440C steel--- i think its about time

fun fact - the 'new' version of 440c from bohler is called n695 - and it's almost identical except they added a tiny bit of vanadium, tungsten & nickel
(it's an improvement as those tiny additions improve grain refinement but otherwise you'd be very hard pressed to tell them apart)

go see how often n695 is used - you may be surprized (although n690 is used more often, which adds cobalt, it's also similar)
 
440C is still a good steel. There's better, sure. But there's also a helluva lot worse. For bigger knives, I prefer carbon steels. For 6 inch and smaller, I like stainless. I have no problem with 440C if I like everything else about a knife.
Ya wanna retire some knife steels? How about anything lower than 8Cr13MoV? 420J2? Cold Steel with their new and improved big knives in 4034 stainless? I could go on, but you get the drift.

Just not in your corner on this one....
 
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justjed said:
440C is still a good steel. There's better, sure. But there's also a helluva lot worse. For bigger knives, I prefer carbon steels. For 6 inch and smaller, I like stainless. I have no problem with 440C if I like everything else about a knife.
Ya wanna retire some knife steels? How about anything lower than 8Cr13MoV? 420J2? Cold Steel with their new and improved big knives in 4034 stainless? I could go on, but you get the drift.

Just not in your corner on this one....
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I agree, anything below 8CR in this day is inexcusable except a $4 Walmart knife. 3cr, 5cr…we don’t need that
 
tony281sc2 said:
I agree, anything below 8CR in this day is inexcusable except a $4 Walmart knife. 3cr, 5cr…we don’t need that
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5cr would include things like 420hc if you want to get specific - and most agree it's great for its use cases, & buck knows this (why they've used it as the default for many years now), others have used it extensively for very tough results

but yeah, otherwise I'd agree with 3cr being only good for scales/hardware ; )
 
It's a decent enough steel if well HTed and for the right price. I've a few folders in it (cheaper) and they are absolutely fine. I've also a 9.5" Bowie in N690 and a small folder in N695 (both similar) and they are good knives, sharpen up easy enough and hold an edge satisfactorily. The Bowie is 6mm at the spine so although not a tough steel per se it chops and batons fine.

It's not a personal favourite steel but won't put me off a knife if I like the design and from a reputable maker etc...
 
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I used to have a Griptilian in 440c with the oval hole and loved the hell out of it, as well as some other Benchmades. And actually, looking at the chart above, it looks like 440c and N690 are very similar. Truth be told N690 is kind of my favorite steel right now. In fact I specifically went out looking for an N690 wharncliffe/sheepsfoot blade last week. Those were the main parameters in a knife that I was looking for. The stuff sharpens so damn keen that it's just crazy and comes back to hair poppin sharp with very little effort compared to most of the high end steels now days.
 
The Snap-On Kershaw SO82BLK is N690 and I've used it as my main work knife for almost 3 years now. It still works great. I recently picked up the pm 2 crucarta and I'm having a real hard time switching. Truth be told 'Ive bought a few knives lately that I thought would replace my N690 and none have managed to do it.


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