Browning Knives 440C?

K

Kevin Miller

Joined
Sep 24, 1999
Messages
329
I was looking into purchasing a Browning knife and have become somewhat confused as to their claims that their knives are made from "440C type" stainless steel.(See http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/knives/knives.htm under knife blades)

Throughout their website they claim that "Each blade is made from AUS-8A (440C-type) stainless steel." (see http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/knives/kodiak/kodiak.htm ) IS THIS A VALID COMPARISON? To add to the confusion, some internet knife dealers that I have visited describe their Browning knives as being made of actual 440C.

I have e-mailed them to question them about this but have had no reply as of yet.

Kevin Miller

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Look to the Lord and His strength, seek His face always.
 
I was interested in the claim too as their medium stockman is avialable for a good price, but per the knifeoutlet site it's AUS-8. It's still a decent stainless but in my opinion it's a stretch to consider it as an equivalent to 440C.
 
Some people like to consider AUS-8 and 440C relatively equivalent, I don't. 440C tends to be higher in carbon, chromium, and molybdenum. This makes it a harder and coarser steel. It makes it have more of the classic stainless steel problems of large carbides that make it harder to get and hold a fine edge. I would expect cryo treatment to help that somewhat. On the plus side you can get 440C a bit harder than AUS-8, 59 RC is common (verses figures of 58 RC i've seen for AUS-8).

AUS-8 (aka 8A, aka AUS-8A) having less chromium and molybdenum with added vanadium tends to have a very fine grain structure and takes a very sharp edge easier than 440C. The amount of carbon in AUS-8 seems to be in question. One source I've got quotes it as about .95% carbon (getting close to the .95-1.2% quoted for 440C) while another source says around .75%. From user reports in this forum I would say it is closer to the lower number. Personally I'd rather have AUS-8 than 440C, but then I'd rather have AUS-10, VG-10, or BG-42 if I had my pick.


[This message has been edited by Jeff Clark (edited 15 October 1999).]
 
I don't try to keep track of all of the custom knives but more than a few makers still seem to like working with 440C, while I don't hear of AUS-8 being used by many, or many people asking for it. Boker claims that their 440C makes for sharper edges than ATS-34. Still, even if AUS-8 doesn't do that well in edge holding per some of Cliff's tests a lot of people note that production blades, such as Cold Steel's, are very sharp as you suggest.
 
AUS-8 isn't generally availabe for custom knifemakers to use in the US, while 440C is common as dirt. That's the real reason you don't find it being used by custom knifesmiths here.
 
But even if AUS-8 were more available it has 0.75% carbon, like 440A, and while Joe T's steel faq compares it more with 440B. The similar steel compared to 440C is AUS-10. In any case a medium stockman in AUS-8 and rosewood for less than $25 seems like a good deal, considering that some of the few other stockmans in stainless other than the typical 440A/425 are the Boker large stockman in 440C and stag for $70 to $90, and the Schatt and Morgan large stockman in ATS-34 and bone for $95.
 
I received an email (copied below) back from Mr. Dale Weathers who is a product manager at Browning.

Kevin Miller

*****
Dear Mr. Miller:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding concerns about the nomenclature used for
our knife steel.

We first began using the "440C Type" reference many years ago before AUS-8A
was well known as a knife steel. We felt that AUS-8A and 440C, while
different in specific chemistry, have very similar performance properties
and are generally in the same grouping of steel specifications. Recently
AUS-8A has gained a reputation of its own and we have shifted away from the
"440C Type" reference.

In the 1999 Browning catalog, web-site, and other promotional materials, we
referred to the steel as "AUS-8A (440C type) steel." In all of our
materials for next year, we use only the AUS-8A designation.

I apologize if our materials have been confusing. We had no intention to be
deceptive in any way.

Selecting which steel to use for a knife is part art and part science. We
feel that AUS-8A offers the best overall combination of properties for most
of our knives. Certainly there are trade-offs, and 440C is an excellent
steel with higher carbon content. There are more and more good knife steel
options and we will continually evaluate them.

I would encourage you to try one of our AUS-8A knives and see if it meets
your own performance standards.

We use ATS-34 steel for our new Piranha series (Models 610 and 611) knives.
The ATS-34 is a little harder (for edge holding) than AUS-8A, but also more
susceptible to corrosion.

If you have any further comments or questions, please feel free to contact
me. Thank you again for your feedback.

Best Wishes,

Dale Weathers
Product Manager
Browning

DaleW@Browning.com <maimailto:daleW@Browning.com>
(800) 234-2069 ext. 235







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Look to the Lord and His strength, seek His face always.
 
That's the kind of answer I like to hear. Many of them do a lot lot of evasive tactics and double talking instead of directly answering
questions about the steel.

[This message has been edited by TomW (edited 27 October 1999).]
 
I've taken another close look at the Browning line. They have some excellent hunter's knives at very reasonable prices (particularly if you get a discount from an internet dealer). The designs are very slick and AUS-8 is a very good steel for the price. I found a Browning 725 model for $22.00 that I think will be a great knife for common carry that can do a nice job on rabbit cleaning. I like AUS-8 for the purpose since I want an extremely sharp edge that will cut elastic tissues with only a light stroke. They would be better with BG-42 blades, but that would probably cost $50.00 more.
 
I use the barracuda as a work knife because it's the only liner lock I found that can be opened and closed wearing gloves. Low priced and holds an ok edge and wouldn't hurt if I lost it.
 
Tom,

If you want a great liner lock that can be opened with gloves on you owe it to yourself to check out the Spyderco Military. The 440V along with the knife design are terrific.

Waldo
 
I've tried a lot of knives wearing gloves. What i found that that thumbstud knives worked better than hole type models but the problem was with the closing more than the opening. The gloves i would be using are the basic leather bottom work gloves. These are loose fitting bulky gloves. Try a few different knives wearing these type. It was an interesting experiment when i first tried it and i also found the extra width of the browning helpful and the rubber discs nice too. Thin knives work poorly with bulky gloves and are extremely hard to hold on to.
Has anybody ever dropped a knife in the snow?
You'll find that happen often with a thin knife.
 
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