoulmates even?.....lol...
 

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from across the planet our ears were burning..
I believe there were older knives made with carbon blades using this pattern. These are all Stainless. I'll look at the older stuff.
Yes Alex, Nice job on the knife.
The X is a mark of a imperfection and they were thrown in buckets which is where it may have been found during the auction.
Check out the other pictures on the link I sent for a few more of the 275.
 
Great, the mystery is solved! This is definitely the same blade pattern. So these blades were probably found "imperfect" before the engraving stage, which is why they stayed blank.

Irv, do you know what the "imperfections" in question could be? The blade I worked with seemed to be basically fine.
Also, why did the bother with the X marking instead of just destroying the blades that didn't pass muster? Did they intend to eventually assemble and sell them as factory seconds?
 
Alex, No real idea why the blades where rejected. They had a long list of check points that any one of which could cause the blade to be rejected. Maybe Ed can point us to the reasons. The x was to prevent the blade from making its way into the market as perfect. I've heard that at the old NYKC they just dumped the reject blades out a window into the river. Today they probably are sold as scrap and recycled but that's just a guess.
 
I thought I made a mistake once, but I was wrong... :foot: Nice job on the knife, btw!
 
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