All About Pocket Knives

That is, was there a time in Case's history when they used some form of 10XX (e.g. 1095) carbon steel instead of chrome-vanadium on their non-stainless knives?

Is there a way to tell the difference from tang stamps on the older knives?

Thanks,

-Dave

pinnah wrote:That is, was there a time in Case's history when they used some form of 10XX (e.g. 1095) carbon steel instead of chrome-vanadium on their non-stainless knives?

Is there a way to tell the difference from tang stamps on the older knives?

Thanks,

-Dave

Hi Dave;

Always nice to see someone local on AAPK (Hudson MA here).

In the early days of Case up through WWII, about 99.9% of their production was in carbon steel. Stainless was a rare novelty. As to what the carbon steel formulation was and when they went to CV, hard to say.

The best answer that I can give you would be that Case probably went to CV about 1929-1930, when they constructed and opened their new Foster Brook plant that replaced the old Bank Street plant in Bradford.

Prior to the new plant construction, I believe that Case forged their blades from carbon steel (could have been 1075, or 1095, or something else). The new plant was designed based on blanking the blades out of sheet steel and I believe that CV was introduced at that time.

The oldest Case catalog I have ever seen is a 1934 catalog and in that they mention CV steel as being "new". Since that was probably their first catalog in years (maybe their first ever)...it would support my theory.

Any Case stainless knife made after WWII will have the word STAINLESS or the letters SS in the tang stamping and the letters SS will usually be on the tang of each secondary blade, and usually but not always, the pattern number will be followed by the letters SS.

Good info Steve! Nailing down those dates will let me pull some old blades from the parts pile, put them in "something useable" and do some comparison testing on Case carbon steels throughout the years. I'll let you know how they fair against each other (this could be fun).

Thanks Steve! That is super helpful!

knifeaholic wrote: Prior to the new plant construction, I believe that Case forged their blades from carbon steel (could have been 1075, or 1095, or something else).

I've been looking at knife steels for years for another project. The early forged knives seem to have been made with a steel that has more carbon than 1075; at a guess it was 1095.

Jim

coffeecup wrote:

knifeaholic wrote: Prior to the new plant construction, I believe that Case forged their blades from carbon steel (could have been 1075, or 1095, or something else).

I've been looking at knife steels for years for another project. The early forged knives seem to have been made with a steel that has more carbon than 1075; at a guess it was 1095.

Jim

Good to know...

Do you know when the numbering system for steels originated? In other words when did the steel companies begin using the designations 10xx to show carbon content?

knifeaholic wrote: Do you know when the numbering system for steels originated? In other words when did the steel companies begin using the designations 10xx to show carbon content?

I've no idea. The old armory records and such that I've read typically note either the analysis of the materials, or a common or trade name. For spring stock as an example, they might specify a particular alloy, or "Duncan's Silver steel," or just "wire for springs."

Jim

Just a follow-up.

knifeaholic wrote: Do you know when the numbering system for steels originated? In other words when did the steel companies begin using the designations 10xx to show carbon content?

Looking back from a couple years later, I've got a bit more info.

The "1095" etc designations come from the SAE steel grades system, which as far as I've been able to determine was developed in the 1930s. U.S. involvement in WWII may have been a factor that lead to the rapid adoption of the system. The earliest contract I've seen that specify a steel such as "1095" or "1075" is from 1942; a couple of contracts from 1939 do not specify the alloy but instead call for "spring steel."

I'm really not a "contract guy," but I think with a little work this could be narrowed down further.