Anyone ever 'regressed' where steels are concerned?

orca8589

orca8589

Joined
Jan 27, 2007
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In looking over my journals and lists of info on my knives, from what I've owned in the past through what I have now, I realized that for several years I worked to acquire as many steel types as I could, working up from the good carbon steels from my childhood to the new 'super steels' of today - actually, what was current a year-and-a-half ago, when I started selling & trading off most of my knives that had the more modern steels.

This really hit home a week ago when I got in an 80's-era Case 6265CV Two-Blade Hunter from another member here (Thanks bakerg2g!). This pattern was one of the first 'large' folders I started with, and now that I'm back to a CV-bladed Case, I'm as happy as a yearling trout in a pond full of mayflies. :) I did carry a Buck 119 Special in the summer of '84, which I think at the time was 440C. Everything else I had was good ol' carbon steel, though.

I've gone from carbon steel bladed Case & U.S. Schrade slipjoints to 154CM-bladed Emersons, ZDP-189-bladed Spydercos, Kershaw's SG2 & D2 laminate blades, and at least a dozen more of the newer steels; but nothing really seems to interest me now as much as the carbon steel knives currently on the market.

My favorite to date is still Cold Steel's Carbon V, and Case's CV & U.S. Schrade's 1095.

So, anyone else ever jumped back to an old favorite steel - as a user, not just for sentimental reasons?

~Chris
 
I like S30V as a user steel in folders, I EDC folders in that more than the others.
 
I started with aus 8 then moved up to 154cm, tried D2 and wasnt a fan, graduated to s30v and that was the steel for me. I have more knives in it than in any other steel, but i find myself liking carbon steels more for users. So i guess you can say i regressed because these steels like a2, 1082 and 1095 can be considered "worse" by the steel snobs that are so very present on this site. But then again i started with stainless, so you could just as easily say I did not regress. I like the carbon steels for use because of the ease of sharpening with just stropping and the character they gain with patina.
 
I pretty much just like steel. Any steel.
At the moment I have one knife with an M390 PM steel blade in my back pocket.
But I also have a Queen stockman with 1095 carbon steel blades in my front pocket.
 
I can appreciate the simplified maintenance involved in 440 series stainless or SAK steels. Whatever else I may try out, I'll always be back to the basics at some point. I've never worn out a knife yet, no matter what it's made of...

Steel preference, though? I'm torn between VG-10 and S30V.
 
Ankerson said:
I like S30V as a user steel in folders, I EDC folders in that more than the others.
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Now this surprises me considering the battery of tests you've conducted using different blade steels.

I'm a steel snob to some extent. It's just that my preference lies in a big pool. I've had anything from 1095 up to Elmax (well, technically I don't have Elmax yet since the knife isn't built yet).
 
orca8589 said:
So, anyone else ever jumped back to an old favorite steel - as a user, not just for sentimental reasons?

~Chris
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Yeap , both ATS34 and 154CM , although I still prefer my 154CM blades for getting AUS8 like razor sharp without resorting to sharpening for an extended amount of time.

Tostig
 
Tostig said:
Yeap , both ATS34 and 154CM , although I still prefer my 154CM blades for getting AUS8 like razor sharp without resorting to sharpening for an extended amount of time.

Tostig
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Come again?
 
Im not into the new "steel of the day" like i once was. Ive come to believe the heattreat is everything, and what type of steel is secondary. I dont need to pay 3 times as much to hold an edge a little longer.
 
I be he said:
Im not into the new "steel of the day" like i once was. Ive come to believe the heattreat is everything, and what type of steel is secondary. I dont need to pay 3 times as much to hold an edge a little longer.
Click to expand...

Give it time. ;)

Oh yeh, I really like S30V with Spyderco's heat treat but I've used 5160 a lot over the years and I still won't feel "understeeled" with 5160.
 
I have a lot of folders in s30v a few in 154cm and some others.
.My first love is and always will be is a good carbon steel..Thats what I make knives in and I know how to heat treat right..5160,L6,1084,1095,52100..I love em'...The look of a old carbon blade with a nice patina just warms my heart..
 
Personally I like the way 1095 holds up. It takes a good edge and stays sharp. Being a carbon steel, however there's always the rust factor. But that's nothing some Rem-Oil can't fix. For stainless I like both S30V and VG-10.
 
I've got knives in most of the currently fashionable super-steels, but most of them sit unused. The knives that I actually carry tend to be H1, 8Cr13MoV, or 154CM, mainly because keeping them acceptably sharp takes about 10 seconds a week on the white sharpmaker stones.
 
knarfeng said:
I pretty much just like steel. Any steel.
At the moment I have one knife with an M390 PM steel blade in my back pocket.But I also have a Queen stockman with 1095 carbon steel blades in my front pocket.
Click to expand...

Same here. I have love for almost every cutlery alloy out there. I have and use AUS8 to CPM-S90V to CTS-BD1 to 14C28N to INFI to SR77 to 1095 to D2 to M390 to Alabama Damascus to CPM-S35VN....on and on ;)
I'm rotating between a Benchmade TSEK in M390, ZT 0551 in ELMAX, and a Spyderco Para2 in CTS-20CP.
 
154cm and 440c are the surprises for my edcs. Both are considdered mid grade at best by most steel heads but IMHO 154cm in particular is the perfect combination of edge holding vs ease of sharpening and it can take and hold a toothy edge or polished edge quite well.
 
Im a big fan of 154cm myself..At times I really think I like it better than S30v...This may sound foolish but it kinda reminds me of 1095 without the patina..
EricV said:
154cm and 440c are the surprises for my edcs. Both are considdered mid grade at best by most steel heads but IMHO 154cm in particular is the perfect combination of edge holding vs ease of sharpening and it can take and hold a toothy edge or polished edge quite well.
Click to expand...
 
Three of the last four knives I have purchased have been 154CM. For some reason they were also all autos. In any event, I dont mind it but I wish more manufacturers would ditch it in favour of CPM-154.
 
I have knives in high end steels, like ZDP-189 or S90V yet my very favorite remains VG-10. Oh, and I do love carbon steel myself.
 
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