- Joined
- Oct 28, 2003
- Messages
- 31
Heat treat and sharpening angle are of huge importance when you're comparing cutting performance. If supreme abrasion resistance (edge holding) is your goal, go with vascowear or s30v. Most makers will tell you that it takes twice as much time and twice as many belts to grind and polish either of these steels.....same can be said for simple cardboard cutting contests....s30v and vascowear are at or near the present pinnacle. My folders are primarily bg42 or ats34.....edge created with a worn abrasive belt, honed with worn slick 800 grit compound filled hermes belt and I'll take these over 1084, 52100 or 1095 for edge holding and stain resistance.
Great test would be cutting contest modelled after ABS where 1084 modified and 52100 blades are put up against vascowear, D2 and s30v.
Lots of we makers began using steels like 0-1 cause it cuts and polishes easy and can be heat treated with a torch. we didn't have atmospheric control furnaces or sub-zero quench. Frank Centofante, Jimmy Lile and Ted Dowell raved about D2 so we headed in that direction. Bob Loveless was quite successful and outspoken re cm154 so we did that for a while.....Hitachi got greedy with ats34 prices and bg42 came on the scene. Plenty of room for agreement and disagreement among makers, writers, collectors, etc. Sad thing is that most folks who rave about certain steels have a few lbs. of that steel on hand.....such as a few folks on the internet who brag about using A2. D2 is tougher and holds an edge better and has higher ductility than A2. A2 may be easier to field sharpen with a steel or stone but loses the edge faster.
Like a Montana guide told me about my Latrobe D2 skinner....it may be able to skin out 6 elk but how many of us will dress out 6 elk in one day ?
Tommy McNabb and I forged a billet of 52100, L6(saw blade), and1095. Durn toughest piece of steel ever, s30v included. Seems to me that real breakthroughs in the future will come from the ABS folks. and that's my two cents worth.....
Great test would be cutting contest modelled after ABS where 1084 modified and 52100 blades are put up against vascowear, D2 and s30v.
Lots of we makers began using steels like 0-1 cause it cuts and polishes easy and can be heat treated with a torch. we didn't have atmospheric control furnaces or sub-zero quench. Frank Centofante, Jimmy Lile and Ted Dowell raved about D2 so we headed in that direction. Bob Loveless was quite successful and outspoken re cm154 so we did that for a while.....Hitachi got greedy with ats34 prices and bg42 came on the scene. Plenty of room for agreement and disagreement among makers, writers, collectors, etc. Sad thing is that most folks who rave about certain steels have a few lbs. of that steel on hand.....such as a few folks on the internet who brag about using A2. D2 is tougher and holds an edge better and has higher ductility than A2. A2 may be easier to field sharpen with a steel or stone but loses the edge faster.
Like a Montana guide told me about my Latrobe D2 skinner....it may be able to skin out 6 elk but how many of us will dress out 6 elk in one day ?
Tommy McNabb and I forged a billet of 52100, L6(saw blade), and1095. Durn toughest piece of steel ever, s30v included. Seems to me that real breakthroughs in the future will come from the ABS folks. and that's my two cents worth.....
