SMKW Blade blank

Fletcher Knives

Fletcher Knives

STEEL BREATHING BLADE MAESTRO
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A friend of mine went to Smokey Mountain Knife Works shop and picked me up a couple of blanks without actually calling me and asking if i wanted them. While I appreciate the gesture and I'm sure I'll make a couple out of them, it still erks me. The reason is that SMKW only indicated that they are made of Stainless Steel. I called them and asked if the specialist could specify which stainless and the very rude girl in customer service said "he says it's 440." I said "can I speak with the specialist?" She answered "no. he's very busy right now with customers." I said "can you ask him then which 440 stainless it is... A, B, or C?" She came back and said "He said he doesn't know. It isn't printed on the blade and the only information with the blanks indicates 440 stainless. That's all. He can't guess which kind it is." She said the last part pretty snotty. I replied "You are a shop that specializes in the production, distribution, and retailing of knives and swords and your specialist of your specialized store doesn't know which 440 stainless you offer from his department?... Thanks. You've been very helpful in destroying any faith I might have had in your shop." Then I hung up. My question is, does anyone have any experience with their blanks and does anyone know what 440 it is?

Thanks much.
Dylan
 
Agreed. The only reason someone wouldn't indicate that a blade was 440C is that it is not. Very few knowledgable people are going to purchase a knife if it says "440A" on it.

Most of the generic cheapie import stuff out there is 440A.

--nathan
 
That was my thinking as well. My only problem with that, because i don't mind making a knife out of something that was free, is that the scale blocks and pins and stuff like that cost money and there's effort involved. I don't particularly want to spend that kind of time and effort to shape some nice handles for knives with crap blades in them. Maybe I'll just shave down some wood I've got lying around and rap it in leather or something. I don't think those blades are worth the effort of making nice micarta or bone handles.
 
Of course, I don't imagine that you would sell them to anyone, but if you wanted to make them for yourself, that's cool. Practice makes perfect, but as you said, practice means $$$ a lot of times.

Is there enough bulk in the handle portion to save and make bolsters or other parts?

--nathan
 
silver_pilate said:
Of course, I don't imagine that you would sell them to anyone, but if you wanted to make them for yourself, that's cool. Practice makes perfect, but as you said, practice means $$$ a lot of times.

Is there enough bulk in the handle portion to save and make bolsters or other parts?

--nathan
Click to expand...

Fortunately, one of the things that makes my decisions concerning the blades easy, I don't have any more micarta or good wood block left. All I have at home is a bunch of mid-grade wood blocks I was using to practice handle shapes (which I wouldn't mind using on these blades), a ton of cord in various colors, and some bone blocks (that I definitely won't waste on these). So I guess I'll just go my cheapie route (to stick with the general theme of the blades) and use my mid-grade stuff and just wrap it in some good thin handle wraping leather, which I have a tone of as well.

One way or another, I have to do something with the blades. The guy who bought them is a really good friend and he thought he was doing something really nice for me, which in reality was a good thought. He just didn't know what to get. Since i don't want to hurt his feelings, I'll use the cheapo stuff (which he also doesn't know is cheapo) give it a wrap and BOOYAH...I've made some nifty stuff with his blades. I just really wish they weren't crap 440A. I've tried to steer him toward the nicer side of knives, but he really likes the cheap stuff and is quite the mall ninja. I guess for his purpose that's fine. He doesn't ever use any of them (thank God cause they'd brake and cut his damn hand off). He just likes to look at them and use them as decoration.

Edit: I looked at your question again and thought that I may have misunderstood it. If so the answer, assuming you were talking about chopping the blade tang up for other pieces, is only on one of them. There's one with a pretty good size full tang. The rest are push tangs that are a little slim to use for anything else.
 
Now there's an idea. You can even regrind the blade profile if you wanted and re-heat treat.

--nathan
 
If you like the shape of the blades, you can always use them as templates and make them out of good steel..Your friend dosen't even have to know..:D That way every one is happy !!!
 
Dylside said:
I called them and asked if the specialist could specify which stainless and the very rude girl in customer service said "he says it's 440." I said "can I speak with the specialist?" She answered "no. he's very busy right now with customers."
Click to expand...

I was at SMKW back in Oct. I talked to the "specialist" and asked him what type of steel the cheap blades were made out of. He told me 420, then I asked what type of heat treat. He finally said "I just sell them, I'm not sure what the specs are." There's a little shop beside the store. He told me to go see the knifemaker there and see if he could answer my questions.

I ended up buying a cheap $5 skinner just to play around with.
 
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