All About Pocket Knives

While fishing with my friend Adam we found a big snag of netting that had washed up and I was cutting out some lead core rope that Adam wanted and I had a surprising blade failure.
My nice old Schrade fishermans knife broke at the tang. In the poorly focused picture you can see that the blade was weak from the beginning. Held only at the spine and at the blade edge. A manufacturing error I assume.

Sorry to see that, Joe, I can imagine the feeling right after it happened.
Dan

Bad deal! wasn't properly tempered after heat treating, in other words it was left extremely hard and brittle. Just my guess. Terry

What a bummer. Looks like a really cool knife. Any way to fix it? Can it be welded back together?

___________
Mike

Joe - reach-out to Elvis (Bob Pickelsimer) who welded a number of old vintage knives that I thought were junk and he fully restored them. Show him the pictures and he'll give you a realistic idea if the blade can be saved -or- he might be able locate another. Hope that helps!

Joe - that really is a bummer. I have never seen a blade break from stress applied in cutting. Prying yes.

The discoloration on the blade looks almost as though it was heated up at some time in the past, that alone would ruin the temper. Definitely a bummer in any case for sure.

Eric

I couldn't tell from the image but it does look like heat discoloration.
Do you believe it is corrosion? As if the blade always had a fracture there?
Even IF it were a heat treat issue the color would have run all the way thru the fracture, and not end at the place where it finally failed. maybe...
Say the metal was brittle at the spine, and soft in the discolored area... The spine would break but the softer area would have more likely bent before breaking. I would have to believe it was corrosion on an overly hard blade. Meaning the fracture had already developed, and the spine along with a small portion of the blade edge (from the image) were all that were holding it. That makes sense.

It would not be the first time a viable "crack" was built into a piece of steel. I don't trust bridges for this very reason.

Now wouldn't finding another identical knife /parts knife be easier to get a blade from vs. welding, heat treating?

Joe,
Let me do some digging, I think I have another Geo. Schrade blade, just not sure if it is that model or not.
If you haven't heard back from me in a couple days, please remind me, I can get sidetracked pretty easily.

Bummer Joe - to be polite on a public forum.... hope it can be repaired (and sounds like Dale being the good man he is may have a fix ) and if not I have seen the Schrade fishing/hunting knives pop up occasionally in the same style - and the blades have those fish scalers on the spine...

Sounds like you are doing some fishing buddy - .. and more importantly Joe you are doing the right thing cutting that net which is just you (I know Joe so I can say that )...

Thanks for all your kind comments and suggestions, guys. I appreciate them.
Thank you for your efforts Dale.
Your right Lee, these knives do come up for auction from time to time. Thank you.

My condolences Joe.... Hope you ended up havin' a nice fish dinner in the end?

Sorry to hear about your Schrade, Joe. It's always gutting to have a knife fail on you like that. I do hope you can have it restored. Some of the knife magicians around here surely will know what to do.

americanedgetech wrote:It would not be the first time a viable "crack" was built into a piece of steel. I don't trust bridges for this very reason.

My friend, I strongly recommend you do not visit Pittsburgh in that case.

LOLOLOL...
I go AROUND Pittsburgh. For MANY reasons.

That sucks, Joe. I had a schrade 2-blade auto that I had swapped out a bad spring in. I was enjoying opening it for a few days, then out of the blue, one of the blades just snapped off at the tang. Could be that the new spring was too strong.

Anyway, hope Dale has a replacement blade for it,it would be nice to see that back in action again!

Thank you, Ken and Glenn.
It just seemed so odd, the way it snapped and the reason it snapped. And such a storied maker.
You hate to lose such a collectible, but I'll get along quite well without it.
I can't imagine welding it and all that would involve. A new different is possible I suppose.
Thanks again.

Sorry for your loss, but, give it a Proper Burial

I have a schrade with a blade that is cracked in almost the same area where yours broke, it's an unused knife. I have no doubt it would break the same way with use. Rare manufacturing error I suppose, sorry that it happened to your knife.

Thanks Paul.
Rare and strange indeed.

So sorry Joe, I snapped a trusty old Mora a few months ago so know this horrible feeling, I hope you can bring it back to life,I brought my Mora back with a few alterationa

Thank you, Paul. I haven't taken the time to look for a repair if that is even possible.
Good save on that Mora.