Schrade SCHF42 Raven Is Discontinued

[Dfunk1210]

Thanks for the back story on the knife. The SCHF42 is definitely one of Schrade’s best releases in recent memory. For sure, one of their most popular. I own its little brother, the schf55.

 

[Mistwalker]

I just recently picked up an SCHF37 and I'm really pleased with it. I'm adding the 9 and 42 to the list. Great designs Mist! High value dependable knives.

I consulted on with Morgan on both the 37 and 51. I think it was my complaining about micarta not being available in Taiwan that was one of the main reasons for him having those two models, which were his designs, made in China. As far as I know, to this day he still doesn't understand why I was so adamant about not having my designs made in China. I have a few designs drawn out for other knives he and I discussed. Some of them were meant for the Old Timer line with brass guards. But he wasn't interested in moving any of the Old Timer production to Taiwan, and I'm still not interested in having my designs produced in China. So had to just live with the grivory as the best factory option available to me, since I'm not crazy about the TPE for handle scales.

Well the SCHF9 was on sale, so it's on the way!!!

Good timing this thread popped up, made me look, lol

Cool, I hope you enjoy it. The 9 was designed to be a brute. It was sorted for extreme uses and use in get home bags etc., but still function well in the knife role as well. It's a heavy thing. There were several lessons learned with it though, that helped me refine the weight distribution on the others, the 42, 42D, and 55. I have a big brother to the 42 drawn out that I hope I get to see in production later.

Absolutely a great knife. Love love love a recurve blade!

Thank you, me too

Thanks for the back story on the knife. The SCHF42 is definitely one of Schrade’s best releases in recent memory. For sure, one of their most popular. I own its little brother, the schf55.

Thank you, and I'm glad you enjoyed the post. The 55 had much more urban thinking in it, so I hope that translates well into edc for some folks, even at the weight it's at.

 

[Creaky Bones]

Anytime one of those "What knife less than $50..." threads pops up on BCUSA, I post this pic. These are a ton of knife for the money. I have since swapped the LMF scales back to the 42 and I gave the 42D to a friend's son as his first fixed blade. We camp and hike together a lot, and he grew up watching me use knives around camp. The 42D will be a perfect first camp knife for a teenage boy. The 42 with Joe's micarta scales is one of my favorite production knives. Nicely done Mistwalker .

 

[Mistwalker]

Anytime one of those "What knife less than $50..." threads pops up on BCUSA, I post this pic. These are a ton of knife for the money. I have since swapped the LMF scales back to the 42 and I gave the 42D to a friend's son as his first fixed blade. We camp and hike together a lot, and he grew up watching me use knives around camp. The 42D will be a perfect first camp knife for a teenage boy. The 42 with Joe's micarta scales is one of my favorite production knives. Nicely done Mistwalker .

Thank you! I appreciate the support! Joe made the scales the way I saw them originally when I drew the knives out. Now Joe has sold that part of his business to Kevin at GKC Outfitters because the contours have to be made by hand to get the ergonomics I want, and Joe is too busy with the CNC side of his business now making scales for a LOT of different knife companies. I really appreciative of Joe putting in the work to design the scales and then keeping the business going through another maker. The micarta scales he designed nailed the feel I wanted in these knives to start with. Not a lot of people realize the difference between the Schrades made in Taiwan and the ones made in main land China because for years Morgan went with the old name for Taiwan, The Republic of China, and few people these days read history books. It took me a few years to get him to understand how people see that and to change the box labels to say Taiwan. I don't think even Morgan himself ever realized the difference other than the Taiwanese knives cost a few dollars more per knife to have manufactured. He never got that the cost difference was based on the shops there having more experience at producing a consistently higher quality product with consistently better fit and finish and consistently better heat treatments with their steels.

By the way, your sharpening choil placement looks almost just like my original drawings. But after some discussions with friends in the sand box, and Morgan saying the choil could be left out in their machining process when they didn't get the first prototypes right, I just had them left out all together on these 3 models due to intended uses. But I do like the look of them in place also.

 

[Frontiersteve]

Good thread this is .
Its now got me looking at the SCHF42.
They are at a good price on my usual online sellers.
This looks like it could be a superb camp and woods knife.
Could be my next fixed blade .
Thanks .

 

[Creaky Bones]

Thank you! I appreciate the support! Joe made the scales the way I saw them originally when I drew the knives out. Now Joe has sold that part of his business to Kevin at GKC Outfitters because the contours have to be made by hand to get the ergonomics I want, and Joe is too busy with the CNC side of his business now making scales for a LOT of different knife companies. I really appreciative of Joe putting in the work to design the scales and then keeping the business going through another maker. The micarta scales he designed nailed the feel I wanted in these knives to start with. Not a lot of people realize the difference between the Schrades made in Taiwan and the ones made in main land China because for years Morgan went with the old name for Taiwan, The Republic of China, and few people these days read history books. It took me a few years to get him to understand how people see that and to change the box labels to say Taiwan. I don't think even Morgan himself ever realized the difference other than the Taiwanese knives cost a few dollars more per knife to have manufactured. He never got that the cost difference was based on the shops there having more experience at producing a consistently higher quality product with consistently better fit and finish and consistently better heat treatments with their steels.

By the way, your sharpening choil placement looks almost just like my original drawings. But after some discussions with friends in the sand box, and Morgan saying the choil could be left out in their machining process when they didn't get the first prototypes right, I just had them left out all together on these 3 models due to intended uses. But I do like the look of them in place also.

Not having any cargo nets to cut, the sharpening coil made sense for me. I did it by hand with a small round file. And you’re right about Joe’s scales. I got the last pair he did before transferring the business. They feel awesome in hand.

Thanks!

 

[Mistwalker]

Good thread this is .
Its now got me looking at the SCHF42.
They are at a good price on my usual online sellers.
This looks like it could be a superb camp and woods knife.
Could be my next fixed blade .
Thanks .

Thank you. Yes, the whole point of doing the Raven the way it happened was that I was trying to get more well thought out designs into the more affordable end of the knife market.

Not having any cargo nets to cut, the sharpening coil made sense for me. I did it by hand with a small round file. And you’re right about Joe’s scales. I got the last pair he did before transferring the business. They feel awesome in hand.

Thanks!

LOL I think those should be fine for even an average cargo net anyway For me personally the feeling the downside of sharpening choils came at an early age as a commercial fisherman. It came in the form of a dropped edge which dropped almost 1/8 of an inch from the ricasso at a 90 degree angle. I was having to cut a driftwood tree stump out of a net in the middle of the night in a cold rain, and the dropped edge kept getting hung up in the webbing and made the chore a lot more hassle that it had to be. I made that knife where i could tolerate it by angling the drop a good bit. But I disliked the concept of sharpening choils ever after, and if I had to do that sort of thing again I'd like to have the set up the way the 42 is. Where the guard and edge meet and trap the fine cordage in the angle and cut it. I had those same exact thoughts again as I was listening to my nephew tell me about his unit quickly rolling up their cammo netting in the pitch dark to relocate under high stress. and an issue that one of the guys in the unit experienced at having his knife jerked from his hand. So in that thought I realized it would be much easier for someone to add the choil if they wanted one than for someone to remove it if they didn't.

 

[KooKooforKukripuffs]

The 9 arrived today, it's a heafty blade, certainly for hard use.

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[Mistwalker]

The 9 arrived today, it's a heafty blade, certainly for hard use.

Oh yes, definitely heavy. The SCHF9 was designed from the very beginning to live up to the "Extreme Survival" label it wears as well as any knife in that price range could live up to it, and still function in the knife role as well.

I haven't carried one in several years because I haven't needed anything that heavy duty. The point of the 9 was to give Morgan a knife he needed for his extreme survival line that would live up to the name and wasn't a copy of someone else's knife. In order for me to get to get two much more refined knives on the market for friends on a tight budget in the military, and that I also personally wanted for my needs and for my students to carry and use during lessons. The Raven (SCHF42), which was designed with a combination of specific mechanical advantages so it could function like a larger knife while weighing in like a smaller one for wilderness skills studies. And the Blackbird (SCHF55) to be highly portable, multi-functional, and over-built for urban survival studies.

Here you can see the full range of the design with the Tibo, what i wanted as an edc geared toward urban survival applications, which is made by TOPS Knives. Before the company changed hands we were in discussions to do a Schrade answer the the Tibo the SCHF67, but whether or not that will happen remains to be seen. I'd like to see it happen in the right steel.

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[mfunnell]

If you decide you like them enough to want to try the micarta scales. I just got in the newest ones I ordered so I have some spare sets for the 42/42D and the 55 sitting in a drawer now that I could sell reasonably.

I'd like to close this particular loop: when Mistwalker offered, I said "yes", worked things out with him and today received the scales:

I've put them on the knives:

...and think they rather work well. I also take Brian's point (somewhere way above) that he was thinking in terms of "old timey" Schrade leather sheaths, but went with a black sheath anyway, because the name "Raven" was used for the SCHF42. I think he might have had it right the 1st time around . In any event, that's how I've gone and you can see a certain level of similarity (along with the obvious differences) when put side-by-side with my old Schrade USA PH1:

I'll have a little more to say about this later, but for now I have to say that the micarta scales are a definite improvement, but also show that the original givory scales aren't bad at all. As far as "bang for buck", the givory probably makes more sense, much though I prefer the micarta (the scales Mistwalker sent are very nice ).

...Mike

 

[Mistwalker]

I'd like to close this particular loop: when Mistwalker offered, I said "yes", worked things out with him and today received the scales:

I've put them on the knives:

...and think they rather work well. I also take Brian's point (somewhere way above) that he was thinking in terms of "old timey" Schrade leather sheaths, but went with a black sheath anyway, because the name "Raven" was used for the SCHF42. I think he might have had it right the 1st time around . In any event, that's how I've gone and you can see a certain level of similarity (along with the obvious differences) when put side-by-side with my old Schrade USA PH1:

I'll have a little more to say about this later, but for now I have to say that the micarta scales are a definite improvement, but also show that the original givory scales aren't bad at all. As far as "bang for buck", the givory probably makes more sense, much though I prefer the micarta (the scales Mistwalker sent are very nice ).

...Mike

Very cool!! I'm really glad they made it in a timely manner. I miss the old PH1 I had years ago. It, a couple of Deer Slayers, a couple of Woodsmen, and a couple of Golden Spikes like one I still carry at times now were the reasons for wanting the brown leather sheath. Tour picture reminds me of one of my own. I hope you like the new scales.

 

[LG&M]

Please tell me these same designs and some new ones will be offered in thinner stock. Some D2 steel would be nice also.
I think D2 is a good way to upgrade the product without upgrading the price too much.

 

[Mistwalker]

Please tell me these same designs and some new ones will be offered in thinner stock. Some D2 steel would be nice also.
I think D2 is a good way to upgrade the product without upgrading the price too much.

I was talking with my brand manager about this last week. We are going to be discussing new designs later on this year. I am hoping we can come up with a better compromise for handle scale mounting options for doing thinner blades now that the company has new owners than we were able to sort out before. I'd like to work with D2, I'd also like to do more with Nitro V.

 

[LG&M]

That would be great, could be my first knife in Nitro V.

 

[Batleship]

Because of this post i bought the raven. I am very impressed with this knife, and i plan on buying more.

 

[MolokaiRider]

I’m really enjoying the 55 and like it so much I ordered a second one.

I’ve been eyeballing those sweet micarta scales...they look to be a great value!

 

[anttttt]

Yes, I would be interested in one of your new designs as well especially at the price point that Schrade has for your other designs.
Nitro V steel sounds interesting.

 

[jbmonkey]

been following this thread. finally broke down and ordered one. looking forward to putting it through the paces.

 

[Mistwalker]

That would be great, could be my first knife in Nitro V.

I love Nitro V in the right geometries with the right heat treat and quench. I definitely want to explore it more with some of my own designs.

Because of this post i bought the raven. I am very impressed with this knife, and i plan on buying more.

Thank you! I appreciate the compliment and the support very much!

I’m really enjoying the 55 and like it so much I ordered a second one.

I’ve been eyeballing those sweet micarta scales...they look to be a great value!

View attachment 981386 View attachment 981387 View attachment 981388

Wow, thank you for the feedback! I'm very glad you're liking it! Really cool background pics, where are these taken?

Yes, I would be interested in one of your new designs as well especially at the price point that Schrade has for your other designs.
Nitro V steel sounds interesting.

With BTI just taking over Taylor Brands there will be a lot to sort out on what they need to do as they move forward so I imagine it will be a bit before we get into the new designs, but hopefully in time for SHOT or maybe Blade if possible.

been following this thread. finally broke down and ordered one. looking forward to putting it through the paces.

Wow, thank you. With my knowing not everyone has the same experiences, and most of mine being southern temperate zone and in the very deep southern sub tropic zones, hearing an order has been placed always leaves me hopeful the buyer will understand the reasons behind the geometry once they use it for themselves. That was the whole point of this post, to help it find its way into places where it can actually be useful for the people who buy it, since after reading this they know more about the perspective(s) it was designed from.

 

[Mistwalker]

Yes, I would be interested in one of your new designs as well especially at the price point that Schrade has for your other designs.
Nitro V steel sounds interesting.

As luck would have it, from the text I received earlier it looks like the talks on new designs will start sooner than expected.