Any use for stainless big fixed blade ?

C

Chapp

Joined
Mar 28, 2018
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190
Take the bushcrafter from Benchmade as an exemple. Why would you buy it instead of a 1095 blade of the same size ? Like an Esee 4 for exemple. Stainless is corrosion resistant, but it's also more expensive, slightly more difficult to sharpen, harder overall and thus bend less... I can perfectly understand going stainless for edc or smaller blade, but corrosion doesn't matter much on bushcraft tool or beater. I'm I missing something or is it hard to justify going stainless over carbon for bushcraft tool ?
 
Some might not like the look of a forced or natural patina.I like the appearance
of it though.
Zx4vMaz.jpg

p.s. , this is not my picture.
 
Chapp said:
Take the bushcrafter from Benchmade as an exemple. Why would you buy it instead of a 1095 blade of the same size ? Like an Esee 4 for exemple. Stainless is corrosion resistant, but it's also more expensive, slightly more difficult to sharpen, harder overall and thus bend less...
Click to expand...

...and hold an edge longer.
 
My beater stainless fixed blade had black painted plain steel screws. Over the years, the screws started to look like this.
srCKFUb.jpg

It did not impact functionality, but it looked rather crap. I can only imagine how the blade would have looked if it would not have been stainless....
Recently I swapped the screws for new stainless ones, and the knife looks like new again.
TCriYGy.jpg

Huzzah for low maintenance stainless.
 
I own a Benchmade 162. It was purchased as a bushcraft/camp knife with the idea that I could use it also for emergency prep. I specifically wanted stainless so I would not have to worry quite as much. The 162 was the only stainless bushcraft knife I could find at the time. Now they are much easier to find or my Google abilities have gotten better.

Not really sure if I would purchase the 162 if I had it to do over. It is a fine knife but something with a full flat grind is what I would buy now. Or, CPKs Field Knife or their EDC2. Those two are a given.
 
Aside from greater corrosion resistance, I would expect a Benchmade Bushcraft 162 in S30V at 58-60hrc with it's higher carbide content to have greater abrasive wear resistance than an Esee 4 in 1095 at 55-57hrc. That might matter processing game; ex. butchering hogs. I would expect the Esee 4 to have greater impact resistance which might be important if you intend to baton firewood. Probably not going to be chopping with a 4 inch blade.
 
I saw an interview with Ray Ennis when, describing his 7” Long 1/4” thick bowie, said it would be practical with some of the very large game hunters take in the mountains and up north. He also made a 9” version. I doubt I’ll ever use it for real chopping or batoning work. Like large animal food prep, taking advantage of the still sharp real estate for cutting duties until the entire blade is ready to be sharpened. The 440c used seems to hold an edge forever, and as long as diamonds or ceramics are available, sharpening is just as easy and/or fun as sharpening carbo steel.
 
Biggest stainless knife I have (excluding kitchen) is a fallkniven phk.
Best stainless knife I have ever owned
 
Chopping wood in a drenched tropical jungle, I appreciate not having to worry about rust. Just get the job done and when it's finished, clean it, dry it and re-sheath it, ready for the next round. Yes, stainless will still rust eventually, so I still take care of my blades, but it's less of a worry and it's one less thing to stress me out when I'm already spitting mad from the heat and humidity.
 
AEB-L in thicker stock has changed the game a bit at least for reasonably priced custom and "specialty cutlery" knives. Pretty much all fo the benefits of stainless without most of the drawbacks. MOr than one person has called it "the stainless steel for people who don't like stainless steel."
 
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I see no reason not to go with stainless for a large fixed blade so long as it's the right kind of stainless and it's heat treated appropriately for the intended context of use.
 
I agree OP.

Personally I'm in a high carbon steel Renaissance now and wouldn't go for a stainless anything over 4". I like the modern supersteels like M390 for a folder, but for a large chopper it doesn't make sense to me. My exception is 3V, which I think straddles the line between stainless and non stainlees tool steel.

Just maintain your tools and carbon steel works fine, not to mentions sharpens easier for me and performs better.

Certainly I would never get a S30V "bushcraft" Benchmade over any high carbon steel blade of same length. I have a lot of issues with getting/maintaining a decent edge in that steel, and would be concerned with chipping if used for bushcraft.

If I see 2 knives same design, one in stainless, one in a carbon steel, I will always pick the carbon one, given proper heat treatment.

I have this weird bias that I think stainless steel is junk sh!t, and mainly for people who don't know any better and can't be bothered to appreciate the properties of a knife (in my mind "Walmart -Bear Grylls/Gerber knife people") .
 
3V is not stainless. It has a tendancy to pit as opposed to getting just surface rust. The testing that Larrin Thomas has been posting over in Shop Talk so far indicates that of the steels tested, only 8670 is tougher than AEB-L. We haven't seen the numbers from 3V, Vanadis 4, L6, or Z-tuff yet, but is was tougher than Z-Wear, Cru-Wear and a number of others including some nitrogen stainless steels. Pretty impressive for a simple old razor blade steel. I am a carbon steel guy and the only two air hardening steel that I have used are 3V and AEB-L. I see no reason a this point to find any others unless the Z-Tuff just blows everything away in the testing. Rumor says that it has almost S7 toughness with A2 wear resistance. Its price point says that you only use it for special projects and maybe that wold be one fo he few times that you collect up front for materials. Those Mille rBrothers tomahawks cost a lot for a reason. At regular retail, the steel for a Z-Tuff hawk might be well over $200 before you started subtracting the value of the "scrap" that you could use for a knife blade or two!!!! ;)
Danketch said:
I agree OP.

Personally I'm in a high carbon steel Renaissance now and wouldn't go for a stainless anything over 4". I like the modern supersteels like M390 for a folder, but for a large chopper it doesn't make sense to me. My exception is 3V, which I think straddles the line between stainless and non stainlees tool steel.

Just maintain your tools and carbon steel works fine, not to mentions sharpens easier for me and performs better.

Certainly I would never get a S30V "bushcraft" Benchmade over any high carbon steel blade of same length. I have a lot of issues with getting/maintaining a decent edge in that steel, and would be concerned with chipping if used for bushcraft.

If I see 2 knives same design, one in stainless, one in a carbon steel, I will always pick the carbon one, given proper heat treatment.

I have this weird bias that I think stainless steel is junk sh!t, and mainly for people who don't know any better and can't be bothered to appreciate the properties of a knife (in my mind "Walmart -Bear Grylls/Gerber knife people") .
Click to expand...
 
Yeah I've had 3V pit too. I just thought it was classified as a "semi-stainless" in at least BF nomenclature, hence straddling the line between stainless and reg tool steel. Drinking beers tonight, so no research being done over here.
 
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