As long as I recalled, dad always carried a large folding lockblade knife. The first I knew was a Buck, but he wore the blade down from years of use. My cousin bought him a Schrade lockback, maybe a LB7, about 1980, and he carried it regularly, and kept a razors edge on it.
Dad had a stroke and started losing things, among them the knife. We got him several others, nice knives at first, but he's lose them short order, so later just a cheap lockback would do. Dad passed suddenly Oct 23.

We were cleaning out the house; between him and mom there was over 150 years of stuff there. We carried seveal boxes of trash and papers outside and burned them; he lived in the country.

Cleaning up after the fire I found his Schrade, the wooden handles burnt and the blade a yello/tan. It still had a razor edge.

I want to re-temper the steel and replace the handles and carry my dad's knife. It has a stainless blade. How do I go about heat treating/tempering the blade so it will be usable again?

I carried my dad's Schrade pocketknife for years, after he passed away. This August I had it buried with my older brother. I hope he was able to give it back to our dad.

Thanks for your story.

BH63

Sorry to hear about your father. Regardless of how expected, it always seems to come as a shock. My condolences.

If it is marked "Schrade +" it is some type of stainless, probably 440A or possibly 420HC.

You can look up heat treating and tempering 440A on line. Anything is possible, but if you really want a using knife, then you'll probably have to find a knifemaker or heat treater with an oven. Doing a little online research, I think doing it yourself with a torch, or similar is not very workable. I also am not sure if being in a fire might have damaged the possibility of re-tempering it to original specs.

I understand your position, but I think just having the knife remains on or in your desk would serve as a nice memento of days gone by with your Dad. You could find the exact knife online and carry it if it would work for your sentiments.

Finally, if you really want it restored to "as new" I would consider posting a request on bladeforums for someone who could do it right.