1095's edge retention

hwpaintballer

hwpaintballer

Joined
Jun 12, 2008
Messages
4,542
It has been well over a week since I have sharpened my RAT cutlery Izula, and just now I decided to do a little test. I went to the nearest mirror and decided to see if it could still shave facial hair since I have been too lazy to shave in the past 2-3 days. :D It passed :thumbup:, of course now I'm missing half of a side burn but I'll fix that up tomorrow morning.
 
really cool! I was actually thinking about that today; I'm thinking about getting an RC-3 and I was wondering how the steel would hold an edge.
 
I have two Rat knives. An RC3Mil and an RC-5. So far I am really impressed with the 1095 steel. These are the first two knives I've owned with this blade steel. So far so good:)
 
Back in the fall, I went on a hiking trip and I used my RC6 to baton some wood to get a camp fire started. After batoning the wood, I decided to see if it would still shave arm hairs and it was still able to. Not quite as easily as before the batoning but enough to impress me.



____________
Rat Pack #106
 
I agree, Rowen's heat treat is nothing short of perfection!
The Rat's I own are easy to sharpen and hold a superior edge for a very long time. The steel seems to be very forgiving and has great overall qualities. On a side note, I have a RC6 with serrations. The only knife I own with serrs. as I have sold or traded the others off. These serrs. are different, easy to sharpen, cut like pure hell and will be with me till the end. Rat & Rowen rock!!!:thumbup:
 
I don't really approve the idea of shaving as a test for edge retention. I believe edge retention properties change with the extent of sharpness. As long as it can cut through what it truly needs to be cut, its still retaining its edge. I know it sounds stupid but forgive me.

Jeff S1 said:
Rat & Rowen rock!!!:thumbup:
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Hell yeah... :thumbup:
 
Jogen said:
I don't really approve the idea of shaving as a test for edge retention. I believe edge retention properties change with the extent of sharpness. As long as it can cut through what it truly needs to be cut, its still retaining its edge. I know it sounds stupid but forgive me.


Hell yeah... :thumbup:
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eh, if it still pops hair...it'll still make fuzzies....
 
One of the guys at work today brought in some "gravlox" (??) for us to try, some sort of raw salmon dish that you eat with sour cream on a piece of toast. There was no sharp knife in the office to slice the salmon, as it has to be sliced in extremely thin sheets to taste right....think read-the-paper-through-it thin.

Naturally, I whipped out my manly pink Izula and sliced that fish so thin, it looked like the fabric from a filmy see thru pink negligee.

After appropriate appreciative comments from my fellow workers, the guy who brought in the fish tells me that he has a lunch meeting with a customer and that he missed a place while he was shaving this morning...could he borrow my knife to repair his botched shave job. I gave him the knife and he proceeds to use the blade like he was stropping it over his face. After laughing at him for a while, I say, "Dude, you have to shave them, not just try to scare them off your face." He tells me that he never used a razor, that he always uses an electric.

Any how, I fixed up his face and trimmed the hair around his neck, at which point the other 4 guys in the office wanted to try it on themselves. I just got it back and shaved the hair off my right calf, just to see if it would still do it.

Edge retention, no question.

____________
RAT Pack #63
 
My best knife was forged in 1070. Still kicks the pants out of any so-called super steels I've tested. Screw the metallurgy guys, I belong to the church of empiricism.
 
1055, 1070, 1085, 1095, whatever - the non stainless steels are inferior to the good stainless ones because they require more care or they will rust. However if you are willing to put in a little effort to ensure the high carbon steel doesn't rust then you get a good knife with good edge retention for less money than the stainless super steels would cost.
 
Gadgetaholic said:
1055, 1070, 1085, 1095, whatever - the non stainless steels are inferior to the good stainless ones because they require more care or they will rust. However if you are willing to put in a little effort to ensure the high carbon steel doesn't rust then you get a good knife with good edge retention for less money than the stainless super steels would cost.
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Seriously? Corrosion resistance is one aspect of what makes a good knife. There are many other things to consider. I could easily say that stainless steels are inferior to carbon steels because they are not as tough. Depends on what your doing and the environment you are doing it in. But it is a little ignorant to make the comment you just made. And when it comes to survival or bushcraft blades, most of the opinions from people who depend on their knives choose nonstainless steels. Take a look at some of the most popular companies: Rat cutlery, Busse, swamp rat, scrapyard, Ranger knives, Fehrman knives, and Bark river(even though they have some stainless models). These are some of the most popular fixed blade companies on the market. Fallkniven uses stainless steel and I would consider them a good competitor. The people that pay the money for these companies are not doing it because they are less expensive than a comparable stainless steel, they are doing it because they think it is the best knife for the job. Just my opinion.
 
Bax Axe said:
Seriously? Corrosion resistance is one aspect of what makes a good knife. There are many other things to consider. I could easily say that stainless steels are inferior to carbon steels because they are not as tough. Depends on what your doing and the environment you are doing it in. But it is a little ignorant to make the comment you just made. And when it comes to survival or bushcraft blades, most of the opinions from people who depend on their knives choose nonstainless steels. Take a look at some of the most popular companies: Rat cutlery, Busse, swamp rat, scrapyard, Ranger knives, Fehrman knives, and Bark river(even though they have some stainless models). These are some of the most popular fixed blade companies on the market. Fallkniven uses stainless steel and I would consider them a good competitor. The people that pay the money for these companies are not doing it because they are less expensive than a comparable stainless steel, they are doing it because they think it is the best knife for the job. Just my opinion.
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I don't think Gadgetholic was bashing carbon steels or stainless. I think the two of you just made similar statements.

Personally, I love my simple carbon steels. They just work for me. It really comes down to HT and edge geometry.
 
Bax Axe said:
Seriously? Corrosion resistance is one aspect of what makes a good knife.
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure that was what I was saying. 1095 is behind on that one aspect, which is a disadvantage - but if you take care of the blade (cleaning, oiling) then that may not be important to you. That is why I own quite a few carbon steel knives - maybe 5 fixed & 3 folding that I can think of off the top of my head, none with rust on them.

The big problem with stainless is that only the dearest species are competitive against 1095 for the other important features. I would rather not have low corrosion if it is 420 - 1095 would be WAY better on every other characteristic. Sure CPM S30V is great - but bloody dear.

I know with my Mora knives there was an option to buy stainless or carbon steel models - I chose the carbon because it was cheaper and with better edge holding, it's OK I have other knives that are stainless for when that aspect matters. My Opinels were also available in stainless - but again I chose the carbon steel and sacrifices stainless for better edge holding and a little more care to keep rust away.

My BK7 & BK9 are both 1095 Crovan and that is fine by me, I did see a BK7 in S30V as a limited edition for about 3 1/2 times as much as the normal one - I would rather just look after the one I have thanks very much. My KA-BAR Kukri is 1085 for a good combo of toughness/hardness - I think it will do just fine.

And of course the RC knives are great despite less rust resistance than you have with stainless knives.

Some of my stainless blades might be good choices for food prep, especially with acidic foods - but I would trust my carbon steel blades more for hard use. I have used carbon steel knives for food prep anyway - a clean and a dry later they are fine, then I oil them with a food safe oil so they are good for next time.
 
I am with you. My response was mostly on the comment of carbon steels being inferior. May have taken what you said the wrong way. All is well.
 
Bax Axe said:
I am with you. My response was mostly on the comment of carbon steels being inferior.
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Well they are . . . at least for tendency to corrode. But of course it is really hard to find 2 steels where one is inferior in EVERY aspect. If we think about corrosion resistance, toughness, hardness, edge retension, easy of sharpening, etc. It is really hard to find a perfect steel! 1095 may be inferior in terms of corroding, but if you keep it clean and give it a light oil now and then it isn't that bad at all. It is a pretty good steel with the other characteristics though.

I kinda feel like a lot of work has been done on stainless steels to make them good like 1095 while still being stainless. Stainless is great for non knife people that aren't good with caring for their knives. Kinda the idiot-proof steel if you know what I am saying.

To me, at the end of the day, good steel is good steel. If it isn't stainless then you can buy it and accept it needs a bit more care or you can buy something else. But 1095 sharpens well and is good on hardness & toughness & edge retention - it is a good steel to use if being stainless isn't a deal breaker. If you insist on only buying stainless knives then there are plenty of those to choose from and some of the expensive ones have some really good characteristics (no perfect steel exists though).
 
jb3920 said:
One of the guys at work today brought in some "gravlox" (??) for us to try, some sort of raw salmon dish that you eat with sour cream on a piece of toast. There was no sharp knife in the office to slice the salmon, as it has to be sliced in extremely thin sheets to taste right....think read-the-paper-through-it thin.

Naturally, I whipped out my manly pink Izula and sliced that fish so thin, it looked like the fabric from a filmy see thru pink negligee.

After appropriate appreciative comments from my fellow workers, the guy who brought in the fish tells me that he has a lunch meeting with a customer and that he missed a place while he was shaving this morning...could he borrow my knife to repair his botched shave job. I gave him the knife and he proceeds to use the blade like he was stropping it over his face. After laughing at him for a while, I say, "Dude, you have to shave them, not just try to scare them off your face." He tells me that he never used a razor, that he always uses an electric.

Any how, I fixed up his face and trimmed the hair around his neck, at which point the other 4 guys in the office wanted to try it on themselves. I just got it back and shaved the hair off my right calf, just to see if it would still do it.

Edge retention, no question.

____________
RAT Pack #63
Click to expand...

Just so you know, you swap blood when you use another persons razor. Hope you cleaned the knife before testing it again.
 
My izula hasnt been "touched up" in a really long time. It wont shave right now, but it is still plenty sharp enough to do about anything else.

p.s.- if you cant keep rust off a blade, then stainless is your ticket :)
 
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