That L6 (and others who said other steels) was several months back..., and about a week and a half back - I'd finally talked up in "The Bernard Levine Knife Collecting and Identification Forum" (which had my really, really nice knife, among several Gerber knives), who'd told me to email to Doug Hutchens, who's in Lone Wolf Knives now, but was in Gerber for way, way many years older.And Hutchens said:
The 450 Stag presentation knife is a very collectable knife as very few were produced of this model. I believe we built about 300-400 pieces of this knife, not just 200 pieces. The stag used on these knives was very hard to find and the piece required for this handle needed to be oval shaped and have a natural curve to it while not being too large or small in diameter. The critical dimensions for a stag handle to fit onto these knives was very tight so proper shaped stag to fit onto these knives was tough to find. Some of the knives built had deeper finger notches than your knife because the stag was bigger in diameter and the material was there to create the notches. You knife has a more universal fit to most hands and I prefer the handle shape that you have myself. I believe I have an old catalog at home that will show your knife. I will look tonight and scan the page and send a copy to you tomorrow if I remember to bring it into the office.
The Magnum Hunter and Mini-Magnum were great hunting knives. The first were made with bright chrome handles and later coated with a Steel Grip finish (that was sprayed stainless steel) and then Armorhide coated (sprayed Teflon) and finally coated with black powder-coating (epoxy powder that is heated to bond it in place). Some of the first knives had M-2 tool steel blades and later they were changed to 440C. Both are great hunting knives and if they are in good condition they are becoming collectable. I will also send you the catalog pages of these knives. Let me know what the handle color is on your knives and I can get the proper catalog page depending on what material they are coated with. The handles on all of these knives in die-cast aluminum that is cast onto the blade and then finished to shape and coated with one of the above processes. This makes a virtually indestructible knife. If you have more questions just ask away and I will try to respond. Talk to you soon.
So those old knives ARE M2 :grumpy:
