All About Pocket Knives

This ebay seller has listed a bunch of blades “for repair or replacement” which appear to be freshly cold stamped. Here is one of the listings - there are several more https://www.ebay.com/itm/116514305730?_ ... p_homepage

These are not legitimate original authentic Tested era blades. Note the rounded corners of the letters, the “mushy” appearance not found on authentic Tested stamps. Authentic stamps should appear “crisp” with sharply squared corners, and squared (not rounded) ends of letters.

See bottom photo of an authentic stamp, for comparison.

Ken

This is worse fake Rolex’s and Hermes handbags because an accomplice is going to cobble these blades into a used knife frame and an unsuspecting buyer will start the circulation cycle. I say send them all to OLDE CUTLER to have their tangs drilled

Yes, big potential for extended fraud. Same seller also has listed blades having supposed stamps from several other cutleries. I’m not as familiar with those companies’ stamps but in general the same principles apply to other stamps from that era.

Ken

bestgear wrote: ↑Tue Mar 11, 2025 4:59 pm This is worse fake Rolex’s and Hermes handbags because an accomplice is going to cobble these blades into a used knife frame and an unsuspecting buyer will start the circulation cycle. I say send them all to OLDE CUTLER to have their tangs drilled

I am chucking up my carbide bit as you speak! lol

"Found a cache of my dad's parts" he says.
Why do they always have to bring dad and grampa into it?

The Excelsior seem pretty suspicious also.

I think the same seller has some original??? steel tang stamps.

About 2 weeks ago one of our AAPK members was selling these same blades...Must have made a batch recently. I brought to his attention that these were fake blades.....blocked me from bidding on his items..

Could the temper line be a warning sign as well? I recently re-watched a video from the Case factory, they used an inductor to temper the tang, but the temper line was closer to the tang than on these fake blades (about the red line if I remember correctly)

desert.snake wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 1:28 pm Could the temper line be a warning sign as well? I recently re-watched a video from the Case factory, they used an inductor to temper the tang, but the temper line was closer to the tang than on these fake blades (about the red line if I remember correctly)

Good question. I watched the process during a Case factory tour. I suspect what the video showed is the “de-tempering” of the tangs. Blades (tang stamps already applied) are tempered/hardened in batches, in ovens (as Case has done for decades). The blades are then placed into a fixture, where the tangs only are reheated to remove some of that hardening. The tang area of the blade needs the same approximate hardness as the spring, which it rubs against when operating in the assembled knife. (If the blade is harder than the spring it will wear the spring prematurely). That’s the current process - I don’t know how it was done during the TESTED XX era. Maybe similar, or not, but I doubt they used induction heating back then.

As for the blades pictured in the seller’s eBay auctions, my thoughts on first seeing them, with the blue heat-lines, is that the blades were heated as part of the process of applying the stamps, in an attempt to soften the steel in the tang area before stamping them. That’s just a guess. Either way I question whether those are even Case blades. And as you’ve pointed out the heating appears to have been at least halfway up the blades, and well into the “using edge” area. Which pretty much ruins it for it’s intended purposes. Pretty far fetched that they would do that at a legitimate cutlery.

Ken

In the intro to Case's catalog #60 - about 1949 - first catalog after WWII - they highlighted their "new" induction annealer for annealing blade tangs.

knifeaholic wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 6:02 pm In the intro to Case's catalog #60 - about 1949 - first catalog after WWII - they highlighted their "new" induction annealer for annealing blade tangs.

Cool information! Thank you

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 2:36 pm
The blades are then placed into a fixture, where the tangs only are reheated to remove some of that hardening. The tang area of the blade needs the same approximate hardness as the spring, which it rubs against when operating in the assembled knife. (If the blade is harder than the spring it will wear the spring prematurely). That’s the current process - I don’t know how it was done during the TESTED XX era. Maybe similar, or not, but I doubt they used induction heating back then.

As for the blades pictured in the seller’s eBay auctions, my thoughts on first seeing them, with the blue heat-lines, is that the blades were heated as part of the process of applying the stamps, in an attempt to soften the steel in the tang area before stamping them. That’s just a guess. Either way I question whether those are even Case blades. And as you’ve pointed out the heating appears to have been at least halfway up the blades, and well into the “using edge” area. Which pretty much ruins it for it’s intended purposes. Pretty far fetched that they would do that at a legitimate cutlery.

Ken

I also wondered why they anneal the tails. The information about the wear of the spring is very interesting, thank you very much!

I just looked on the internet, high frequency induction hardening is almost 100 years old, so it is likely that Case started using it because it is so effective. I see in the automotive industry it was used everywhere

desert.snake wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 6:31 pmI just looked on the internet, high frequency induction hardening is almost 100 years old...

I'm a big Landers, Frary & Clark collector and found this description from 1907 on hardening and tempering. "Hardening is effected by bringing it to a red heat and dipping it in water up to the choil. The tang is left soft so it may be readily filed, drilled, stamped, and fitted in the handle. Tempering is often accomplished by bringing the blades to a purple heat on a thin copper plate. The tempering room at LF&C was screened so the light was evenly diffused in daylight in order that the operators could easily judge the color of the metal. After the blades are hardened and tempered, they are tested and straightened. To test the blades for flaws, each one is thrown against a block of steel. Blades which do not ring true were rejected."