Queen Steel

[John A. Larsen]

In the mid 70's I saw an add in Popular Mechanics (?) for a Queen Knife that looked like a large, single bladed Remington Bullet. I bought it and used it quite a bit, especially for "Rubber Duck Operations" It has a 3 1/4 inch clip pointed blade and a 4 1/2 inch handle, with a nickel silver bolster, Derlin (?) faux jigged bone scales and a lined lanyard hole. Blade is marked "The Mountain Man" Queen Steel #1440 and Made in U.S.A. On the tang is a "Q" with a crown and you can just see a "T". I was told one time that Queen was the first to use 440C in their folders and wonder does anyone know what type style was used for this knife? It is the only one I have ever seen. Would like to see Queen bring it back out in D2. Emailed them but no reply as of yet.

 

[loodieboy]

Humm . . . I wonder if the Schatt & Morgan Series XIII Mountain Man is a reincarnation of your old favorite.

 

[John A. Larsen]

The S&M Mountain Man is close but not quite the same. My knife has thumb grooves on the spine, and they are sharp and work, unlike so many I see. Also the blade comes out of the handle pointing slightly down. This makes the presentation of the blade to what you are cutting very effiicent. Lastly if I am thinking of the right knife, the new blade is of 420J SS, whereas I would prefer something like 154CM or D2. Also forgot my knife is a lockback.

 

[knifeaholic]

I believe that Queen used 440C through the 1970's. Later I believe they swithched to 440A before changing to 420.

I have no real proof of this - only that I have seen a few Queens from about 1979-1981 (based on tang marks) with the blade etching including "440C STAINLESS". I surmise that they had used 440C all along, and started etching that on the blade when they knew that us "knife nuts" were getting knowledgable about blade steels due to the custom knife movement.

BTW, what do you mean by "rubber duck" operations - just curious.

 

[John A. Larsen]

Knifeaholic, thanks for the information on Queen and its use of 440C. I guess the only way to be sure is to have it checked out. Maybe someday. "Rubber Duck" operations are when a Zodiac (in the early days a RB (Rubber Boat) 15 (15 man) was dropped out of a C-130 some distance out to sea. The troops immediately made a parachute jump, landing as close as possible to the boat. When I went to Little Creek in the mid 70's to watch the SEALs do it, they were strapping a Kabar to the top of the boat, climbing in after the jump and cutting the drop platform (secured by multiple nylon straps) away and continuing with the mission. I thought it would be better at night on a pitching boat to have a shorter knife that I carried, than looking for a 7 inch Kabar, that could have shifted due to the opening shock of the parachute. Also I thought the shorter blade would be easier to control, making it less likely that I would stab the blade through on of the main inflation tubes. Believe it or not but in my Special Forces group (10th SFGA) we did not have issued knives, just the "Demo" knife and bayonets. I could open the Mountain Man by pinching the blade with my thumb and middle finger which meant I could hold on with the other hand.The "Mountain Man" worked just fine and I do not remember having any trouble with rust, so maybe it is 440C.