I didn’t know it at the time; I literally picked it up from the floor near an escalator in a mall. Nobody was around to ask if it was their knife, so it came home with me.
The blade was labeled ‘Midtech Nitro-V,’ but stamped on the frame was a stylized S P in a circle. Being made with nitro-V was my first tip that this was a good knife.
Nitro-V stainless was first introduced in 2017 and sold by New Jersey Steel Baron. It could be one of the first steels explicitly made for the knife industry. It is known for its edge retention, high hardness, and corrosion resistance (especially in salt environments). It can withstand impacts and stresses without chipping, a property always valuable for knife steel.
Another question was, what is the handle material? Once upon a time, I could run detailed chemical analysis. But now I just knew it wasn’t magnetic. It didn’t look like aluminum, so I suspected titanium.
But who made the knife?
I tried Google searching and looked through lists of maker’s marks, but nothing clicked. I tried a Google image search, which returned as ‘looks like a stamp.’ Yeah, that was helpful.
Nice find. As a lacrosse coach I have acquired a stanley and a piston folding camp rocker that were never claimed off the team chat. But no cool knives.