Stainless Steel from Sheffield

K

Knifeclerk

Joined
Jul 16, 2004
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Sheffield England. I have a very old Straight Razor from there. Wade & Butcher. Celebrated Hollow Ground. Carbon Steel. Best damn straight razor I ever saw in my life.
But Carbon Steel.
In one of my local Antique Stores, I saw a carving set from Sheffield England. It was very pretty. Crowned stag handles. Only thing was, the blade said "Stainless Steel." I have no experiance with any stainless steels from there. I saw it on my way out and did not get a very good look at it. The blade had been sharpened several times before, by the look of it. I don't recall having seen any brand name. Still, it should be worth another look I think.
Any input?
-KC
 
So far I haven't run across any Sheffield stainless that was very good. It is usually pretty soft.

For things like razors the Britts tended to use swedish carbon steel. Tended to be pure with a touch of vanadium in it.
 
Does anyone else have an opinion on it? If not, then I will just pass this set right up. Even if it does have incredible stag.
 
Thank you, that was very helpfull and informative. I'll probably just buy the sharpening steel w/ stag handle that was laying next to it. Not crown stag, but had a brass buttcap and the finish was very nice.
 
It does tend to be softer then other stuff. 440B and 440C are used but chances are it will be 425m. There are some good carving knife sets about but a lot of not very good stuff :mad: . think victorinox blades, take a very good edge very easily which is just as well since it wont keep it for long
Do you need a carving knife to keep an edge for ages though?
 
I have a stainless Sheffield carving set at home, and agree with the others that the blade steel is nothing special. However, if you can get them for cheap, they certainly are no worse than the knives in 99% of American kitchens. I use mine for slicing up meat when we butcher every winter. I should note that even thought the blade on my set was stainless, the fork was carbon steel that was plated. (chrome, I think) I touched up the tines, and wore the plating off. But again, if it's cheap, the forks are usually pretty solid affairs, and will still serve you far better at a barbecue than the standard stamped-tines-spot-welded-to-a-wire ones sold everywhere these days.

Another thought-
You realize that stag is not currently imported, right? If the set is cheap, and the stag is nice, just buy 'em and you could probably make a profit by ripping off the handles and selling them to knifemakers. :) I've seen people that have done it.
 
The forks are often made by a different company to the knife. That may explain the difference in the metal used
 
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