united steel info please

[newshooter04]

i have a 2 bladed knife made by united cutlery . it is a whittler with bone handles . it has a red oval medallion in the handle that says united .
my question is about the steel. it has a dark oily patina on it.no rust but when u shine it in the light just right it has what looks like oil on the blade and the blade feels oily but it is clean. i cleaned it with alcohol to take off the oil but it is still there.. the steel is really hard and with get scarry sharp.it is by far the best steel i have ever seen and i have owned a lot of knives in 50 years.
any help would be apprecated. thank u
david

 

[muzzleup]

Just about all of United Cutlery knives are made of 420J2 stainless steel. I don't know about your whittler but 420J2 does not take a good edge nor does it hold an edge once you are able to get one on.

FWIW
Ron:thumbdn:

 

[Esav Benyamin]

... it has a dark oily patina on it.no rust but when u shine it in the light just right it has what looks like oil on the blade and the blade feels oily but it is clean. i cleaned it with alcohol to take off the oil but it is still there.. the steel is really hard and with get scarry sharp.

United does sell a lot of cheap knives but what you describe sounds like a high carbon steel blade. These corrode easily but if they are treated will form that patina which protects against red rust.

I get a patina on my high carbon kitchen knives from cutting acidic foods. You can do this deliberately by soaking them in vinegar or mustard.

Until the latest high-tech stainless steels came along, carbon steels were the absolute best for strength and sharpness. Sounds like you've got a winner.

The best place for this question is The Bernard Levine Knife Collecting and Identification Forum. Perhaps one of the moderators will move it there.