440c as bushcraft knife steel?

If you prefer a bushcraft knife in 440C, the Fosters Survival is an option. It is the bottom one in this pic, and not a bad knife. I like 440C. It's a good performer and is under rated IMO.
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It's a lot less expensive than this one in RWL Swedish steel.
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440C is one of the best stainless knife steels.

Not my choice for a big chopper (l prefer 440B) but a great steel for a hunting knife.

All of the stainless hunters I have made have been 440C, and they have held up very well.

Similar to the Japanese’s ATS-34 or Crucible’s 154-CM, I think in the future I would go with CPM-154 for its finer grain structure, if it’s still available.

But I still prefer tool steel (A2 for a chopper and D2 for a hunting knife).

But as always, one must consider heat treatment and edge geometry when choosing a knife; buy a knife from a well known maker who specializes in the type of knife you need and you will be happy.
 
Hey guys, I'm sorry but I was wondering what is the difference between carbon steels and stainless steels? Because 1095 carbon steel has 0.9-1.03 carbon while CPM-S30V has 1.45 carbon, so even though S30V is a stainless steel, it contains more carbon that 1095, a carbon steel.

By the way, 440C has 0.95-1.2 carbon so that should be good for bushcrafting purposes.
 
Big Mike said:
...in the future I would go with CPM-154 for its finer grain structure, if it’s still available.
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Definitely go for the CPM-154; it is currently available from many suppliers, despite economic problems at the Crucible mill.

woodentsick said:
Hey guys, I'm sorry but I was wondering what is the difference between carbon steels and stainless steels?
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Steel is iron with carbon added. High-carbon steel has at least .7% carbon (some say .5% is enough); this allows it to be hardened sufficiently to hold a good edge. "Stainless" steels have at least 13% chromium, and generally higher levels of other alloying elements as well. Typically, stainless trades off toughness and ease of sharpening, and sometimes the ability to take a very fine edge, in favor of corrosion-resistance and edge-retention.

See this thread for a more complete explanation, and a breakdown of the most common and popular cutlery steels.
 
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What a great thread. I'm glad that people feel the same in that 440c is one of the most under rated steels out there. If you do know how to sharpen in the field, it is a GREAT KNIFE. I kinda feel like 5160 and 440c are drinking buddies at a bar, and complain about their lack of attention. I love 440c in a survival knife, but I am also partial to carbon like most of the folks in here. Lynn Dawson and Dennis Cook make some AMAZING knives in 440 c and they can do it in carbon as well!

http://www.cookcustomknives.com/
 
Im not sure if would cause a copyright issue or not, but why not get a custom maker here to make a knife using the design of bears knife. then you get the steel you want, handle you want, and the design you want.
 
He could get one made similar, maybe with less bells and whistles, and probably get the style he wants.
 
440C is a great steel if it's treated right. Everything falls back to that: if the heat treat isn't right, then even the newest wonder steel will be crap.
 
send an email to Koyote. he can make it and it will be a keeper. expedition sheath by Koyote girl is the best there is.
yeah Bear is a hoot. he is so full of crap i can smell him
all good
buzz
 
Field sharpening is an issue I've never really understood. Get 'em sharp before leaving and they will hold up throughout typical field use.
How many spend THAT much consecutive time in the bush?
Even while on active duty I never had blade dullness problems in the field.

440C is fantastic steel. Holds an edge very well, and is very weather resistant.

I do prefer the superior edge holding capabilities of D2 and S30V. Axes and hatches do my chopping.
 
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I wonder about the reports of knives being difficult to sharpen in the field too. It makes me wonder what exactly those people are trying to sharpen with. It can't just be about being inept because those same people usually claim success with other tools.

I also wonder about the way some people reason. The very same thing that can be used to sharpen a knife can blunt a knife. If it resists the wear from the sharpening medium when you are trying to sharpen the thing the same wear resisting properties will be evident when you try to blunt it. D2 vs a machete grade butter knife – one of those is easy to sharpen, the other is hard to blunt.

I do blunt them when I'm out but it is never hard to fix. I took the sharpness off a 440C blade only the other day. I was whacking through the rope of a washed up fishing net on the beach so I could get at the lead sinkers. Each sinker required two rope cuts. I've never come across a knife of any type that can put up with cutting stuff like that in that environment for long. Fixing it up while I was there was a breeze. I used a bit of abrasive paper on the back of a tin and the same concoction I use on cotton wool as an expedient fire starter. Easy day.
 
Les said:
Field sharpening is an issue I've never really understood. Get 'em sharp before leaving and they will hold up throughout typical field use.
How many spend THAT much consecutive time in the bush?
Even while on active duty I never had blade dullness problems in the field.

440C is fantastic steel. Holds an edge very well, and is very weather resistant.

I do prefer the superior edge holding capabilities of D2 and S30V. Axes and hatches do my chopping.
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When I was single 5-7 days at a time was no big deal for me. "Field" sharpening was a must then.
These days I'm luck to get three days.
 
I think the 440C hard to sharpen thing started with Buck knives in the 1960's made from 440C at RC64.5. (I have one, a 119 at RC 64.5 and have verified with the factory that the paper work that came with it was correct). Until diamond sharpeners came available I could not sharpen it. 440C at high rockwell can be hard to sharpen. This maybe true for any stainless at 64.5?
 
Dannyboy Leather said:
I am old enough to remember when 440C stainless was THE (definite article) stainless to own on ones outdoor knife. The properly heat treated 440C served its owners wonderfully then and, still does. I carried 440C blades in the jungles of Asia and the far north and never gave a thought to rust, corrosion, or edge-holding qualities.

I have used this little 3-1/4" custom Star 440C (Bos heat treat) blade a number of times eviscerating dozens of wild game animals in the field. Not too difficult of a task for most any steel, but the 440C does the job well and I never had to stop and resharpen. For what I do, I can't tell the difference between the 440C, 154CM, or S30V blades in this blade length (I have many). Too, they all sharpen and maintain about the same with some very small differences that don't seem to matter all that much. :)
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I also remember when 440c was the new "wonder steel" on the block. Have owned many knives in this steel, and they have served me well.
 
Ron Athay said:
I think the 440C hard to sharpen thing started with Buck knives in the 1960's made from 440C at RC64.5. (I have one, a 119 at RC 64.5 and have verified with the factory that the paper work that came with it was correct). Until diamond sharpeners came available I could not sharpen it. 440C at high rockwell can be hard to sharpen. This maybe true for any stainless at 64.5?
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Strewth!

I'm a bit out my depth here 'cos I've never seen a 440C blade ran at that kind of hardness, interesting.

I'm sure you probably meant this anyway, but for the benefit of the tape: I wouldn't say any stainless 'cos there's stainless that isn't suitable for making knives. For our purposes though yeah, double whammy.

.........

Wear resistance, blunting or sharpening, increases the harder the alloy gets. Then there's wear resistance that is an inherent property of the material itself such as the Cobalt alloys. Talonite and Stellite are a good examples of low hardness but highly wear resistant blades. High hardness of a highly wear resistant material is going to give you something that is more difficult to sharpen without the appropriate materials. The advantages are obvious so that's the way the technology is going. Although to hear some people tell it it's like stainless was an experiment the world tried back in the 70's / 80's, it failed, and the world retreated back into a magical land of pixie dust and making knives the traditional way from old files [an action I am extremely cynical about having ever being a particularly widespread practice].

Wear resistance isn't everything to me. It must be balanced against toughness and corrosion resistance. That said, abrasion is the leading cause of why my knives lose sharpness. Accordingly, ductility and the ability of withstand impact deformation is lower down the list because I simply don't abuse my knives like that. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that my old F1 was a much tougher knife than the 440C Boker I currently use in its place. I miss nothing and get rewards elsewhere in the design. True, if Boker released that model in VG 10 or ATS 34 I'd buy that, but in the meantime I don't care. Once I established 440C as my baseline the design of the piece over all became much more imperative than just the steel. In fact, design puts me off a great deal of the newer super steel knives, and that includes a couple of the much loved Spydercos and Fällknivens let alone Striders and the like. I just couldn't work with them comfortably because they don't resemble knives for comfortable and effective use. I'd take a Spyderco Military in 440C sooner than I would take a Buck 110 in S30V. Others bend the other way and design is everything, even to the point of delighting in being able to wear the edge with a few passes over dry cotton devoid of any kind of abrasive compound. I guess we all place a loading on different different virtues. With the advent of modern sharpening materials I am liberated from ease of sharpening being a factor and I can load up on another area. 440C works a treat for me. It's a genuine workhorse steel.

A non-squirming keen cutting implementation of 440C in the field hunting for Reed Mace roots. Less crafty than carving chess pieces but a whole bunch more practical -

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Two of my regular EDC knives (Benchmade Pika and Buck 373) are 440C. They both have very good edge retention and are excellent at corrosion resistance (without even being given the care they deserve).
 
Like others have said 440c makes a good knife if heat treated right. I have made several blades from 440c, most of my first blades were of this steel. I still use it from time to time, mainly for kitchen knives. Anyway, the first blades I made I was not happy with the edge holding. Once I lowered my tempering temperature, which raised my hardness I was much more pleased. If you buy 440c try to find out what hardness it is, if not ask what temperature it was tempered at, I personally recommend around 225 to 250 degrees which should be about 58-60Rc (if I remember correctly, my book is in the shop). Hope this helps. Also, someone brought up CPM-154, that stuff is absolutely amazing.
 
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