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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
52100 or A2.
- Thread starter Steelhog
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 29, 1999
- Messages
- 9,881
Both are great steels. 52100 is easier to sharpen but will rust more readily. A2 takes a while longer to sharpen but is more rust resistant (tho' it will still stain). It would be difficult to tell the difference between the two in actual use, given identical blades.
DennisStrickland
BANNED
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2009
- Messages
- 5,040
both of these can be tweaked to great users however i give the nod to 52100 as done by ed fowler. his 52100 will chop dried elk bones & cut sisal rope hundreds of times.
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2007
- Messages
- 887
Both are great steels, but I have a lot of fantastic knives in A2. I really don't think you can go wrong with either.
t1mpani
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2002
- Messages
- 5,518
If you're looking at having a knife made, the more important thing is to find a knife maker you want to work with whose style, ergonomics, etc. are a good match for your needs, and then get their input into what the steel should be--as he or she may have experience with (or a source for) one but not the other.
If you're comparing a couple of existing knives (factory or custom), unless they're EXACTLY the same knife except for the blade steel, then it isn't worth your time worrying about--other factors will contribute infinitely more to how well it performs for you.
Proper heat treatment, the hardness tempered to, and geometry are the key factors in determining cutting performance for any steel, and the "I tried a knife in A2 and another in 52100 and I liked the A2 one better" type of comparisons are so ridiculously full of variables that have nothing to do with the alloys involved as to be all but useless. Especially in this case, as these two materials are in the same ballpark overall.
52100 is more suited to forging (especially since it usually comes in the form of a bearing or rod) and is more conducive to differential tempering if you should desire it, whereas A2--while it CAN be forged--tends to be used in stock removal making and a homogeneous temper.
Both will darken with use, both will pit quickly if you leave them covered in blood, both are reasonably tough and have good edge holding in a variety of cutting mediums (good abrasion/deformation resistance ) and you will never be in a situation where you have a knife made out of one of them which fails and you'll say, "Oh, if only I'd gone with the OTHER steel!" Well, you might say it, but it isn't true.
If you're comparing a couple of existing knives (factory or custom), unless they're EXACTLY the same knife except for the blade steel, then it isn't worth your time worrying about--other factors will contribute infinitely more to how well it performs for you.
Proper heat treatment, the hardness tempered to, and geometry are the key factors in determining cutting performance for any steel, and the "I tried a knife in A2 and another in 52100 and I liked the A2 one better" type of comparisons are so ridiculously full of variables that have nothing to do with the alloys involved as to be all but useless. Especially in this case, as these two materials are in the same ballpark overall.
52100 is more suited to forging (especially since it usually comes in the form of a bearing or rod) and is more conducive to differential tempering if you should desire it, whereas A2--while it CAN be forged--tends to be used in stock removal making and a homogeneous temper.
Both will darken with use, both will pit quickly if you leave them covered in blood, both are reasonably tough and have good edge holding in a variety of cutting mediums (good abrasion/deformation resistance ) and you will never be in a situation where you have a knife made out of one of them which fails and you'll say, "Oh, if only I'd gone with the OTHER steel!" Well, you might say it, but it isn't true.
Playing "mine is harder than yours" 5160 is as good as it gets.
I use A2 because it's an item used daily around these parts. Cheap and can be hardened like a minister at a scout revelee ( 64rc). It can also be left "light"(56-8 rc) for a pig skinner or use in a veggie stand.Even a litle machete. A little phospho and the corrosion BS becomes a non issue. It's all I use any more. I hear the ole. " Doooooglas. I shredded 100 heads of cabbage for salad and it B sharp still". 8 seconds on the belt and the gals get 100 more.
When I order customs(for me) from REAL knife makers ? CPM154.Y'aint got it ? Don't use it ? I don't want it.
I use A2 because it's an item used daily around these parts. Cheap and can be hardened like a minister at a scout revelee ( 64rc). It can also be left "light"(56-8 rc) for a pig skinner or use in a veggie stand.Even a litle machete. A little phospho and the corrosion BS becomes a non issue. It's all I use any more. I hear the ole. " Doooooglas. I shredded 100 heads of cabbage for salad and it B sharp still". 8 seconds on the belt and the gals get 100 more.
When I order customs(for me) from REAL knife makers ? CPM154.Y'aint got it ? Don't use it ? I don't want it.