440C drying up or being phased out for knife making?

J

jaymeister99

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Sep 14, 2010
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I was looking for some 440c.. Aldo didn't have much in stock for most of the sizes I looked at. I checked out USAKnifemaker and all they have left is 440C that's surface ground, and their sizes are a bit limited (only 1.5" and 4" widths).

Is 440C on the way out for knife making steel? Why so little stock?
 
Not familiar with blade steel grades much but I'm hazarding a guess that 'c' stands for carbon instead of 's' for stainless. Guys like me only ever buy a 'lifetime' knife once (unless it is lost or stolen) and I have to admit it took some doing, 25 years ago, for me to have one commercially made from high carbon steel instead of the common offerings of stainless.
 
300Six said:
Not familiar with blade steel grades much but I'm hazarding a guess that 'c' stands for carbon instead of 's' for stainless.
Click to expand...

That is completely wrong. 440C is a high-chromium stainless steel.

As for 440C falling out of favor, I think it's just because there are even better alloys available today. With proper HT 440C does make a fine knife, though.
 
440 stainless comes in 3 grades... 440a 440b and 440c.

440c makes good knives. 440a and 440b are relegated to "flea market" knives
 
Nevermind, I looked it up. Apparently it was invented in mid-December and the C actually stands for Christmas.
 
Now that we have wandered off on some strange unrelated tangent, I will say that 440c when properly heat treated still makes a fine knife. I feel the main reason is that there are newer steels offering better overall performance, or better in specific areas, for relatively the same cost. On a side note, much of the market is driven by customer demand for newer and better steel so that's what makers use. By the way. The c actually stands for "completely off topic"
 
Mark Behnke said:
http://www.alphaknifesupply.com/bladematerials.htm#BS-440C
http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/index.php?cPath=87_924_67
http://www.trugrit.com/knife-steel-pin-stock.htm
http://www.knifemaking.com/category-s/207.htm

Looks like Texas has a good selection, sure there is more out there if you search.

I haven't had to good of luck with this one but you might

http://www.admiralsteel.com/products/blades.html
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I'll skip Admiral Steel, but AKS is great to deal with. AKS doesn't have much selection on 440C anymore, but I would highly recommend them if they have what you need.

I see that Jantz (knifemaking.com) has a great selection (and they have what I needed). I've purchased stuff from Jantz and they are top notch too. Don't know why I didn't think to check them out. Thanks.

I bought some 1/4" x1.5"x36" from Aldo, he's always had great service and good pricing. Hope he has some better stock going forward.
 
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The last time I bought "440C" from TKS, half of it was riddled with inclusions and looked awful and the rest turned out to be 416... which I didn't realize until the blades I made out of it were ground and HT'ed, and only tested at 46Rc. :grumpy: Total waste of money and work. That was several years ago, though.

I always call AKS or NJSB for steel. I have yet to be disappointed in either company :)
 
Careful you might get lynched by some Randall knife fans for describing 440b as flea market steel,on the other hand I have found some decent knives at flea markets :)
 
I have a no longer made AGRussell kukri made of 440b a perfect application for that grade.
440c is part of a progression of improvements --440C ,154CM, CPM 154 , etc . 440C makes a good knife but there are better ones worth the extra money for better performance.
 
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