Schrade Wildlife Series - Stag Knife Review

The Schrade fixed clip blade with stag handle and bronze elk shield SHD2ELST. Handle is 4.6". Actual blade length is 3.7". Blade thickness is 3/16" at its widest part. Blade width 1 5/16" at its widest part. Slicing blade edge length 3.25" Stainless steel blade (440 series steel depending on production run). Stag handles, with elk emblem. Leather sheath included. Cut of stag varies. This is a heavy knife at 8.3 oz. Its overall length is 8.5".

This is a good looking full tang knife with a nicely polished blade and stag handles. Overall, construction appears very good and sturdy. Factory edge is not finished but shaves hair and slices paper respectable. There is no indication on the knife itself the place of manufacture but the box does state made in China. Steel is 440 series. Schrade makes a lot of knives and steel used for any particular production run depends on what is available on the market or what is on-hand at the factory but most of their stainless steel knives are some 420 and most 440. Thus, Schrade normally describes steel in catalogs and on websites as just stainless steel. Contact the manufacture if you want to know the steel grade of any particular knife and they will promptly reply. This knife retails for under $50. Knife tests will be average abuse for this type of knife to include slicing, carving, chipping, corrosion resistance/durability, and overall edge and tip retention. Grading system is a simple, "Satisfactory" or "Unsatisfactory". There is no final or overall grading system. That will be left for the reader to decide.

Nothing remarkable to report on the slicing of the potato except at the end I was reminded from a scene in True Grit and just started chopping away at it. I was able to get potato chip thin slices when I tried. Potatoes are slippery to slice due to the vascular storage area (meat of the potato) that tends to grip the edge.

Before I do any further tests that require video I will subject the knife to overall integrity/environmental conditions. The tap water in my area is extremely hard and I want to abuse the knife with it to corrupt it with several different types of minerals including iron and calcium as well as water, humidity, high heat, and freezing temperatures. To accomplish this I will place the knife in a dishwasher and cycle it with dishwasher detergent that has abrasives in it to attack the blade and edge as well as the rest of the knife. The first test in the dishwasher will be with the heat dry cycle off and let the knife rest a day to aid in promoting possible corrosion. I will also run it through the dishwasher a second time with heat dry on and no dishwasher to detergent to subject the knife to further hard hot water, humidity, and high heat. Finally, I will freeze the knife submersed in hard tap water for a couple of days. I will post results after each step.

Integrity Step #1

Subjected to 60-minute dishwasher cycle with dishwasher detergent and no heat dry.

Only thing remarkable to report is that the stag handles lost their polished shine and now look and feel more natural to the touch. No noticeable indication of corrosion or rust on any steel, brass, and bronze elk emblem. See image links below (click on image to get full size).

Integrity Step #2

Subjected to 60-minute cycle plus 38-minute heat dry cycle with no dishwasher detergent.

Only thing remarkable to report is that the heat seems to only have affected the red spacers between the tang and the stag. Nothing serious but the spacers seem to have grown about 1/32" or less protruding from the butt of the handle. This softening and then hardening of the spacers appears to have created an additional bond between the stag and tang while filling in any slight imperfections along the stag line and the red spacers as well. The heat and moisture obviously created some movement of the spacers. See image links below (click on image to get full size).

Integrity Step #3

Subjected to freezing (seven degrees F above zero) while submersed in hard tap water for 24 hours.

The only thing remarkable to report after freezing is the appearance of a few specks of rust on the polished surface of the blade. These were easily wiped off so it could be because of the steel or something like iron in the hard water. There was also quite a bit of calcium build up on the blade from the frozen hard water. Due to this small development I will place the knife back in the dishwasher with dishwasher detergent one final time. The abrasive detergent, air, and water will exploit any rusting potential on the surface of the steel after the previous freezing step.

The final cycle in the dishwasher exposed the same few specks of rust plus some very hard to see with the naked eye. This is not remarkable. I’ve seen the same thing with stainless steel knives by such makers as Victoronix. What I was expecting and did not encounter was any material rusting along the exposed edge, which is not polished like the rest of the blade surface. Also, there was some movement with the red spacers again. It appears the thinnest side of the stag warped pulling the red spacer from the tang about 1/32". Again, this is not remarkable and barely noticeable to the eye. See image links below (click on image to get full size).

The integrity of the knife has not been materially affected by exposure to heat, water, humidity, moisture, and freezing, or combination thereof. The knife is no worse for wear.

I can now move on to some tests that require video to wrap up the review. Final tests will be edge retention up against salt cedar and plywood as well as blade tip retention up against 2x4 lumber. Wrap up will be checking the factory edge for sharpness, sharpening the knife, and a summary.

This concludes the review of the Schrade Wildlife Series - Stag knife. The following links are a couple of final images after testing was completed.