Utica Kutmaster blade steel

E

et10

Joined
May 18, 2010
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I just thought I'd post a heads up about the Utica Kutmaster line of knives. I ordered a Big Pine series stockman, about 3 7/8" in length almost as an afterthought to an order of sharpeners a couple weeks ago. I noticed after a week or so of carry that the main blade started to get a little line of discoloration, so I threw the whole thing into a bowl with the juice of 4 fresh lemons. After an hour of soaking, it is pretty clear that when they say they use 1095 blade steel, they mean on the main blade only. The sheepsfoot and spey blades are still just as silver and shiny as when it went in, while the clip main blade has turned a nice shade of grey. The green dye is leaching out of the scales some, but that's probably to be expected with a new knife. Don't buy one of these thinking you're going to get three 1095 carbon blades as that doesn't seem to be the case, at least with the medium stockman. Since they don't mention this on the website (or anywhere else for that matter) I'd have to say the other two are a very low end stainless. Probably a grade lower that 440A, but time will tell how they hold up. That is all. Thank You.
 
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A rather disappointing development to say the least. Oh, well. Back to my Queen Country Cousin or GEC Garnet Farmer, both superior cutlery in any event.
 
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It is good to read your post et10, as I almost thought I'd gone nuts when I noticed the same stainless on the two other blades and carbon on the main (as well as particularly shoddy workmanship) on a catskill (utica) I'd bought. It's a darn shame for a company that advertizes "made in U.S.A.", but its a fact, and "human error" doesn't cut it this time. I finally tossed mine out rather than pass it on to someone else who cares about knives.
 
Hadn't noticed it on my large stockman until you posted. I thought about it and realized that the only times I cut damp things, I use the main blade. So there was no reason to expect any staining of the other blades.

I dunno. I still like mine. It's big. It's solid. Too bad about the stainless blades on it, but it's not a deal breaker to me. I agree they should have revealed the stainless secondary blades from the get-go, though.
 
johnny1950 said:
It is good to read your post et10, as I almost thought I'd gone nuts when I noticed the same stainless on the two other blades and carbon on the main (as well as particularly shoddy workmanship) on a catskill (utica) I'd bought. It's a darn shame for a company that advertizes "made in U.S.A.", but its a fact, and "human error" doesn't cut it this time. I finally tossed mine out rather than pass it on to someone else who cares about knives.
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Toss it my way. :)
 
johnny1950 said:
It is good to read your post et10, as I almost thought I'd gone nuts when I noticed the same stainless on the two other blades and carbon on the main (as well as particularly shoddy workmanship) on a catskill (utica) I'd bought. It's a darn shame for a company that advertizes "made in U.S.A.", but its a fact, and "human error" doesn't cut it this time. I finally tossed mine out rather than pass it on to someone else who cares about knives.
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im a little confused by your statement here... what problem did you have that caused you to throw it out?
we know the Op's problem, did you have the same problem
honestly dont know that ive ever thrown away a knife no matter how cheap, now losing them ive done that.
regards
gene
 
IVANKERLEY said:
im a little confused by your statement here... what problem did you have that caused you to throw it out?
we know the Op's problem, did you have the same problem
honestly dont know that ive ever thrown away a knife no matter how cheap, now losing them ive done that.
regards
gene
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As I stated in my post, it was poorly made (blade wobble back and forth (can handle side by side)) and two blades were cheap stainless. That's enough for me.
 
johnny1950 said:
As I stated in my post, it was poorly made (blade wobble back and forth (can handle side by side)) and two blades were cheap stainless. That's enough for me.
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thanks for clarifying, the shoddy workmanship that is, the barlow i ordered for my dad was alright, lazy snaps about all that was wrong F&F were pretty good though
anybody try contacting them see what they say about the matter, FWIW i questioned a big bowie from Utica awhile back and they responded to my inquiry
regards
gene
 
Utica and their brands (i.e., KutMaster) use 420 stainless for their stainless steel blades.

I can't find the reference just now but I've got a nagging feeling in the back of my head that some companies in years past use one kind of steel for say the main blade of a knife and another kind of steel for the other blades in the knife.
 
Case did for a bit on a special edition- every knife in the series had a stainless spey blade iirc. The other blades were CV, and the stainless speys had an etch that read "for flesh only". They did disclose the fact that the steels were different and were quite open about it though, in fact that was their selling point for that series- the best of both worlds.
 
I've read that somewhere before, but mine work just fine for what I paid. Utica should say they use both carbon and stainless in their advertising copy though.
 
et10 said:
I just thought I'd post a heads up about the Utica Kutmaster line of knives. I ordered a Big Pine series stockman, about 3 7/8" in length almost as an afterthought to an order of sharpeners a couple weeks ago. I noticed after a week or so of carry that the main blade started to get a little line of discoloration, so I threw the whole thing into a bowl with the juice of 4 fresh lemons. After an hour of soaking, it is pretty clear that when they say they use 1095 blade steel, they mean on the main blade only. The sheepsfoot and spey blades are still just as silver and shiny as when it went in, while the clip main blade has turned a nice shade of grey. The green dye is leaching out of the scales some, but that's probably to be expected with a new knife. Don't buy one of these thinking you're going to get three 1095 carbon blades as that doesn't seem to be the case, at least with the medium stockman. Since they don't mention this on the website (or anywhere else for that matter) I'd have to say the other two are a very low end stainless. Probably a grade lower that 440A, but time will tell how they hold up. That is all. Thank You.
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They mention it on the site and in their catalog. I downloaded their catalog and it mentions through out the catalog in their description of some of their knives that that they use a mix of stainless steel blades and 1095 blades in some of their knives.The stainless steel they use is 420.

They should hold up just fine. The knives I have from them are very good, well built, finished, and very solid.

Whoever has a problem, send the knife back to the manufacture for repair or replacement.
 
That is interesting. I know the blades on my Catskill small stockman are all 1095 (or at least non-stainless) I put warm vinegar on them, and they have a nice dark color. The backsprings as well, since I wasn't too careful with the application.

I wouldn't mind having a multi bladed knife featuring different steels, but I would want a good stainless, and to know about it before I bought it,
 
Don't get hung up so much on the steel - carbon or stainles but on the heat treat, etc..
 
When the online seller states 1095 with no stainless blades that's what a buyer has a right to expect. Had there been some notice that one blade is 1095 and the other two are 420 stainless, that would be a different situation, and I may have still taken a chance on it. I have carbon and stainless knives, and I have no problem with stainless as long as I know that's what i'm buying. As far as considering heat treat as opposed to blade steel, if Utica was using 420hc heat treated to Buck knife standards they'd be happy to point that out on all their dealer sites. It's a much safer bet that they are using a lower end 420 with a budget heat treat. Time and use will tell how any of the blades hold up to use, but basically the stockman I got was about the equivilant of a Rough Rider (with gaps at the backspring I can see through, weak spring on the spey blade, blade wobble on the spey blade that I had to fix, and mystery stainless on a knife advertised as 1095 with no mention on the seller's site of said stainless blades) for over twice the price. At least with Rough Rider I know what to expect. While this knife may turn out to be a servicable if overpriced user, I won't be going back to anything from Utica any time soon.
 
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