I was sitting at the table with her and glanced through some of the ads. We did order a set of puzzle books for her, which she enjoys. But I found an ad for a Snap-On "Folding Knife with Glass Break." Definitely not a high-end knife, and a little smaller-sized folder with a 2.5" blade.
The memory immediately came to my mind of the time we lived in Kenosha, WI, where there was a large Snap-On plant. In fact, my next-door neighbor's sister worked there. Anyway, I ordered this folder, just to have that memory in my knife collection. It looked like a "fun" pocket folder to have.
But I was mistaken that this knife would come from the WI plant. My other assumption was that Snap-On was USA-made. Two ouches in my thinking. The folder is China-made, which took care of both my assumptions.
However, it's been interesting to research this blade. It came with no specs on the packaging, just a general description. And I couldn't locate it anywhere in the Snap-On tools web site. The knife has a CS number and model number right on the handle, so I called. I found that Kenosha, WI plant only produces truck tools...didn't know that. And also found that Snap-On doesn't consider a "consumer knife" to be a tool. Go figure! The tech had practically no specs on this folder. I asked for blade steel composition, and he gave me a number (about all he had), which he "thought" was the steel info. It has been fun researching this blade composition. The number I got does describe the steel. Here's what I have found out, followed by some photos of my Snap-On memory. [Remember to click on each photo for the larger view].
The Snap-On rep gave me 3Cr13 as the knife’s blade composition. In a web article from tactical-life.com, I found this blurp in a paragraph titled, “Fine China?”
Finally, I checked some U.S. blade steel charts, and found a pretty good look at this 3Cr13 steel, aka 420J2:3Cr13 Chinese steel is identical to domestically produced 420J2. If you’re hard on a knife, a blade crafted from 420J2 will provide the necessary combination of toughness, stain resistance and sharpening ease. However, a similar knife with 3Cr13 Chinese steel blade will offer the exact same performance parameters at a considerably lower price point.
Here are a few photos of my new, snappy Snap-On folder with a colorful red, anodized aluminum handle, stainless steel blade, and carbide tip glass break. It ended up to be just a “fun” find, and brings along a pleasant memory with it.Stainless steel grade 420J2 is inexpensive and highly corrosion resistant steel. It has good corrosion resistance in mild atmosphere as well as domestic and industrial environments. It is also resistant to dilute nitric acid, carbonic acid, ammonia, crude oil, detergent solutions, vinegar, food acids, several petroleum products, and steam. 420J2 is known to possess good strength and reasonable impact resistant properties in hardened and tempered conditions when compared with 440 grades.
Have a great day!
