8Cr13MoV Vs. Cold Steel AUS8

G

gomipile

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Apr 17, 2010
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I've been thinking about getting some Keshaw and Sanrenmu knives with 8Cr13MoV blades.

How does Kershaw's and Sanrenmu's 8Cr13MoV compare to Cold Steel AUS8? I know that the alloys are very similar, so I'm assuming that any noticeable difference should come from heat treatment and quality control.
 
Not sure about Sanrenmu's 8Cr13MoV, but Kershaw does a great job with theirs. The 8Cr13MoV on my Kershaw Nerve (one of the most underrated "budget" folders, IMO) is at least as good as the AUS-8A on my Ontario RAT-1 and CS American Lawman.
 
I've had experience with Sanrenmu's 8Cr13Mov. It actually held an edge only slightly better than my Kudu's edge in 4116.
No experience with CS's AUS8 though.
Still surprised at Cs's heat treat of their 4116.
 
Mephtyrm said:
I've had experience with Sanrenmu's 8Cr13Mov. It actually held an edge only slightly better than my Kudu's edge in 4116.
No experience with CS's AUS8 though.
Still surprised at Cs's heat treat of their 4116.
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I have only used my Kudu for light EDC and portable food prep (since its so easy to clean and the blade is perfect for slicing sandwiches.) It hasn't let me down though, and I am overall very happy with the knife.
 
I prefer Aus-8 over 8cr13Mov, generally. It probably varies from company to company (I have used 8cr13MoV steel in a couple of knives, but not Kershaw blades specifically), but in general I've found that 8cr13MoV is much more prone to chipping than Aus-8, which I absolutely can't stand. Cold Steel's Aus-8 actually seems to be a pretty decent user steel...I've had the opportunity to really abuse my American Lawman lately and I can't complain about how the edge is holding up.
 
Cold Steel does their Aus8 right , to me it seems on the hard side , which is fine.

Moth my large and small American Lawman were sharp enough out of the box but I like 'em sharper , it took a considerable amount of time on the stones to rebevel and get that edge where I wanted it , they also seem to do better with a toothier edge than a polished edge..

Tostig
 
EDIT: I forgot to mention AUS-8 in my dialogue below.

I hold aus8 (cold steels) in a higher category than the steels I mentioned below. CS's aus8 is one of my favorite steels because it hold a great edge, and gets absurdly sharp with little work. Give it a polished edge and a strop is all you'll need to keep it hair whittling sharp indefinitely.










Lets keep this conversation alive.

I have grown to be a steel snob, mostly by being spoiled when buying spyderco knives. Used to I wouldn't touch anything below 154cm, but recently that has changed.

I started using my tenacious in 8cr, and my cheapo buck vantage select in 420hc. Guess what? Both of those steels surprised me, a lot! Hearing everyone talk about super steels made me think that the lower end stuff was so bad that it couldn't hold an edge if you even threatened to cut cardboard; that's just not true.

I used the crap out of 8cr and 420hc and both took it in stride. They held a respectable edge for a good while and they were both unbelievably easy to bring back to hair whittling sharp. I am starting to realize that I am no steel snob. I can use a knife with 8cr or 420hc and be perfectly happy. While I can't speak for all here, I'd bet that most would be surprised at just how well these "inferior" steels perform.
 
I agree, Buck's 420HC and CS's AUS8 are very fine stainless steels for the price. It's kind of like automobiles. I'm sure you will get by just fine in a Hyundai or Kia if you needed some transportation from point A to B. But there's some folks that would rather roll in a Bentley or Escalade.

That's how I justify my obsession with Spyderco's super steel offerings. Mmmmm, M4!

But yeah, I really like how well Buck does their 420HC.
 
I have no experience with Kershaw's 8Cr13MoV at all, so I won't comment.

Both are mediocre steels, but can be very good with proper heat treat, just depends.

CS's AUS8 is the best I have ever used, unlike CRKT and a few others.

I have a few Spyderco's Byrd 8Cr13MoV blades, and they work really good

My SRM 710 is comparable to Spydercos, i.e. very well done. IMO it is almost as good as CS AUS8. I whittled with it for about 20 min nonstop the other day, and it was still scraping hair. That's definitely good in my book! The edge was profiled pretty thin too, at 30* inclusive relief beel and 40*microbevel.

I still believe that CS is better, but I can't prove it, it may just be bias.
 
CrimsonTideShooter said:
...I have grown to be a steel snob, mostly by being spoiled when buying spyderco knives. Used to I wouldn't touch anything below 154cm, but recently that has changed.

I started using my tenacious in 8cr, and my cheapo buck vantage select in 420hc. Guess what? Both of those steels surprised me, a lot! Hearing everyone talk about super steels made me think that the lower end stuff was so bad that it couldn't hold an edge if you even threatened to cut cardboard; that's just not true.

I used the crap out of 8cr and 420hc and both took it in stride. They held a respectable edge for a good while and they were both unbelievably easy to bring back to hair whittling sharp. I am starting to realize that I am no steel snob. I can use a knife with 8cr or 420hc and be perfectly happy. While I can't speak for all here, I'd bet that most would be surprised at just how well these "inferior" steels perform.
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Careful, CTS, there is frequently little room for common sense in steel discussions. ;)

I must confess that I too have gone back to basics with 8Cr13MoV and AUS-8. Both take a wonderful edge, are easy to sharpen or touch-up and perform well for the majority of uses a pocket knife will be called upon to perform. Sure, M390, CPM-M4, S30V and S90V are amazing steels, but at the end of the day, I am just as pleased with AUS-8, 8Cr13MoV or 420HC.
 
A.P.F. said:
Careful, CTS, there is frequently little room for common sense in steel discussions. ;)

I must confess that I too have gone back to basics with 8Cr13MoV and AUS-8. Both take a wonderful edge, are easy to sharpen or touch-up and perform well for the majority of uses a pocket knife will be called upon to perform. Sure, M390, CPM-M4, S30V and S90V are amazing steels, but at the end of the day, I am just as pleased with AUS-8, 8Cr13MoV or 420HC.
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:thumbup:

While I'm not sure our train of thought will catch on, I am glad that we have discovered this. If nothing else it opens up the knife market for us, as we do not overlook the great designs that use some of the more common "inferior" steels. Happy slicing!
 
I'd probably give a slight nod to aus-8 just because it's been around a bit longer not that theres anything wrong with 8cr13mov both are decent serviceable steels at affordable prices.
 
I wanted to bump this back up... I am a huge fan of 8cr13mov, at least in the Kershaw flavor.

My chill came shaving sharp from the factory... I thought, "Big whoop, this $17 knife is going to go dull before a single workday is over". I literally thought that since it didn't have one of the fancy super steels that a knife "must" have nowadays to be considered good, it wouldn't even be worth using.

I was SO wrong. This knife holds a shaving edge throughout the work week, while I'm constantly touching up my D2 Benchmade trying to keep it sharp enough to cut paper without ripping it.

It got to the point where I was so frustrated, that I was checking my D2 blade several times a day against my Kershaw 8cr13mov, under 25x magnification on our metallurgy scope.

I could literally break down a single cardboard box, and the D2 would lose its shaving edge. I can cut a whole stack of boxes before my Chinese made Kershaw stops shaving.

I've tried multiple edge angles, multiple grit finishes, all inspected under the microscope to verify edge quality, and still the same results.

On top of that, I can bring my $20 Kershaw back to shaving sharp with about three passes per side on a 10 micron sharp stick that I made myself out of some self-adhesive AO lapping film and some leftover stabilized maple. I'm talking about 10 seconds and this thing is back to dangerous.

I have to spend several minutes to tune the D2 edge back in, and it doesn't keep shaving for much longer than the time it took me to tune it in.






I'm not saying 8cr13 is superior to D2. I'm just saying that in my usage scenario, the cheaper steel seems to be the better performer.

Just to keep me from getting torn to shreds here, although the D2 loses its shaving edge almost instantly, it keeps a cutting edge for weeks on end with little change, whereas once the 8cr13 loses its shaving edge, it goes downhill REALLY fast... but that isn't a problem for me, since it touches up nearly instantly.
 
iandh said:
I wanted to bump this back up... I am a huge fan of 8cr13mov, at least in the Kershaw flavor.

My chill came shaving sharp from the factory... I thought, "Big whoop, this $17 knife is going to go dull before a single workday is over". I literally thought that since it didn't have one of the fancy super steels that a knife "must" have nowadays to be considered good, it wouldn't even be worth using.

I was SO wrong. This knife holds a shaving edge throughout the work week, while I'm constantly touching up my D2 Benchmade trying to keep it sharp enough to cut paper without ripping it.

It got to the point where I was so frustrated, that I was checking my D2 blade several times a day against my Kershaw 8cr13mov, under 25x magnification on our metallurgy scope.

I could literally break down a single cardboard box, and the D2 would lose its shaving edge. I can cut a whole stack of boxes before my Chinese made Kershaw stops shaving.

I've tried multiple edge angles, multiple grit finishes, all inspected under the microscope to verify edge quality, and still the same results.

On top of that, I can bring my $20 Kershaw back to shaving sharp with about three passes per side on a 10 micron sharp stick that I made myself out of some self-adhesive AO lapping film and some leftover stabilized maple. I'm talking about 10 seconds and this thing is back to dangerous.

I have to spend several minutes to tune the D2 edge back in, and it doesn't keep shaving for much longer than the time it took me to tune it in.






I'm not saying 8cr13 is superior to D2. I'm just saying that in my usage scenario, the cheaper steel seems to be the better performer.

Just to keep me from getting torn to shreds here, although the D2 loses its shaving edge almost instantly, it keeps a cutting edge for weeks on end with little change, whereas once the 8cr13 loses its shaving edge, it goes downhill REALLY fast... but that isn't a problem for me, since it touches up nearly instantly.
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Yep, remember that the huge carbides in the D2 keep more of a ripping microserrated edge, than the fine edge you can get on something as finely grained as 8CR13MoV

I think of D2 as kind of a specialty steel, it is easy to get discouraged with it, it is hard to work with, and can rust easily, but as far as keeping that toothy edge, it is almost unbeatable

I remember when I got my BM 710, my first D2 blade, I was super excited, because it was the first D2 blade I ever got, but I was really disappointed, since I would work forever and only be able to have, what I considered, a mediocre edge, but after a while I learned what it was good at and what it wasn't, and it's one of my favorite steels again
 
res1cue said:
Yep, remember that the huge carbides in the D2 keep more of a ripping microserrated edge, than the fine edge you can get on something as finely grained as 8CR13MoV

I think of D2 as kind of a specialty steel, it is easy to get discouraged with it, it is hard to work with, and can rust easily, but as far as keeping that toothy edge, it is almost unbeatable

I remember when I got my BM 710, my first D2 blade, I was super excited, because it was the first D2 blade I ever got, but I was really disappointed, since I would work forever and only be able to have, what I considered, a mediocre edge, but after a while I learned what it was good at and what it wasn't, and it's one of my favorite steels again
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I'm not trying to dog on D2 or anything, it's a great steel. I had a similar experience to you... I had different expectations for it than what it had to offer. :)

If I was doing lots of rough and tough cutting, I think it would be great for me. Unfortunately, most of the cutting I do is lighter stuff requiring a fine razor sharp edge.

For instance, a couple weeks ago I was cutting a whole bunch of steel weld-on handles out of anti-corrosive packing (VERY thin but tough plastic bags), and the D2 was struggling to cut plastic baggies. I was getting really frustrated. I pulled out the Kershaw, and it sliced them to ribbons with no effort.

That said, there are certain things that can obliterate the edge on the Kershaw when the D2 Benchmade doesn't even blink.





I think a lot of people, including myself, get sucked into the super-steel mentality, when there is a very good chance that one of the plain, unexciting steels may serve them better for any number of reasons.
 
iandh said:
I think a lot of people, including myself, get sucked into the super-steel mentality, when there is a very good chance that one of the plain, unexciting steels may serve them better for any number of reasons.
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:thumbup: absolutely

the moral of the story is, dont believe everything you read on bladeforums!!
 
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