The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
I pretty much agree with what the rest of your post says, but the part I've bolded reminds me how one knife maker answered that question (and likely ones pertaining to availability and cost as well), by using AUS-8 for years. I have several blades in that steel and like it perfectly well, at least for my doodley fiddly work.
Yep, can include Emerson as well. Gets criticized all the time for strictly using 154cm for the prices he charges. As if the steel and other materials are the only important things to determine a price. I love and pay his prices for his knives not for the materials but for his designs, ergos and functionality. To this day some of the best I’ve found. And his g10 is by far the best I’ve come across. He actually states he uses 154cm for ease of sharpening.
Randall Made is still using 01 and 440B and it hasn’t hurt the demand. I enjoy that the technology is growing and improving, but the cutting tasks are probably shrinking and far less than they were a century or more ago, so ancient knives can still easily serve our needs.
Well.... Even though I did say I had no business owning any fancy steel... I would like one small magnacut fixed blade. Maybe someday.
Who hasn’t?
I think it's silly to assign specific price ranges to specific steels. Knives have a value proposition that's some combination of utility, design, artistry, collectability, etc, steel being one of those choices that contributes to utility (toughness, edge holding, corrosion resistance) and collectability (special edition, new technology), artistry in the context of damascus or pattern welded, and so on. The entire context of the knife needs to be considered in defining an appropriate price.
Well said and absolutely true in regards to needs and required tasks. I wish I was into knives fifteen years ago when I was still on the tools as a trim carpenter. Would’ve been using the hell out of em. Now they get mostly used for opening boxes with new knives or food prep.
But some Guy on YouTube says magnacut is full of inclusions and impurities!Dr. Thomas or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Magnacut
I would love to have one of those older Green Commanders they were making back in the day ~ Such a sweet looking and working knife
Same here, I’ve always liked the commander but there’s was always another one I liked little more so never got around to getting one. Gonna have to rectify that soon. Still want a cqc15 too. But my next one will be cqc17!
)
I’d think cutting sheetrock would dull any steel rather quickly. Would love to know if anyone has any real world experience in that regard and how the greatest steels hold up. I could probably put one to the test tomorrow but I’m not that interested and would rather use a razor blade or keyhole saw anyway. But I am truly curious, definitely a good material to test on.If I'd never been offered a knife in anything but 1095 over the LIFE of my knife habit, I'd be perfectly happy.
Blade steel isn't becoming LESS important to me... I think it's really never been the all important thing to me. Blade design, ergonomics, maintainability..... those things really click with me.
I call steels like AUS-8, 1095 and VG-10 "Super Steel" because they are super affordable, super easy to maintain, and get super sharp with minimal effort (and equipment!)
Now don't get me wrong... I recognize the "superiority" of the new stuff. I think my new everything steel is CPM-154 (Still inferior to lots of you steel snobs, I know
But most of my EDC tasks involve opening mail, slicing the apple, cutting the Irish Pennon from my buttonhole, and sharpening the odd carpenters pencil.
And I don't disparage my Brothers-In-Arms who have to hack PVC and drywall all day and chop miscellaneous materials that would ruin my knives in a moment...
But that ain't me these days. So any of you makers out there wanna offer your AUS-8 folder up for grabs, consider me a taker!
To me some of the benefit is that the knife lasts a lot longer with the original edge geometry and blade shape. I have a bunch of old folders that were my grandfathers and the ones he carried for more than a couple years have drastically reshaped blades. If one of the principals behind having a nice high-end knife is that it lasts a lot longer, better edge retention is a contributor to that.
Ive thought this before also. It makes sense you are essentially buying more "cutting power" in whole than a low wear steel. It won't wear out and be reshaped as soon. I've got some 420 blades from multi tools that are drastically smaller than new. My benchmade with s30v has seen enough sharpening that it's a 1/16"-1/8" or so off the original edge sharpened down. I'm interested to see long term my knives with steels with lots of vanadium how they hold up. Needing sharpened alot less should buy a knife a longer lifetime with that best case geometry you mentioned.
I cut drywall exclusively with 15v the other day and treated it like I stole it. Made all the cuts along the sheet, snapped it, finished slicing it in half, shaved whole edges down that were a hair too wide. I walked away with alot less respect for drywall. The 15v didn't care and wasn't razor sharp obviously but definitely still had a serviceable edge that would cut cleanly. No chips either, pretty tough for a high hardness. It also didn't care about the carpet I used it to remove and cut up.
