Beater knife steel metallurgy

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pangaman

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Anyone have any thoughts on medium carbon steel for hard working blades?

From what I can gather after lurking around on these forums for a while, is that the lower carbon, less boutiquey, grades of steel are more forgiving to variations in heat treatment. (When done right, super steels are excellent).

This has been my experience too, particularly in the cases of 1055, 1070, 1075 steel for machetes, which I have found to be virtually indestructible.

Sk5 has been a mixed bag in terms of toughness, and 1055 has had more variation regarding edge holding.

Dan Maragni posted an interesting article about 1075 recently:

ontarioknife.com

Dan Maragni Intro / 1095-1075 Switch

Ontario Knife Company Resident knife expert Dan Maragni introduces himself and explains the decision to make the switch from 1075 steel to 1095.
ontarioknife.com ontarioknife.com
 
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pangaman said:
Anyone have any thoughts on medium carbon steel for hard working blades?
Click to expand...
As mentioned in another thread, my SP10 in 1075 performs great as a chopper.

All my machetes are 1055 and some get a lot of use. I have to do a quick sharpening/touch up on the edge regularly, but other than that the steel is great in such a blade. One of them is stored in my shed outside the sheath, but it rusts like crazy anyways 😁
 
Depends on usage. I have "Truck Knives" I consider beater knives, which I prefer in stainless (440ish) or at least D2 because they see more humidity and may sit for extended periods in a sheath.
I do have a Junglas 2 and can certainly appreciate a 1095 chopper. Machetes seem like the best case for 1075-1055, cheap, easy to straighten and put an edge on.
 
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Medium carbon steel can do everything just fine. When you get fast at sharpening with steel that’s easy to sharpen, some may find they maintain an overall higher level of sharpness throughout tasks.
 
I Beat knives with all different kinds of steel......
I Love them all.
I might favor certain steels, but as of now, I don't dislike Any.
 
That’s a great article by Maragni. Makes you wonder how many of our opinions on different steels are outdated or influenced by marketing. For years I just thought 1095 was better than 1070s.
 
Interesting article, thanks! FWIW, my sharpest knife is a Scandi in 1070 by Ivan Campos. The finer grained super steels like Magnacut and M4 will also take an incredible edge and probably hold it longer, but they're not as easy to hone.
 
I'd look at the geometry first. There's a reason why a crowbar has a geometry it does regardless of steel used.
 
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