Mmmmmm.... well, first the 2OT. It is an uncommon pattern which was only made for a short while and in relatively small numbers. It was the granddaddy of the Schrade Old Timer line, one of the very few production Old Timers ever produced with smooth bone covers. Back last century, before Imperial Schrade closed, before Schrade knives had much meaning to the knife collecting world and were by and large ignored by writers of collecing guides, C. Houston Price's 1996 tome ignored them altogether. Jim Sargent, however, showed them and appraised them at $100 in 1986. The much more uncommon Sears Craftsman issue was appraised at half again as much. Here is a post I did about the pattern a while back...
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=466837&highlight=2OT
As you will see, with about a thousand dozen made altogether over forty years ago, there are not many left, and few of those make it to the open market, they being a cornerstone of most serious collections of Schrade Old Timer knives.
As to the steel. Two words to
not use regarding Schrade steel are
always and
never. I have an Uncle Henry LB-7 which was always made in stainless. But it does not have the "+". The Uncle Henry 153UH was always carbon steel. Until they changed them to stainless. The early production 165UH were carbon steel, the later ones stainless. Most Old Timers were carbon steel. Until they changed some to stainless. So... knives with the "+" are almost always stainless. As are knives marked Stainless, or in one instance such as the 41OT, markes S.S. on the reverse. Just because a knife isn't marked "+" does not mean it isn't stainless. Clear as mud now?
Michael
