black mamba
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2009
- Messages
- 23,478
I just spent the last hour or so researching this topic and still don't have a definitive answer, at least not to my satisfaction. According to an article I found, Queen was one of, if not the first to use stainless in their cutlery. There is some evidence that they used 440 C up until the '70s, then switched to the less expensive 440 A. They began using ATS-34 in 1998 in their limited run Schatt & Morgan "Keystone" series knives until 2002, when they switched to 420 HC while carrying on the ATS-34 in their File & Wire series knives.
The "gray" area for me are the Keystone series knives from 1991 (Series I) through 1997 (Series VII). After that they were either 420 HC or ATS-34. What I wonder is, even if Queen were using 440 A in their regular line of knives at this time, is there any evidence that they chose the better 440 C for their limited production S&M Keystone series knives beginning in 1991. At the time these first came out, they were marketed as a high quality "throwback" to an earlier era of knifemaking, and it seems logical they would have chosen the premium stainless of the day, namely 440 C.
Does anyone know for sure?
The "gray" area for me are the Keystone series knives from 1991 (Series I) through 1997 (Series VII). After that they were either 420 HC or ATS-34. What I wonder is, even if Queen were using 440 A in their regular line of knives at this time, is there any evidence that they chose the better 440 C for their limited production S&M Keystone series knives beginning in 1991. At the time these first came out, they were marketed as a high quality "throwback" to an earlier era of knifemaking, and it seems logical they would have chosen the premium stainless of the day, namely 440 C.
Does anyone know for sure?