I'm a newby to the knife world looking to buy my first spring assist knife. I'm seeing some nice looking knives in my price range (30-50US) from Schrade but noticing that they all use 4034 steel whereas I'm seeing many SOG, Kershaw, and Meyerco knives in the same price range using AUS 8 or 8CR13MOV, both much better quality steel according to my research. I'm just wondering if the Schrade steel is simply not as good or is there some way in the processing that they can make them better, in other words are all 4034 blades equal.
In doing a little more research I see that Schrade and Smith and Wesson are made by Taylor. In the reviews I've seen on S&W knives they are basically crap quality, so I guess that would suggest that Schrade are crap too? I guess the fact that this site does not have Schrade or S&W listed in the "manufacterer forum" section should give me a clue that they are not of the same quality as SOG, Kershaw, or Boker. But the reviews I've seen on Schrade seem to be consistently better than S&W, and their price is often higher than the name brands I just mentioned, so I thought maybe they were a decent brand and somehow separate from S&W?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
In doing a little more research I see that Schrade and Smith and Wesson are made by Taylor. In the reviews I've seen on S&W knives they are basically crap quality, so I guess that would suggest that Schrade are crap too? I guess the fact that this site does not have Schrade or S&W listed in the "manufacterer forum" section should give me a clue that they are not of the same quality as SOG, Kershaw, or Boker. But the reviews I've seen on Schrade seem to be consistently better than S&W, and their price is often higher than the name brands I just mentioned, so I thought maybe they were a decent brand and somehow separate from S&W?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
