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1075 Carbon Steel performance
- Thread starter Brutus013
- Start date
t1mpani
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2002
- Messages
- 5,495
This is the breed of steel often found in older non-stainless slip-joint pocketknives. Simple steels with about 0.7% to 0.8% carbon. Usually, they were hardened in the mid-fifties, taking a blisteringly sharp edge easily and holding it fairly well.
As always, it comes down to the heat treatment. At similar hardness and geometry, I'd rate 1075's resistance to abrasive cutting mediums (rope, cardboard, skinning) to be similar to AUS-8 or slightly better, falling below 440C. It's tougher than either of those steels, so its ability to resist deformative damage and roll instead of chip and bend instead of break will be better, but that's only of slight advantage with a folder as you're unlikely to be chopping or batoning with it.
The area where it'll fall behind if you're used to stainless steels is in its edge holding against corrosive cutting mediums or environments. Those of us who don't live in deserts, if we sharpen a non-stainless blade up until it's just absolutely hair whittlingly sharp and then leave it on a desk for a couple weeks, will come back and find that while it's still sharp, it's lost some cutting aggression. That really fine, carefully honed edge will oxidize just like any other part of the blade, unless you coat it with an oil, grease or wax. Doing so with one of the drying-to-film oils would be preferable if it's going to be riding around in your pocket, of course.
For what it's worth, I have one of the Greco Whisper folders with a blade of 8670M tool steel which is essentially a version of L-6 (one of the most enthusiastic rusters of all time) and its a very serviceable cutting tool; and, of all my folding knives, the one that I worry the least about doing damage to the tip if I need to pop a stone out of a truck tire or get under a particularly determined staple. Partly, that's because of its very robust geometry, but the fact that it's made out one of the toughest steels that ever showed up in the cutlery world doesn't hurt.
As always, it comes down to the heat treatment. At similar hardness and geometry, I'd rate 1075's resistance to abrasive cutting mediums (rope, cardboard, skinning) to be similar to AUS-8 or slightly better, falling below 440C. It's tougher than either of those steels, so its ability to resist deformative damage and roll instead of chip and bend instead of break will be better, but that's only of slight advantage with a folder as you're unlikely to be chopping or batoning with it.
The area where it'll fall behind if you're used to stainless steels is in its edge holding against corrosive cutting mediums or environments. Those of us who don't live in deserts, if we sharpen a non-stainless blade up until it's just absolutely hair whittlingly sharp and then leave it on a desk for a couple weeks, will come back and find that while it's still sharp, it's lost some cutting aggression. That really fine, carefully honed edge will oxidize just like any other part of the blade, unless you coat it with an oil, grease or wax. Doing so with one of the drying-to-film oils would be preferable if it's going to be riding around in your pocket, of course.
For what it's worth, I have one of the Greco Whisper folders with a blade of 8670M tool steel which is essentially a version of L-6 (one of the most enthusiastic rusters of all time) and its a very serviceable cutting tool; and, of all my folding knives, the one that I worry the least about doing damage to the tip if I need to pop a stone out of a truck tire or get under a particularly determined staple. Partly, that's because of its very robust geometry, but the fact that it's made out one of the toughest steels that ever showed up in the cutlery world doesn't hurt.
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Somewhere between AUS8 and 440C is fine, for my purposes. As far as the edge oxidizing, that's not much of an issue for me. I oil my knives every time I pick them up, it seems, and I touch up whatever knife I'm going to carry for any given day, so it shouldn't be much of a problem. Thanks for the info!
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2002
- Messages
- 3,179
Boker uses it in some of their slip joints. I'm hard pressed to notice a big difference in day to day life. It might be a little easier to reprofile but not by much. It's a good steel for me. It performs fine in office or yard. Holds an edge till the end of the day, only needs a quick touch up and is pretty forgiving if I get careless and hit a big staple or something.
Frank
Frank