What is your opinion on SCHRADE?

A Silky saw is fine, but you do need to be careful with them. Those are primarily arborist tools, and for the most part made to cut green wood. Dead dry wood can present a problem, and if you aren't careful its not hard to break a Silky blade cutting dead wood, especially larger pieces. The cutting edge of the saw blade is very hard, and doesn't take well to bending. Sometimes a small axe is just better for cutting, de-limbing and splitting. Read the Nessmuk book.....
 
Schrade is a favorite! Nothing fancy just good working knives.

I have a small pile of USA's. All users for sure.

148 & H-15 marked Schrade Walden. 154, 152 & 165 Old Timers. I think the next one will be a 15OT (Deerslayer)

Two new ones :
sharpfinger and the exertion

I carry the exertion to work everyday. Love it. The aus-10 blade is fantastic. The only complaint I have is the plastic sheath was a pile of crap.

The new sharpfinger is.. ok... I'll stick with the older ones.

I also thought about grabbing a new 165 OT (woodsman) just to compare it with my old one... But haven't got around to it yet.

The Heritage line looks nice but I haven't been adventurous enough to try one out.
 
Schrade made OK knives in the US, then managed to go bankrupt and the name was bought by other US companies.

I have tried a few new (3 or 4) of their Chinese made traditional models through the years and they are just bad, way below what SMKW brands like RR and Queen (if you want an old name, cheap knife) or other companies like Buck can produce for similar price.

I have seen no improvement. The finish and the overall walk and talk is just not good enough. They look fine from distance.
I have now stopped bothering with them (for a few years).

Some say their fixed blades are OK; I have none so I can not comment on that.

They do now have some US models, made I think by Bear and Son (not the epitome of quality), trying to satisfy the desire of some for a US made Schrade.
For some models, you can buy the actual B&S branded one for less money, making them pointless, unless you want to have the name of a company that basically died/failed 20 years ago on your blade.
 
I love the old USA Schrades. I have about 10 still that I am keeping for posterity. You do have to like carbon steel to like them. Many do.
USA Schrade carbon steel was one of the best, but I didn't like the Swindon key construction. Made it hard to take slop out of the pivot.

They did, in fact, get sold and began construction in China. Those new knives were, in fact, nowhere near the old quality. People rightfully reacted poorly. Taylor bought the name and used it to sell an inferior knife. I called them "charades" instead of "Schrades".

However, I've heard that the quality has returned to an extent. I've read people say that they are as good as Rough Rider but they liked the steel better on the Schrades. I'm not a fan of 440A (Rough Rider) myself, even for a budget steel. So, if you want an inexpensive slipjoint to drop in your pocket and use instead of cherish, they might be OK.

This is really a better question for the Traditional forum so as to compare apples to apples.
 
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davek14 said:
I've read people say that they are as good as Rough Rider b
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As far as fixed blades go... I don't think this is a fair comparison. I can't speak for the folders.

The two new Schrade I have here, yes they are budget beaters, but they are at least solid knives with a decent finish.

Since I'm a loyal fan of anything cheap and sharp, I also have a rough Rider small skinner and it is a rough ground Pakistan steel pile of junk with the parts glued together. Not worth it's weight in pennies. Even the new marbles are a step up from this RR, without a doubt. Shame too because it is a perfect size and shape.

the Schrade Exertion above, in my experience, is similar to the Gerber freeman and downwind along with the Browning Ignite and Outlast. All of similar manufacture but the Schrade is just a little better. My opinion of course.
 
RickHuf said:
As far as fixed blades go... I don't think this is a fair comparison. I can't speak for the folders.

The two new Schrade I have here, yes they are budget beaters, but they are at least solid knives with a decent finish.

Since I'm a loyal fan of anything cheap and sharp, I also have a rough Rider small skinner and it is a rough ground Pakistan steel pile of junk with the parts glued together. Not worth it's weight in pennies. Even the new marbles are a step up from this RR, without a doubt. Shame too because it is a perfect size and shape.

the Schrade Exertion above, in my experience, is similar to the Gerber freeman and downwind along with the Browning Ignite and Outlast. All of similar manufacture but the Schrade is just a little better. My opinion of course.
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Hmm. the Rough Rider was bad, huh?
I haven't bought knives in a few years and am just going on what I've read online.
As another data point, I just looked into some Schrade slipjoint ads and saw a lot of 7Cr13MoV and even 3Cr13MoV, so there's that. I used to see more 8Cr13MoV.
I do like 8Cr13MoV quite a bit better than 440A (possibly even like 7Cr13MoV better, heat treat is all)
Thanks for the info.
 
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