Cold Steel blade blanks

[Tom]

Evening all (though its breakfast time here)

I have stumbled across a number of Cold Steel blade blanks reputedly remnant stock from the Camillus factory closing down. THey are claimed to be CarbonV which is what got my attention. There are SRKs, Kukris and Tantos. As far as I can find on Google these are genuine but I have a couple of questions that maybe someone can help with.

Is there an easy way to tell if they have been heat treated yet or not and is there a way to tell if they are actually Carbon V or the newer stainless version.

Would heat treating them again cause any problems if they have already been done (I would be sending out for heat treatment)

It seems like a great opportunity to get a Cold Steel blank for 10-20 quid if they are in fact Carbon V.

Thanks guys

Tom

[cigareta1993]

It's really easy to find out if they are HT just use a file and if it just glides across the surface it is HT. I don't think there would be any problem with HT them again it would just be a waste of money.

[ZDP-189]

Wow do they have a spare Kuk?

[Ru Titley]

What a find , id love an un-handled khuk or a magnum tanto XIL

[ajt125]

sound like youve stumbled across a goldmine are there alot of them for sale??

ant.

[Tom]

They are on Evilbay over here and there currently are about 4 Kuks, Kobun, Oyuban, Recon tantos various SRKs and an UWK.

I am very tempted by a Kuk and an SRK as good winter projects.

Tom

[Ru Titley]

Get them all, then sell them onto us,

[Tom]

Get them all, then sell them onto us

If I knew anything about selling stuff Paypal, postage etc I might just. I can shop with the best of them but never handled the selling side

Tom

[megalift]

An easy way to tell if they're carbon steel (Carbon V), is just to wipe a bit of gun-blue over the cutting edge, if it turns dark blue/black more or less instantly, it's carbon. If the colour doesn't change/much it's stainless. Or you could just etch it with fruit juice (Lemon), or brine. It won't take long to start discolouring if it's Carbon V. As far as heat treat goes, as above, if the file skates, it's HT'd.

Lastly - Get me a Tanto will you?

[Tom]

Just tried to bid on one and got a pop up banning me from bidding on knives due to Uk restrictions. My ebay account was originally set up in the UK so there must be a hidden setting somewhere. I have sent a sharp email to customer service at ebay to get this restriction lifted. I will see how that goes.

Tom

[kpurse]

Wouldn't it be nice if Evilbay Uk lifted the ban?

[Tom]

Ok ebay issue resolved bidding has now commenced

SRKs seem to be more common than any other model I wonder if its due to a lack of demand now or a large production volume before they closed.

Thanks for your tips guys once I win one I will post what I get. They were obviously pulled off the lines at close of play one day as there seem to be some with bevels some without, some already have the black coating (although not many of these) so I presume these would just require a handle and sharpening.

The Kuks that are up at the moment dont have the bevels ground yet so a bit more work required there, possibly heat treat too.

Tom

[Stew]

Sounds interesting Tom. Could be some fun projects.

[MeetTheGeeks]

tanto please!!

[Tom]

Just a follow up on this. I have now received my first of these blanks, its an SRK. I will take some pics hopefully tomorrow and do the file and lemon juice tests to see what I have but I have to say it looks good so far.

I am keeping my eyes peeled for tantos and kuks as well so we will see what crops up.

Tom