Recommendation? Best Steel for Bushcraft/Camp knife?

Best blade steel for a 5" convex bushcraft knife

  • 1095

    Votes: 19 22.6%

  • 5160

    Votes: 8 9.5%

  • 12C27

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • D2

    Votes: 3 3.6%

  • AELB

    Votes: 7 8.3%

  • CPM-154

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • S35VN

    Votes: 2 2.4%

  • 3V

    Votes: 37 44.0%

  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 8 9.5%
  • Total voters
    84
P

pinnah

Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
5,782
I'm considering a custom bushcramp/camp/woods knife. Blade will be around 5" +/-. Grind will be high convex. My intended uses are (in rough order): general wood working, splitting kindling, food prep, cleaning fish. This knife won't be used for hunting and dressing out deer, as I have other knives for that purpose.

I'm curious what you all would suggest for blade steels and why.

NOTE: cost is a factor but I'm including some more expensive steels if there is a really good case to be made for long term durability. This will be a user.
 
I can't say which steel is best for bush craft, but I think a steel that is easy to sharpen with just a river rock would be great!
Steels that are hard to sharpen even with ceramic or diamond hones are going to eventually get dull and will be a bear to re-sharpen.

I also think that steels that rust real easily are not great bush craft knives.

As they use to say when I was a soldier at Ft. Lewis: "Plan on being wet for the next three weeks!".
 
3v is my favorite given the field you provided. My Lon Humphrey Kephart in 3v is truly an awesome belt knife for woods walking and around camp. That said, my Dave Beck TD 6 SERE is of O1, differential heat treatment, tapered tang, and has quickly become my favorite camp and trail knife.

So, 3v is awesome; O1 if done very well, and honorable mention (though it’s not included) 52100.

Truth be told, 1095 done right will serve you just fine too.

Looking forward to seeing how you decided, and the finished knife
 
Also... forgot to mention Elmax... from the samples I used, the steel was pretty tough and stainless.
 
pinnah said:
I'm considering a custom bushcramp/camp/woods knife. Blade will be around 5" +/-. Grind will be high convex. My intended uses are (in rough order): general wood working, splitting kindling, food prep, cleaning fish. This knife won't be used for hunting and dressing out deer, as I have other knives for that purpose.

I'm curious what you all would suggest for blade steels and why.

NOTE: cost is a factor but I'm including some more expensive steels if there is a really good case to be made for long term durability. This will be a user.
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I'm not sure what the needs of a Bushcramp knife are:p, but I believe that you are looking for a good field knife. Delta 3v would be my preferred steel for this. Not sure you'll be able to find it in the exact grind you want, but fantastic knives are available in d3v. Maybe try to get your desired grind in regular 3v? Pleanty of other good steels out there but if you are going custom, why settle? Get the best.
 
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allenC said:
I can't say which steel is best for bush craft, but I think a steel that is easy to sharpen with just a river rock would be great!
Steels that are hard to sharpen even with ceramic or diamond hones are going to eventually get dull and will be a bear to re-sharpen.

I also think that steels that rust real easily are not great bush craft knives.

As they use to say when I was a soldier at Ft. Lewis: "Plan on being wet for the next three weeks!".
Click to expand...

1) Congrats on 10,000 posts!; and
2) That is a good and interesting point. Nobody is going for "easy to sharpen". I might go that route....1095? 5160 for a chopper? Or....gasp...AUS8?!?
 
Im moving away from 3v and steels like it because I want easy to sharpen over strength or edge holding. For basic stuff around camp any of these steels done well will stay sharp for a while. The only knife that dulled “too fast” on me was an izula 2 but they run their 1095 soft.

As for being strong enough, I haven’t broken a 1095 mora(sub 3/32” thick) so I’m not really sure I need extra strength in my steel. If I did I’d just go thicker with a basic steel especially if splitting kindling is involved.

Out of your choices I’d take 1095 or 12c27 depending on if you want a patina or not. My preference would be for 52100 which isn’t listed. I really like that crisp aggressive edge that 52100 has.
 
A thought to add, the heat treat on this will likely matter more than the steel. As in, great steel on paper with bad HT vs average steel with great HT. Who is doing the work and how they are doing it matters more than the steel.

With that in mind, cpk d3v would be my choice, convex grind be damned.
 
5160. Tough as a truck spring, takes and holds a good edge, easy to sharpen. As long as it's done right. The same can be said of many steels.

There's no such thing as a bad knife steel. If it can be hardened above about 55RC, it will make a decent knife, as long as the maker is doing his part with heat treat and grind appropriate for the tasks he expects the knife to see. Anybody can make a knife. All it takes is steel, a file, and some time and determination. Not everybody can make a good knife. For reference, look at any number of folding pry-bars on the market at what I consider ridiculous prices. As a piece of art? Yeah, I get it. Status among a select group? I get it. But knives are for cutting stuff. Find a good design for the type of work you're going to do. Discuss the grind and heat treatment if you go custom. Get the right tool for the job the first time. After that, you're not buying a new knife because you need one, but just because you want it.
 
The remelted Damascus from an Opinel and Leatherman micra is my recommendation (just kidding!).

I like A2 for ease of field sharpening and good balance of toughness vs. wear resistance.
 
What blade shape are you going for? Drop point?

For food prep and gutting fish, I like the BK-15 in Cro-Van and putting a convex bevel on it is easy with a work sharp / belt sander and then it's just stropping after that .

You can also use a small DMT fine or extra fine CC sharpener to later continue convexing in the field as it needs touching up.

Not many 5" knives are great at woodcraft, food prep and fish work. A Bowie or a slight trailing point in 1095 would get my nod.

Even that newer Mora Kansebol type of grind could work for both... But I've never seen that on a custom before.
 
I have 3v and A2, both from a custom maker, heat treated by Peters.
 
52100

Takes a wicked edge, it's got good toughness, and resharps easy in the field. AEBL with good heat treat is really nice too, if you want something more stainless than 52100. It is of course hard to argue against 3V from a maker with a good heat treat.
 
Hard Knocks said:
I'd be right there with you guys on this, but he's going to struggle getting the Delta protocol on a custom. A maker that's got a good low temp treat figured out in-house or better yet with Peters is still a very good choice :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Yes, very true.
 
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