440c steel

Georgia Guy

Georgia Guy

Joined
Jan 16, 2006
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I am looking to purchase a hard use camping knife. I have my eye on the Benchmade Rant. My only concern is the 440C steel. Can someone with a lot more brain than I have let me know if it is an expect able choice.
 
440C to the best of my knowledge is a good steel. I'm not a fan of stainless myself, so most of my knives are made of carbon tool steels, but 440C has a good reputation.
 
Nothing wrong with 440C.
It's still a good steel(just doesn't win you points with "steel snobs").
 
It was The Premium steel of 15 (?) years ago. It has somewhat large carbides in its structure which can sometimes rip out of the edge if it is ground, or sharpened, too thinly. 154CM is supposed to be an upgraded version. I am only writing what I have read as I have not actually used 440c. Hopefully someone with more experience with it will chime in.
 
440C is a good old school SS. provided it has a good heat treat, IMHO can stand up with a whole lot of the newer more poular SS'.
 
I only have one knife with 440c steel and its been beat to hell and still comes back for more. It's corrosion resistance is pretty good and it takes a nice edge
 
jbombelli said:
440C to the best of my knowledge is a good steel. I'm not a fan of stainless myself, so most of my knives are made of carbon tool steels, but 440C has a good reputation.
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On the tool steel note I recently found a knife blade option for 01 tool steel. Any news on that? I have found the Martin Bush Tactical that comes with that steel. It is just expensive but a beautiful knife.
 
ive got a benchmade presidio ultra and a benchmade pika and from my experience it is a very good steel,at least with bm's heat treat.
 
O1 is definitely superior to 440C but bear in mind it is not stainless (that does not mean it will rust outright, just that some maintenance is required). It is used on all non-stainless Randalls. Extremely easy to sharpen and decent edge-holding.
 
I have a Benchmade Nim Cub in 440c and have used it a on fishing outings- absolutely no complaints. It's decent, all round good steel- takes a nice edge and sharpens easy. Very good corrosion resistance. Benchmade's 440c has a good reputation, I wouldn't trade my Cub for anything.
 
Georgia Guy said:
I am looking to purchase a hard use camping knife. I have my eye on the Benchmade Rant. My only concern is the 440C steel. Can someone with a lot more brain than I have let me know if it is an expect able choice.
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Depends on what you want to do with it.

It for sure is not as tough as carbon steel. Not good for a chopping blade.

It for sure will hold an edge longer than carbon steel. So it works good for a slicing blade.

As for edge holding in comparison to other stainless steels, it will not hold an edge as well as 154CM, but it will hold an edge considerably better than AUS8.

I've never had issues with "large carbides tearing out". Maybe it happens. I've never noticed it in actual use.

Be advised that some imported knives labeled "440C" are actually other alloys. I am not aware of that happening with any Benchmade products.

I have only read positive comments from owners of Benchmade Rants.
 
I have found 440C to be a very good all around blade steel. I'm something of a "steel snob", and I don't turn up my nose at 440C. It's not the current flavor of the month, but it 's been around a long time, takes a good, lasting edge, and has good rust resistence.
 
440C is good stuff.
It's not as good as S30V in the edge holding department, but it does hold an edge for an acceptable amount of use.
It's also less brittle than some of the harder steels.
 
I carried a Benchmade TSEK in 440C for years, until I wore the blade out and had BM put a new one in it. Now it sees occasional carry. If you sharpen the edge in the normal range of 35 to 45 degrees total, 17 to 22 per side, carbide issues shouldnt come up. If you like to go lower, like 10 per side or less, it may be a problem. That said, it may not be, and most dont go that low anyway.

Benchmades 440C took a scary edge very easily, almost like it was AUS-8 or something. I never did any edge holding tests with the Benchmade. I had a 440C paring knife that was the king of my blades in edge holding, tying with my Boye cast dendritic 440C. Of course the Boye cut better because of geometry. In short, I wouldnt feel shortchanged with 440C. It isnt as tough as some other steels, but it would be adequate unless you do really hard batoning with rocks and such.

This is just an opinion, but O1 doesnt start to really shine until you get edges below 25 degrees inclusive and hardness over 62 HRc. Just a thought, but its not suitable for hard use in those conditions. The best blade I've made so far, except the current M2 blade, was O1 at just below 58 HRc. Admittedly, thats only out of 6 or 7 blades at most. Full flat ground 1" wide and 3/32 thick, it was a slicing beast. The handle it was attached to is a whole other story though. Not my best moment. Like I've said before, making knives is easy. Making knives other people want and are willing to pay for is hard. That's why none of mine are marked and if anyone knows who made it, it's kept locked up and out of view.
 
BM's 440c has proven excellent in my experience. I have not used my Presidio Ultra very much, but I used my Nimravus Cub a LOT... nothing but good things to say.
 
BMs 440C is excellent. My Griptillian in 440C holds an edge just as good as my 154CM 710.

The RANT is an awesome knife for the $. Get it!
 
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