Over the past month or so, I've been putting my new slippies through their paces, seeing how they compare to my more familiar steels, these are just some off-the-cuff, completely unscientific observations....
My two baseline steels are Buck's 420HC AND Victorinox's "Mystery Steel"
Buck 420HC; Great stuff, gets Scary-sharp, dead easy to resharpen, holds an edge for an acceptable amount of time, and has exceptional corrosion resistance, almost up there with Spyderco's H-1 this is probably the gold standard for traditional pocketknife stainless steel, the ultimate "working man's" steel, ignorable, doesn't need babying, and very easy to bring back to a Scary edge, it may not have the mystique, aura, or "personality" of a good Carbon steel, but it's a darn good cutlery steel
Victorinox "Mystery Steel"; I don't know what kind of steel Vic uses in their pocketknives, but it's good stuff as well, even easier to sharpen than Buck 420HC, responds exceptionally well to stropping, handles abuse with aplomb (tends to roll rather than chip) and has almost H-1 rust resistance, the only downside of Vic steel is it loses that Scary edge faster than Buck 420HC, but it's even easier than Buck to bring it back to Scary, resharpening is trivially easy
Case TruSharp; I'd put it somewhere in between Vic and Buck 420HC, it gets a hair sharper than the Vic steel, gets truly Scary, but it also tends to raise a burr/wire edge a tad easier and edge rolling is a little more prevalent on this steel, it seems to be roughly equal with Vic steel for edge retention and durability, it seems to respond marginally less well to stropping though, a good, basic steel, but nothing really special or endearing, it's just sort of "there"
Case Chrome Vanadium (CV); Now we're talking, this stuff gets brutally, scary sharp, holds that edge for a decent amount of time, seems to be rather resistant to wear (better than TruSharp and Vic Stainless, pretty much tied with Buck 420HC), plus it takes on that wonderful multitone patina with use, under the correct lighting, the CV blades on my yeller Trapper show off iridescent tones of blues, purples, magentas and oranges, and the patina is a transient thing too, every time the knife is used, the patina changes, sometimes in color, sometimes in pattern, oftentimes both, it almost makes the knife seem to be a "living" thing the way that the patina is in a constant state of flux, I've found that having a well patinaed blade actually makes me *want* to use the knife more, to cut more different things, to see how the patina moves, and changes and adapts to it's surroundings....
It does require more conscious care, just like any other "living" thing (for lack of a better analogy), it needs a thin, protective film of oil to truly fend off corrosion (the patina definitely helps), it's not as "ignorable" as a good stainless knife, but it's also got more "personality" and presence than the basic stainless knife
Boker C75; very similar, almost identical to Case's CV, but it seems to be a bit harder, edges seem more durable and wear resistant, the Boker Whittler I picked up seems to have been ground with a rather obtuse grind angle and it's not Scary Sharp *yet*, it's taking time to get it where I want it, but I figure once I have it sharpened up to my preferred sharpness (30 degrees inclusive on the Sharpmaker, then stropped and polished on 1000 grit sandpaper), what I like to describe as "Monomolecular" sharp, it should hold that "Monowire-level" edge for a good deal longer than the Case CV, or even the Buck 420 HC
In terms of overall pleasure of use and performance, best to "worst", I'd rank my collection thusly;
Case Yeller CV Trapper and Boker Whittler; tied for first, closely followed by my redbone SS Peanut
Buck 110 (and soon to be joined by a 301 Stockman)
Victorinox SAKs (various)
Case TruSharp Stockman
My two baseline steels are Buck's 420HC AND Victorinox's "Mystery Steel"
Buck 420HC; Great stuff, gets Scary-sharp, dead easy to resharpen, holds an edge for an acceptable amount of time, and has exceptional corrosion resistance, almost up there with Spyderco's H-1 this is probably the gold standard for traditional pocketknife stainless steel, the ultimate "working man's" steel, ignorable, doesn't need babying, and very easy to bring back to a Scary edge, it may not have the mystique, aura, or "personality" of a good Carbon steel, but it's a darn good cutlery steel
Victorinox "Mystery Steel"; I don't know what kind of steel Vic uses in their pocketknives, but it's good stuff as well, even easier to sharpen than Buck 420HC, responds exceptionally well to stropping, handles abuse with aplomb (tends to roll rather than chip) and has almost H-1 rust resistance, the only downside of Vic steel is it loses that Scary edge faster than Buck 420HC, but it's even easier than Buck to bring it back to Scary, resharpening is trivially easy
Case TruSharp; I'd put it somewhere in between Vic and Buck 420HC, it gets a hair sharper than the Vic steel, gets truly Scary, but it also tends to raise a burr/wire edge a tad easier and edge rolling is a little more prevalent on this steel, it seems to be roughly equal with Vic steel for edge retention and durability, it seems to respond marginally less well to stropping though, a good, basic steel, but nothing really special or endearing, it's just sort of "there"
Case Chrome Vanadium (CV); Now we're talking, this stuff gets brutally, scary sharp, holds that edge for a decent amount of time, seems to be rather resistant to wear (better than TruSharp and Vic Stainless, pretty much tied with Buck 420HC), plus it takes on that wonderful multitone patina with use, under the correct lighting, the CV blades on my yeller Trapper show off iridescent tones of blues, purples, magentas and oranges, and the patina is a transient thing too, every time the knife is used, the patina changes, sometimes in color, sometimes in pattern, oftentimes both, it almost makes the knife seem to be a "living" thing the way that the patina is in a constant state of flux, I've found that having a well patinaed blade actually makes me *want* to use the knife more, to cut more different things, to see how the patina moves, and changes and adapts to it's surroundings....
It does require more conscious care, just like any other "living" thing (for lack of a better analogy), it needs a thin, protective film of oil to truly fend off corrosion (the patina definitely helps), it's not as "ignorable" as a good stainless knife, but it's also got more "personality" and presence than the basic stainless knife
Boker C75; very similar, almost identical to Case's CV, but it seems to be a bit harder, edges seem more durable and wear resistant, the Boker Whittler I picked up seems to have been ground with a rather obtuse grind angle and it's not Scary Sharp *yet*, it's taking time to get it where I want it, but I figure once I have it sharpened up to my preferred sharpness (30 degrees inclusive on the Sharpmaker, then stropped and polished on 1000 grit sandpaper), what I like to describe as "Monomolecular" sharp, it should hold that "Monowire-level" edge for a good deal longer than the Case CV, or even the Buck 420 HC
In terms of overall pleasure of use and performance, best to "worst", I'd rank my collection thusly;
Case Yeller CV Trapper and Boker Whittler; tied for first, closely followed by my redbone SS Peanut
Buck 110 (and soon to be joined by a 301 Stockman)
Victorinox SAKs (various)
Case TruSharp Stockman
