Blades on eBay

[Reverand]

I am asking a question about some eBay listings - I am not making any accusations, but looking for expert opinions.
I see several old and rare knife blades posted every few weeks from a seller in Kentucky.
There are several things that I see in common with all of these blades: most have some rust spots but look otherwise unused, most have white powder packed in the nail nick, and the tang-end of the blades look to have been annealed.
All-in-all something looks fishy to me, like someone is making blades and stamping counterfeit marks on them. Although I may be missing out on some great bargains if I am wrong. What do the experts here think?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/CATTARAUGUS-CU ... SwB7FeCQAA

[herbva]

I am curious about this as well. I have been seeing those for quite some time, and all from the same seller. Here is a Case Tested blade currently for sale, and the "Tested XX" part is crisp and deep and the "Case" part is incomplete and looks almost worn off, and there isn't even a hole drilled in the unfinished tang. I am wondering if he somehow got possession of a large cache of factory rejects? That theory might work, except he has a number of different brands. Quite puzzling.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/CASE-XX-TESTED ... SwDYZeCP7G

[smille]

I would say the 'bluing' is a result of heating to bend or weld these to repair them. The first picture almost looks like solder drops.
It would beg the question as to why you would go through that trouble and not clean it up.

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Looking at these makes me think these were recovered from a fire.

[peanut740]

Those are old blade blanks that in most cases never stamped.The blueing is from someone recently heating up the blade to stamp it.The blades were never heat treated and drilled.Good chance they came out of Cattaraugus factory left over parts.Rhett Stidham's widow sold a couple of tractor trailer loads of the stuff a few years ago to a cobbler in Kentucky.There is no shortage of that crap.

[1fartsmella]

This is an add from the back of an old knife book. The story I was told was, there were 2 tractor trailer loads of blades & parts. In 1972 this was no secret find. 48 years later these parts have muddied the knife collecting waters we all wade in.

[herbva]

Wow, I suspected there was an interesting story behind this. Thanks for enlightening us!

[Knife Nut]

Huh.....Two tractor trailer loads..... WOW.
That would explain much of the Tom-Foolery going on now, as well as in the future.
I've heard many stories about Rhett Stidham, especially after his death, but never heard that one!

Paul

[btrwtr]

Those are old blade blanks that in most cases never stamped.The blueing is from someone recently heating up the blade to stamp it.The blades were never heat treated and drilled.Good chance they came out of Cattaraugus factory left over parts.Rhett Stidham's widow sold a couple of tractor trailer loads of the stuff a few years ago to a cobbler in Kentucky.There is no shortage of that crap.

I agree Roger. Many of the reworks sold on eBay and elsewhere are a product of this. You will often see the rough glazed finish on these blades even after they have been buffed to remove the tell tale blue from the heat used to stamp the blades. The result is a knife that is not truly collectible or usable for that matter. This is why it is so important to read the knife and not just the stamp. Well worn handles and frames often come up on eBay with these full blades installed.