All About Pocket Knives

What is the easiest/best way to determine if a balde is carbon steel or not? all I know is the case ss and cv markings, what about other knives that are not marked on the blade??? Thanks

If its stainless it will probably say so on the blade. Hope that helps.

You could use a very expensive piece of gear that explodes the steel, then reads out from the vapors what the composition is of the metal....

or do it the easy way: Touch a part of the blade to an apple, a little vinegar, or regular mustard (remove oil first). You will have to buff it out if it turns out to be carbon steel. FRankly, I use Birchwood Casey gun blue, and to remove it, I use Gun Blue Remover.

In time, you will be able to tell most companies steel from the look of it, in many, many cases. Some manufacturers will buff carbon highly, seems to make it less prone to staining, and their stainless steels will not be so well finished. Takes time and experience

There is a way to check to see if blades wher carbon or steinless use copper solfate solution it would turn the carbon blades copper color. The stianless steel will not turn color. It does work.

tjlcutler - got a quick question for you ? Will copper sulfate work on D-2 ? It's not truly stainless, but it's got way-high chromium content ?

Just curious, I don't have any D-2 on hand, and really hadn't planned on gettin' any...

Thanks,
JR

Ringmaster wrote:tjlcutler - got a quick question for you ? Will copper sulfate work on D-2 ? It's not truly stainless, but it's got way-high chromium content ?

Just curious, I don't have any D-2 on hand, and really hadn't planned on gettin' any...

Thanks,
JR

That's a good question since the D2 carbon content is about 1.50%, twice as high as 1075/1080. But 440C is about 1.00 %.