researching some old knives that I have had for ages

[swamprat6769]

Have an old Schrade Loveless design that is marked Schrade + USA #1509. I was wondering what the + in Schrade + signifies??

 

[Railsplitter]

Have an old Schrade Loveless design that is marked Schrade + USA #1509. I was wondering what the + in Schrade + signifies??

I could be wrong but I've always thought that the + symbol signifies that the blade is stainless steel.

 

[tltt]

Yep. Schrade + is the code for stainless. Usually 440a, occasionally later others (420hc, etc....).

 

[swamprat6769]

I could be wrong but I've always thought that the + symbol signifies that the blade is stainless steel.

TY for the info

 

[swamprat6769]

Yep. Schrade + is the code for stainless. Usually 440a, occasionally later others (420hc, etc....).

TY for the help

 

[knarfeng]

"+" meant stainless. Schrade primarily used 440A for their stainless blades till ~1997, when I'm told they switched to 420HC.
Schrade ran their 440A at ~58HRC. That was harder than most outfits ran their stainless at that time, so Schrade + was considered a good user steel. (440A is still a good user steel if you can find an outfit which will give it a proper heat treatment.)

 

[Larrin]

The original 1975 Schrade-Loveless collaboration was 154CM. The first production 154CM knives I know of.