I"ll take
Surfingringo
as the local authority on what makes a good saltwater blade. I think he even has YouTube vids for anyone who's into that.
I think you're confusing hard with hard.I can't help think that the rise of super steel popularity directly corresponds to the invention of easy to use sharpening systems.
For example D2 has been around since WW2. I remember as a kid in the late 80's telling my Dad how I wanted to buy a bayonet from the flea market for camping. He told me it wouldn't make for a good knife because the steel was too hard for me to sharpen properly. And honestly if I had to take a stone and free hand it he would be right. But now with a decent sharpening system even someone as inept as me can put a decent useable edge on it.
People buying the cheap gas station knives are doing so because they don't know how to sharpen. In their mind its cheaper and better just to buy another cheap knife when thiers gets dull.
I still don't have a bayonet so i'm a bit ignorant about them. I like to think I could get enough of a bevel on one to do some basic camping tasks. But as you have pointed out there must be a reason no one uses them.I think you're confusing hard with hard.
Bayonets by their nature are "Tough" steels that are soft so they don't take an edge well regardless of the sharpening system.
Because it's stuck on the end of a rifle barrel you don't want it to hard (brittle) or even too strong; if it goes into something and you bend your rifle barrel you're gonna have a bad day.I still don't have a bayonet so i'm a bit ignorant about them. I like to think I could get enough of a bevel on one to do some basic camping tasks. But as you have pointed out there must be a reason no one uses them.
I would agree that those steels deliver what they promise with regards to corrosion resistance. I would disagree that there is much of a tangible benefit though. The Salt knives are marketed to those who are exposed to a "marine" environment. Well, as someone who has worked for more than 30 years in the marine environment and fishes in saltwater as a hobby, I still think it's just clever marketing. Any saltwater fisherman knows that as soon as they get back ashore, they have to spend quite a bit of time rinsing their boat, rods, reels, tackle, even some clothing items with fresh water. So what is a Salt series knife going to do for them? Save them an extra 8 seconds by not having to rinse their Spyderco also?
I'll take 3!!!!!Super steels? More like stupor steels. Well you can just throw away all those old obsolete stupor steel knives, because it's my pleasure to introduce to you the most exciting, most amazing, most stupendous innovation in steel technology since carbon. Feast your eyes, ladies and gentlemen, on the magnificence of Ultra Steel ©®™ !!!!1!11!!
Hand made by our team of worldwide artisans, this collection of custom Ultra Steel ©®™ knives can be yours for only $800.85 usd.
ACT NOW. Due to the rare proprietary nature of Ultra Steel ©®™ supplies are limited. Don't walk -RUN- to your computer or device and secure your Ultra Steel ©®™ knives today!
I try to keep the rest of my fishing gear as salt resistant as possible, because no matter the maintenance, it will eventually get destroyed. I'm also beach fishing with a 4x4, so everything is covered in sand and salt, pivots get gunky and rusty, its just what happens. So do I need a corrosion proof steel for my fishing knives? no I don't need it. Does it take one more thing off the nightly maintenance list when I'd rather be having fun, you bet. Does it do the job it claims? Arguably the most important part, considering the topic, yes, it does work as advertised. But to be clear, I could and do use other knives, its just nice to have one less thing to worry about.It's clever marketing that got you to think that you needed Lc200N or H1 to prevent corrosion. How much of your other saltwater fishing equipment or boat hardware is made of Lc200n or H1? Are the expensive reels, rod guides, gaffs, etc., made of those steels? All that stuff made out of normal stainless steel seems to pretty much last a lifetime with minimal care.
Exactly this !I think the real failure of perception here lies with consumers assuming that the existence of premium steels somehow makes 8Cr13MoV some kind of garbage steel for plebs. It still cuts things, and is significantly better than mystery stainless.
After years of working retail, I found the real gulfs in performance were between:
1. ??? steel and entry-level named steels (8Cr, AUS8)
2. Entry-level named steels and well-treated midrange steels (D2, S30V, S35VN)
3. Well-treated midrange steels and well-treated tool steels (M4, ZDP-189, Maxamet)
The difference between those steels is noticeable in practice. My Tuff Lite needed to be stropped daily after a typical retail shift, my Lionspy needed to be stropped about once every 3 shifts, and my Gayle Bradley needed to be stropped after about 5 shifts.
I think we're only being "fleeced" if the company is using a substandard heat treatment or outright misinforming the consumer about the steel being used.
Yes, but, then again, that's the purpose of marketing.Blade Steels - Have We Been Fleeced By Marketing?
I’ll take a good high carbon steel blade made by someone that knows how to heat treat it any day over the latest greatest super steel
If you have the skill to sharpen 8Cr you have the skill to sharpen S30V. Get better stones. Unless you use them all the time they'll last you a lifetime.Super steel are fine for enthusiasts, but for average users I think average steels are better suited. My M390 and S30v knives are not used at all, they are dull and stay in a box as I don't have appropriate stones or skills to get them sharp, or have a patience to spend one hour for sharpening a knife.
So, I believe that an average user, even advanced one doesn't NEED a supersteel knife as every quality knife can do all the tasks. And I do think that design, blade geometry/profile and heat treatment are far more important than a type of steel itself. Some "high end super steel knives" I owned or had chance to use, IMO were useless piece of ****.
Oh boy... a lot of problems with the tests he's doing. "I did 40 cuts in cardboard with both and they were both dull. Therefore they're equal." Yeah... no. I think he does have a point. But his testing isn't really showing what he thinks it's showing.Like the majority of people here, I have always tended to avoid the cheaper steels when I could, especially Chinese cheap steels like 8cr13mov.
Then I bought a Kershaw Atmos which has an 8cr13mov blade, largely because I loved the design and the action. It was cheap, but was really well made for its price, and I bought it despite the blade steel. Well, I have been using it a bit, and the blade steel seems to work fine. Does it hold an edge forever? Of course not, but for a light to medium use EDC knife, I have been quite pleased with it. And I haven't noticed a drastic drop-off in the edge retention compared to something like a Delica with VG-10.
Then I started hearing about other people who use knives with 8cr, 420HC, AUS8, and other similar steels, who mostly seem pretty happy with the performance.
Today, I came across this video, in which a guy tests S30V, 1080, and 8cr13mov in real life rope cutting and cardboard cutting tests, and he found no discernible difference in the performance or edge retention.
So my question - has blade steel emphasis been a marketing ploy to a certain extent? How much real life advantage does a so-called super steel really offer? I have knives with nicer steel, and of course they work fine, but they will all go dull after being used a lot, no matter what the steel is. The cheaper steels will go dull probably faster, but I am not sure how much of that is just due to preconception and bias on my part. They all go dull, but the expensive steels are generally harder to sharpen.
I will still probably avoid the "lesser" steels, but I think that will be more due to the fact that knives that use the cheap steels are just generally inferior overall in terms of fit, finish, action, etc., rather than due to pure blade performance and edge retention.