Aus-6

Pete1977

Pete1977

Joined
Apr 15, 2002
Messages
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before I left for this last hitch on the tug I picked up a 1/2 serrated crkt mt. rainier while out buying a pocket hone. I will post a more detailed review of the knife itself when I have more time.

the packaging on the knife identifies the blade steel as aus-6. I remember my brother using a plain edge delica with this steel and using it hard. he had no complaints. I never really gave it a chance until now.

I've used the knife for everything on the boat. I've cut 1 1/2 inch poly rope and trash rope (recycled plastics mostly) 2 1/4 inch nylon/poly rope, 3/8 inch nylon dock line, plastic spray bottles, 2 1/2 gallon plastic buckets, twine, pine shingles, strippes copper wire and cut duct and electrical tape. including tonight (i cut a lot today) I have sharpened the knife 3 times on the fine sharpmaker rods and occasionally strop it on my pants.

It takes a scary sharp edge and holds it for a reasonable amount of time and resharpens very easily. it has been rained on, sweat on, exposed to gasoline, deisel, oil, and grease and has yet to show any discoloration, has contacted steel 1 inch cable and deck fittings and shows hardly a scratch.

the edge is about 30 degrees inclusive and I have a 40 degree inclusive microbevel on it.

I read somewhere that a big name in the knife industry said that aus-6 is a fine steel when heat treated properly and I think that must be the case. I have to echo those statements based on my experience with the mt ranier.

pete
 
Well, AUS6 is considered by many to be marginal, although it's been okay in my CRKT M16-13Zs. The only thing one has to watch out for is buying an AUS4 by mistake. CRKT downgraded their steels on many models and left no way for buyers to determine what knife has which steel. I only carried my M16-13Z for a short while, but it just didn't jazz me. I do carry a Cold Steel Recon 1 with 440A stainless (which I believe is a step up from AUS6, but otherwise pretty close) on occasion, and it's proven a very acceptable knife. Still, everyone has their own standards.

I've also used CRKT's AUS8 models and have had no complaints, at least with the plain edged models. The M21-04 is one of my favorite knives, in fact. That said, I've drifted away from CRKT lately and mostly carry Cold Steel knives. They're light, strong and very attractive, and Cold Steel generally has been good about marking their blades and upgrading their steels, not the other way around.

I'm not a big fan of liner locks, but CRKT has added the excellent Lake and Walker Knife Safety to most of their knives.

.
 
Aus 6 is treated by some makers as almost a disposable, bottom tier steel and some knife owners have begun to look down on it. In Japan it is used in some pretty expensive knives by well known companies and is a lot different than the real low cost knives sold here by some companies. Spyderco always is going to have a good heat treat on any of their knives, no matter which steel. Likewise SOG did pretty well with it in some of their older knives, including the huge Tigershark( now discontinued).

It's amazing how good quality control over the heat treat can make such a difference. Another Example is Kershaw. I never had a 440A knife I liked until I had one from Kershaw a few years ago. They do everything well also, IMO, from their inexpensive line in Walmart, to their Ti Framed ZDP, and SG2 super steel line of boutique runs.

My opinion anyway. Joe
 
I have carried a Kershaw DWO for years as my prized splinter picker and wood trim "fine tuner" out on the job.

It is AUS6A, and it holds an edge pretty well. I have carried it for about 10 years not matter what other knife I carry, and it has never rusted, even spending its days in my sweaty jeans.

It sharpens literally in seconds, and the best part is you can get it scary sharp in seconds.

I don't know about this steel for a big hard use knife, but for a little sticker or folder, it works great.

Robert
 
I just finished reading the stainless steels section in Verhoevens Metallurgy for Bladesmiths book and AUS 6 gets grouped in with such steels as AEB-L, 12C27, and 13C26. This group is preferred by Verhoeven for knives because of the high attainable hardness (as high as 63 HRc), good corrosion resistance (target of 12% free Cr, not tied up in carbides), and fine, evenly dispursed Chromium Carbides without large primary carbides which can tear out of a thin edge, such as what can happen with 440C and ATS-34/154CM. 12C27 is still one of my favorite steels for folders and slicing knives, and this group seems like the stuff I'd prefer if asked to design my own perfect folder, in stainless.
 
I'm a little more comfortable with 440A as a base steel. AUS6, while acceptable if there's nothing better, just doesn't do much for me. I wonder how much longer they'll be able to keep improving steels and would like to see more knives made with 440C. Still, knives have gotten so datgum good over the last fifteen years. It's not so much the steel as the designs themselves. I have more than a hundred knives, and I've never had to return even one of them.

And that's the problem. Sometimes I wish I could settle on carrying one knife, but I've got so many favorites that I rotate carrying them. I've really become fond of the Cold Steel 6-inch Ti-Lite. If someone took them all away and gave me a CRKT M16-03Z (which has a plain edge), I could certainly live with it if it had an AUS-6 blade.
 
I'm more comfortable w/ 440A as well, but I think for me its due to consistently getting a higher quality heat treatement. Finding out that AUS 6 can be grouped in with 12C27 and will behave in a similar manner if heat treated properly was good news, if anyone would heat treat it that way. Of course I've never heard of anyone running it at 58-60 HRc on knives available in the US. I'd say it has vast untapped potential, and 440A is consistently treated better, giving it an advantage.
 
Based on everything you guys have said AUS6 is a very poor metal. I've been considering a SOG Seal PUP. The problem is that that knife is made of this steel. As of now, I would never consider! I hear the Sog Seal pup is made of AUS8, which I hope is much better, I think I will look more into it.
 
Based on everything you guys have said AUS6 is a very poor metal
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Are you reading a different thread from this? I stated it's a very good steel. SOG in particular has done a fine job with it, especially in their Japanese sourced knives. Try a moki in Aus6 and see how poor it performs. Joe
 
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I have a Blackjack Reinhart combat khukri that I bought in 91.It is made of AUS-6,it seems pretty decent.
 
jonsforeal said:
Based on everything you guys have said AUS6 is a very poor metal. I've been considering a SOG Seal PUP. The problem is that that knife is made of this steel. As of now, I would never consider! I hear the Sog Seal pup is made of AUS8, which I hope is much better, I think I will look more into it.
Click to expand...

I haven't revisited this thread in a while due to work and some other irons in the fire. I don't get where you may have gathered from my post that AUS-6 is a poor steel? I found its edge retension to be decent, very easy to resharpen, it is a tough steel, meaning it deforms rather than chips, making repairing a damaged edge easy in the field or on the jobsite, and it has high corrosion resistance.

As newer and newer "super steels" come out I find I am gravitating back to less expensive, less fancy flavor of the week steels. Steels that work. ZDP or S30V will dull just as quickly against wire rope or steel deck fittings as AUS-6 or AUS-8. Edge retension is out the window in this case, tougher steels won't chip and resharpen, reprofile, or repair in a fraction of the time.
 
There is really nothing marginal about any of the AUS steels. They are certainly fine and very good clean steels. They have just enough vanadium in them to make them tougher than the 440 steels and hold an edge comparable if not better than most with good corrosion resistance. Thats why its so easy to get a nice blade with a nice bead blasted finish and still have one that is care free out of one of these steels. I've got some in my own collection to compare to and some of the AUS6 blades I've had and used with cryo treatment have excelled in many ways beyond what I've read about on these forums.

In trying to explain some of this I believe it all boils down to a couple things really. You can have a super steel in one of the really great ones like BG42 or S30V from even a great manufacturer but if the edge is obtuse, and the bevel angle is off one side to the other with a pretty bad primary grind geometry leaving that less than optimum for the steel among other things you can easily find many situations where a 420HC or AUS6 blade that is technically a lesser steel on paper is not really lagging at all because these lesser steels are lesser in one way only and that is in the effort it takes to use it for a given task because it makes shorter work of many jobs.

I don't know how many times a so called great knife has been mailed to me only to compare it to my lowly Buck 110 or some others I've bought over time that have it going on that flat out blows the so called great one right out of the water for all around ease of use due to things just like this. Sometimes there is more to consider than the steel the blade is made of. Fact of the matter is that no matter what steel you have you'll still have to touch up the edge with frequency being the main difference from one to another but when it comes to use thats what its all about it. A knife has to work first and foremost and mostly when I get one I look at that forgetting all my set ideas and judgments about the steel and other things including who made it. Just let the knife show you what its about. It will either work or it won't.

STR
 
hey, ive got a crkt f4-12 made of tht aus-6, i mean its better than nothing as far as edge retenion but as i cant abide by a not scaaaraly sharp blade it was a bit of a dissapointmant, but like i said its better than a plastic knife ^_^, but i guess if your in an enviroment for long periods thats damp beyond belief this would be an ok choice i guess.
 
i mean dont get me wrong i like the f4 i use it alot for ruff stuff that i wouldnt particularly like to use a 100 dollar knife on, its just alil soft is all
 
My CRKT Bear Claw in AUS 6 used to get dull if you just looked at it :) On the other hand, my Spyderco FB in AUS 6 and SOG mini Pentagon never seemed to dull.
 
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