Thread: Smith & Wesson????

Anyone ever heard of the Smith & Wesson straight razor?

I saw one on the 'bay and it was supposed to be stainless steel. Looked nice, but I wondered about the quality and such.

Anyone else ever seen or have one? I have a Smith & Wesson pocket knife that is a very nice knife. I've just never seen or heard of their Straight Razor.

Thanks for any info..

M

I have seen those as well. I tend to think that Smith and Wesson probably never made a knife, nor a razor. They put their name on anything which will sell by name recognition. You can get new Winchester knives and all manner of things too. I expect it is along the lines of a Kriegar and such!
Just my opinion!

Well, I guess I'll find out. I just bought one. about the same price as a good set of scales so I won't cry too much if I just gut it and re-use the scales!! HA!

Oh well, it'll be a honing challenge if nothing else. I'll be interested to see if it can be honed. If it's like a Kreiger, well, that just about say's it all. LOL.

Thanks Tom!!

Look for CHINA written on the back side of the blade in magic marker like ink.

Originally Posted by Wullie

Look for CHINA written on the back side of the blade in magic marker like ink.

Heck!, That doesn't mean it's not made in th USA anymore!

hmmm, it has Schrade - Walden inscribed on the blade, on the other side it has the Smith & Wesson engraving.

I take it Schrade is a knife maker?? I will look them up.

M

Yep, I see Schrade was a knife making company for about 100 years here in America. It appears they stopped making new knives in 2004. I believe the Walden part refers to the location in Germany where these are being made for Schrade.

well, this will be interesting at the least... Gotta wait until I see it to figure it out I guess..

Well, Like I said it didn't cost any more than a decent set of scales, so not much lost if it is crap..

M

Originally Posted by mjhammer

Yep, I see Schrade was a knife making company for about 100 years here in America. It appears they stopped making new knives in 2004. I believe the Walden part refers to the location in Germany where these are being made for Schrade.

well, this will be interesting at the least... Gotta wait until I see it to figure it out I guess..

Well, Like I said it didn't cost any more than a decent set of scales, so not much lost if it is crap..

M

Schrade Cut Co ( cutlery company ), Walden, New York was a premium cutlery company. The name was later changed to Schrade-Walden. The company is now defunct except in name only. The name has been bought by Taylor Brands LLC as I recall and all of the knives are now made in China. They made straight razors "back in the day" and you see one every now and then on ebay.

I have one of their new razors(?) . There is no where on the razor which indicates which country it was made in. It appears to be stainless steel but again it doesn't say what it's made of. As for sharping! It 's beyond my mortal powers to even put a decent knife edge on it, less a razor edge. Try every couple of weeks but it's a no go.

Well, got it today and spent the first couple of hours I had it trying to create a bevel.

First impression... It is a knife, not a razor. The bevel that was placed on it was a very absurd angle, and the width of the edge is way to thick for a razor. The bevel is about a 1/16" as it was set at the factory. The shoulder is very close to the heel, so that it protrudes right into the honing path. I can think it is stainless steel as that is simply what it feels like in hardness. It is very hard indeed, as the first hour of attempting to set a bevel showed.

After a few tries on the 800, I put a few drops of diamond slurry oil on my DMT325 and started scraping away. I kept checking the scratch pattern on the bevel and realized I wasn't even reaching it (with 1 layer of tape on it). I put 4 layers of tape on it in an effort to reach the bevel. Even with 4 layers I still have not reached the bevel the factory put on it yet. It is seriously going to take a lot of laps on the DMT to even get the metal removed. I was using an extreme heel forward angle to be sure and miss the poorly designed shoulder, so I could directly compare the new scratch pattern against the old factory bevel. It wasn't even getting close to it yet. It might take hours of rubbing on the DMT to even reach the bevel. I'm not sure it's even possible. Remember this is with 4 layers of tape on it already, and it's a good 1/4" away from the edge yet.

Not a well designed razor, but would do ok for a knife. It will just have to be a 'when I want to torture myself' project to see if it is possible to ever get to the bevel or not. It probably really just requires a re-grind toward the edge. It is a very nice looking razor, heavy scales with a brass liner, all metal, with brass lined wedge with intricate S&W logo. It has covered pins, so the odds of re-using the scales is nil. It is just over 6/8" with a fairly narrow spine and only a slight grind, so it's a narrow near wedge.

I think the steel is good enough. There is no indication where the steel was made, but by the 'feel' of it on the DMT it is hard, really hard.

Who knows? If you could get to the bevel, it might hold an edge. I don't know...

That's my review.

M