Schrade 165 USA

Z

zonaman

Joined
Jan 17, 2007
Messages
123
As you can tell by my question, I know nothing about knives except I am a Schradeaholic. My question is, what is the composition of the blade on a Schrade 165? It almost looks like stainless steel. The reason for my question is I need to clean it, there are no pits, just tarnish. Thanks.:confused:
 
The 165OT Woodsman in it's production form was 1095hc High Carbon steel. As were the first production of the 165UH Prospector. The second production Prospector and some of the latest 165OT Woodsman based special limited editions were stainless.
 
Thanks Codger. So, should I leave it alone or try to clean it with a good polish? I don't weant to ruin the knife blade.
 
It depends on you, I suppose.

There are schools of thought both ways. Some like a shiny blade. I myself, think the tarnish (or more likely, patina) protects a good carbon blade from rusting easily. I doubt you will ruin the blade if you clean it. However, if it has sentimental value, you may not want to do much to it. A "used" knife from a relative sometimes has a value beyond money.

I remember a work buddy years ago, he had just bought a Sharpfinger, and had used while we were fishing. It developed a "stain", and we were bound and determined to clean it up.

As I said, this was many years ago, when I liked knives, but didn't know squat about carbon blades. (I am older now, but still don't know squat, BTW)

If this is a show piece, you may consider polishing the blade, but if it is a user, a good patina may be the right choice.

But like I said, it is up to you...:)

Glenn
 
Thanks Glenn. It's not a show piece nor any sentimental value either. I think I'll try to polish it and see what happens. It may become a user!
Tom
 
Glenn said it pretty well. My oldest 165 is... old. I purposely put a heavy patina on it at the beginning of each hunting season. I use it a lot during season, cleaning after each use and putting a bit of light vegetable oil on it. After the end of hunting for the year, I give it a good thorough scrubbing and reoil it with a heavier oil. With my collector knives, I try to prevent patina, on my users I promote it. It is sort of like bluing on a gun.

Michael
 
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