Carbon steel knife recommendation

A

andre.lacerda

Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
11
Hi guys,

this is my first post :D

I like carbon steel knives very much. I have a mora 711 mg carbon and I really dig that knife, nice blade and handle, hella sharp! But i find it hard to sharpen. I use a jewelstik double sided diamond plate (awesome btw) but even with this diamond plate it's still hard to sharpen imo. I know that carbon steel is easier to sharpen than stainless, but I think this blade might be a little harder, because it took some small chips with the zero grind. Now I put a micro secondary edge and it is ok now.
The question is: do you know another good carbon steel knife like the mora, but with a softer carbon steel blade, like 56-57 or 58 hrc, within the same price range or a little more?

Thanks a lot! :)
 
I just ordered a Marttiini M571 with a forged carbon steel 3.5" blade. It has a red plastic handle and is around 8" total length. It's a neat utility knife for ten bucks. It sounds like what you are looking for, as I believe it's hardened under RC59, possibly much lower. Someone can probably tell us the hardness.

Joe
 
I was just sharpening a carbon steel Ka Bar. It was very easy to sharpen and I'd doubt it was above 56-57.

In Folders casr runs their CV blades very soft. It's a dream to sharpen at maybe rc 55.

Easiest I've seen was the Douk Douks and Mercators.

Fixed blades, the Ontario and Ranger folders in 5160 are really easy to sharpen.
 
Frisky said:
I just ordered a Marttiini M571 with a forged carbon steel 3.5" blade. It has a red plastic handle and is around 8" total length. It's a neat utility knife for ten bucks. It sounds like what you are looking for, as I believe it's hardened under RC59, possibly much lower. Someone can probably tell us the hardness.

Joe
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Thanks for the tip. Seems to be a pretty handy little knife. I couldnt find this knife on their website, but I found one that looks pretty neat too, the condor timberjack. Could you tell where I can find the M571 for this price? Thanks
 
The Mastiff said:
I was just sharpening a carbon steel Ka Bar. It was very easy to sharpen and I'd doubt it was above 56-57.

In Folders casr runs their CV blades very soft. It's a dream to sharpen at maybe rc 55.

Easiest I've seen was the Douk Douks and Mercators.

Fixed blades, the Ontario and Ranger folders in 5160 are really easy to sharpen.
Click to expand...

Thanks, i wasnt aware of the mercator folder. I'll have to get one for me now. I also have some opinels wich are pretty good too. Thanks!
 
I find my mora insanely easy to sharpen on the sharpmaker with just the medium stone. It'll slice paper and shave hair. You might try getting some new sharpening equipment instead of trying to get a softer steel.
 
The Mora 711 difficult to sharpen? I had never a problem with that knife. I sharpened the knife out to zero degrees. As it´s usual for scandi blades. It was no problem to resharpen it. I use it on the building-lot. No problem, with that - ever.

In that pricerange I know no carbonsteelblades knife. Well, there are the whole knives from Opinel or a Mercator. But theese are all folders.

Kind regards
 
I'm a little worried about doing what they call deal spotting on the site, but I can tell you I bought my Marttiini at Smokey Mountain Knifeworks.

Joe
 
Humppa said:
The Mora 711 difficult to sharpen? I had never a problem with that knife. I sharpened the knife out to zero degrees. As it´s usual for scandi blades. It was no problem to resharpen it. I use it on the building-lot. No problem, with that - ever.

In that pricerange I know no carbonsteelblades knife. Well, there are the whole knives from Opinel or a Mercator. But theese are all folders.

Kind regards
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maybe its because its a new knife and you know, factory bevel is never perfect, and in order to get it really flat as a scandi grind should be and start to sharpen with ease, it might take a few more times sharpening until total flatness.
But still, this blade is harder than my other mora classic n1. I know that because the classic is easier to sharpen and didnt take any chips, just a few micro rolls. In theory all must have the same hardness. I love Mora knives, the best knife for the money for sure, but I had a mora triflex and it took some nasty chips just cutting newspaper, really. Guess I was not lucky with that one, it was the only one in many others.

I find my mora insanely easy to sharpen on the sharpmaker with just the medium stone. It'll slice paper and shave hair. You might try getting some new sharpening equipment instead of trying to get a softer steel.
Click to expand...

Yes, my other mora classic almost sharpen by itself, just a few passes on the stone and its back to business again. I have two diamond hones by jewelstik and another card set from DMT.
 
It took me a long time to clean up the bevels on my Mora knives. I found the 20 degree edge on the carbons to chip easily. Since this edge is meant for wood carving I put a micro bevel giving about a 35 degree inclusive edge on most of my Moras. My stainless Moras did not chip as easily as my carbon Moras. Their hardness is @ 57.
 
Frisky said:
I just ordered a Marttiini M571 with a forged carbon steel 3.5" blade. It has a red plastic handle and is around 8" total length. It's a neat utility knife for ten bucks. It sounds like what you are looking for, as I believe it's hardened under RC59, possibly much lower. Someone can probably tell us the hardness.

Joe
Click to expand...

You were right. I just got this email from them:

Hello,
HRC of all Marttiini carbon steel knives is 55-57 HRC.
Article 571010 is not manufactured any more, this is why it is not on our website.
With best regards,

Helena
 
I like the Old Hickory 7" butcher, also have the 8" slicer but find it a little to thick for a slicer. They both take and hold an edge pretty well.
 
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