8cr13mov: one of the best steels ever?

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deerhunterp

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Dec 27, 2008
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It's cheap, easy to sharpen, and with a good heat treat it can stay sharp for a decently long time. What more can you ask for?
 
I really like the "genre" with a lot of AUS8 experience. I can see some people needing higher tier steels but think it's usually a want - nothing wrong with that.
 
When I bought this house last year my father and his old contractor friend were helping me fix up some stuff. I definitely wouldn't have handed one of them an S30V blade for the stuff they didn't want to use a slippie on :)

Sharpmaker made the edge new again when I took it out to smoke a cig with my Mini Recon.

Same scenario mutiple times with drops, hitting staples, nails, etc. Used to pop metal banding with old Spydie and CS AUS8 folders.
 
One of the best steels ever??? Now thats quite a stretch.
 
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300 series stainless steel, 'Surgical Stainless', and whatever that crap is that they make gas station knives out of: Best steels of all time.

They're cheap and easy to sharpen, what more can you ask for?
 
Eh, nah. It's fine for light, occasional use (granted, that is probably all that a lot of people need). But if you do any real cutting work its weaknesses show. Unboxing lots of furniture/cutting tape and zipties/etc will wear that edge out real quick.
 
I love 8CR13. While it's edge retention is okay, it is probably the easiest steel to sharpen. When you do sharpen it, man oh man does it take a stupid sharp edge.

OrdnanceBubbaUSMC said:
Same scenario mutiple times with drops, hitting staples, nails, etc. Used to pop metal banding with old Spydie and CS AUS8 folders.
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I wish I could say the same. Staples did a number on my Tenacious when my dad used it to cut up a sofa for disposal. I fixed it up pretty well, but it still has some serrations near the tip.:D
 
A lot depends on geometry and how good the edge is set up before all the cutting. Even 440A can last a good bit for those type of things.

Bugout how much was it used and resharpened prior? The virgin blades react different for sure. Usually it is a small dent or roll.
 
galactorrhea said:
Eh, nah. It's fine for light, occasional use (granted, that is probably all that a lot of people need). But if you do any real cutting work its weaknesses show. Unboxing lots of furniture/cutting tape and zipties/etc will wear that edge out real quick.
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I did some cardboard testing with my Spyderco Tenacious and my Enlan EL-02B. The Tenacious stayed servicable far longer than the Enlan, which had some pretty nice rolls in it by the 10th cut. I don't know whether or not that was due to a better heat treat or edge geometry on the Spyderco, but both knives were brought back to blistering sharpness with relatively little effort.

8CR13Mov is not S90V. Hell, it ain't even VG-10. Does it meet my needs? Sure. If I need better steel for some task, I have other knives that will do the job. But 8CR13 is fine for the vast majority of my EDC tasks.
 
OrdnanceBubbaUSMC said:
A lot depends on geometry and how good the edge is set up before all the cutting. Even 440A can last a good bit for those type of things.

Bugout how much was it used and resharpened prior? The virgin blades react different for sure. Usually it is a small dent or roll.
Click to expand...

Assuming it is a properly heat treated 440A. I have made a POS Boker fixed blade chip out by slicing into a green branch, not exactly confidence inspiring.
 
I think it it is one of the greatest steels of all time myself: it performs about the same as most 440C, which was top of the line several decades ago.
To me it is more of a landmark in time of how knives in general have improved, I myself can't wait to see the day when S30V and the like are treated
like how 8Cr and AUS-8 right now.
 
there are easy to sharpen steels that are much more desirable IMO. in my experience 8cr rolls very easily. I'll take 1095 any day.
 
Don't know about the best....

Steels are a compromise and there are no bad steels, just different..

Personally I use S30V more than any other steel for my EDC knives, in the kitchen I use S90V and S110V.
 
I dont think the OP meant it as "the best" as compared to premium steels. Looking at cost and other attributes to performance amongst other attributes.
 
FCM415 said:
I dont think the OP meant it as "the best" as compared to premium steels. Looking at cost and other attributes to performance amongst other attributes.
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I think one has to look at the whole picture, don't remember any higher quality folders in that steel aside from some customs I have seen.

Usually that steel is used to keep down the total cost of the knives and that goes along with the other materials the knives are made out of.

Looking at the knives as a whole I just don't know...
 
It's not the best but it definitely is a damn good steel for EDC.

However, I think the OP meant the best for him.
 
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