A word on TOPS 1095

SteelJunkee said:
Yes of course.

How long is the ESEE Junglas ??? I like it, is it"Not too long" but sturdy...

1: (God Help ME) it`s a freaking CFK Cutlery Hunters Companion II..... In D2 (for summer)
2:Tops bob, in 154cm (all the time)
3:Fallllllllllllllllkniven F1, Lam VG-10 (for winter)

that`s what I use.
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ESEE Junglas Machete is 10.38 inches long.

Thanks for the info!!!
 
SteelJunkee said:
I don't want to sound harsh toward Carbon Steels lovers but..... It has been out of the bushcrafting game for while now. I have some of them and I love`em. Not for that kind of task.

From the solidity and edge retention available nowadays Carbon Steel will gracefully leave it`s place to high tech alloys that are frankly, light years ahead of it.
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Carbon steel has been around for a long while, I don't think edge retention is where the steel excels
at, where that steel really shines is in it's toughness.It is the stuff swords,prybars,machetes are made of
 
I have also 2 bark rivers, A gunny and an aurora in 3v, but I find them too thin I`m afraid to put them to their pace, lolll.
 
User27 said:
Carbon steel has been around for a long while, I don't think edge retention is where the steel excels
at, where that steel really shines is in it's toughness.It is the stuff swords,prybars,machetes are made of
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Just compare 3v toughness to Carbon Steel and.... yeah that`s about it, where carbon steel really shines is, you can make it 40 RC if you want.

That`s not giving edge retention.
 
The next question is...

What are the most important features of the construction of a bushcraft knife (in exception of form factor and geometry, Thats to your taste.)

imo

1: Edge retention
2: Toughness
3: Ease of sharpening
 
SteelJunkee said:
Just compare 3v toughness to Carbon Steel and.... yeah that`s about it, where carbon steel really shines is, you can make it 40 RC if you want.

That`s not giving edge retention.
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The new high-end steels do seem interesting to me
but the closest thing to having experience with
them is through checking out my friends knife collections..
A knife at a rockwell of 40, a funny idea , no bueno for blades though.
 
User27 said:
The new high-end steels do seem interesting to me
but the closest thing to having experience with
them is through checking out my friends knife collections..
A knife at a rockwell of 40, a funny idea , no bueno for blades though.
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I was kidding, Most pry bar are around 48-50 But I`m not talking about supersteelsss, I don't have any of the latest, Cruewear etc, but I know from experience that 3v, 154cm, D2, A2, are far superior in edge retention than any sharpened pry bar, and... That can sound lazy but.... Maintenance less knives....

I do love.
 
SteelJunkee said:
The next question is...

What are the most important features of the construction of a bushcraft knife (in exception of form factor and geometry, Thats to your taste.)

imo

1: Edge retention
2: Toughness
3: Ease of sharpening
Click to expand...


To answer your question , in any knife I prefer that
the blade is tough and that it sharpens easily.I think
you should post this somewhere else it seems like
an interesting topic that people might check out
 
SteelJunkee said:
I don't want to sound harsh toward Carbon Steels lovers but..... It has been out of the bushcrafting game for while now. I have some of them and I love`em. Not for that kind of task.

From the solidity and edge retention available nowadays Carbon Steel will gracefully leave it`s place to high tech alloys that are frankly, light years ahead of it.
Click to expand...


Ooohhh I don’t know about that. While there are some excellent stainless and nearly stainless options, l think it’s probably a big overstatement to say that carbon steel is out of the game. Considering how many bushcraft oriented knives I see in 1095, 5160, 52100, and O1 just to name a few, I’d say carbon steel has a pretty serious following and a lot left in the game.

I say that as a guy who was just out doing some buscrafty stuff earlier today with a knife in ELMAX, but last week was using one in 15n20. I love both carbon and stainless and find they both work very well for me.
 
one nice thing about simple carbon steels, is that they react very well to simple heat treats. I have owned Tops for over 20 years and always had favorable impressions of them. ESEE Junglas is one amazing large blade. Considering that it is a thin profile it sure is tough. Enjoy your tops.
 
19-3ben said:
Ooohhh I don’t know about that. While there are some excellent stainless and nearly stainless options, l think it’s probably a big overstatement to say that carbon steel is out of the game. Considering how many bushcraft oriented knives I see in 1095, 5160, 52100, and O1 just to name a few, I’d say carbon steel has a pretty serious following and a lot left in the game.

I say that as s guy who was just out doing some buscrafty stuff earlier today with a knife in ELMAX, but last week was using one in 15n20. I love both carbon and stainless and find they both work very well for me.
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Just a matter of taste, I didn't find the real bushcrafting knife that I could not love... High carbon or whatever.... It`s just that carbon steel doesn't "cut it" anymore. It does not remove any gratefulness from it :)
 
SteelJunkee said:
Just a matter of taste, I didn't find the real bushcrafting knife that I could not love... High carbon or whatever.... It`s just that carbon steel doesn't "cut it" anymore. It does not remove any gratefulness from it :)
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I hear ya. I don’t discriminate based on carbon vs SS. At this point my bushcrafting knives have the following steels: VG10, ELMAX, D2, 1095, 15n20, 5160, 1075 and I have one in 52100 on order. For my purposes carbon steel works just fine, but so does a good SS.
 
19-3ben said:
I hear ya. I don’t discriminate based on carbon vs SS. At this point my bushcrafting knives have the following steels: VG10, ELMAX, D2, 1095, 15n20, 5160, 1075 and I have one in 52100 on order. For my purposes carbon steel works just fine, but so does a good SS.
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Well I`m lazzzzzyyyyy, I tried, tried, tried.... But they are always rustingggggggggg :(:(:(
 
19-3ben said:
A Tops Scandi Trekker is high on my want list, but I can barely find any info on them. The few TOPS knives I've had do tend to be too thick behind the edge for my liking, but it's not that big a deal to thin them out a bit. The only one I really couldn't work with was the Ute 2 I once had. That knife was very thick considering the short blade length, and low blade height. Made it impossible to put a useable edge on it. There just want enough real estate to let it taper down.
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The Scandi Trekker is on my list as well, I love my MSK, but the Trekker’s dimensions sound just about perfect to me. So far my MSK has handled everything I’ve thrown at it, and being right around .12 thick, it’s not too thick for it’s size. If it wasn’t for the MSK I think I’d have already bought a Trekker. The grind on my MSK was the most even of any knife I’ve bought.

Now a Prather War Bowie.. I really, really need one of those beauties.
 
steelhog said:
Hey all. About 4 years ago I snagged a TOPs CAT on an impulse purchase. I never really cared for the knife so for the last 4 years this is the knife I grab when I have abusive tasks. I have been very impressed with the TOPS 1095 during this time. This has been the default knife to dig out nails, staples, dig holes in the ground, scrape metal, used as a chisel, cut shingles and more abuse.
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For the life of me, I can't understand why people do this. Why not just get a screwdriver, putty knife, shovel, chisel, etc.? Why abuse a knife that way at all? Just to report back here that it took the abuse well?
 
Smaug said:
For the life of me, I can't understand why people do this. Why not just get a screwdriver, putty knife, shovel, chisel, etc.? Why abuse a knife that way at all? Just to report back here that it took the abuse well?
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Sometimes people don’t carry a workshop with them and need to do a task with what they have.

Just be prepared to redo a snapped tip!
 
Smaug said:
For the life of me, I can't understand why people do this. Why not just get a screwdriver, putty knife, shovel, chisel, etc.? Why abuse a knife that way at all? Just to report back here that it took the abuse well?
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^^^ if SHTF I wont carry that ^^^ any knife works good without it`s tip.
 
1095 has stood the test of time. I prefer it. Tops and others do a great job. Keeps the price down, easy to sharpen etc.
 
The big advantage of simple carbon steels is value. They're great at performing more than well enough while being inexpensive to purchase as raw material, grind, and heat treat in a manner that gives suitable results at a low price point. Your bang-for-the-buck factor is excellent. Fancier steels have greater performance potential but between being more expensive in raw form and usually being more demanding in execution, it's easier and more cost-effective to squeeze value out of the simple stuff as long as the context of use permits it. And most do, including hard use environments. In fact, very often an ounce of operator skill/know-how is worth a pound of increased shock resistance or edge retention, and the ease of sharpening simple carbon steels often makes up for the only "okay" edge retention in abrasive cutting tasks. For some specific contexts, they do fall flat, which is why we have other options at our disposal. But for easily 95% of cutting tasks, it's more than good enough, and it's at least able to squeak by through 4.99% of the rest of it. :)
 
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