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Cold Steel: Carbon-V or SK-5 ?
- Thread starter ripoil
- Start date
Now I have 2 of Cold Steel's machetes that are not made with Carbon V. The 2 handed machete of theirs I have was made in South Africa and I do know that it is a medium carbon steel but I don't know if it is that one. I have seen that SK-5 designation in one of their catalogs. I think it might be the steel that they make their Bushman and MIni Bushman out of. Now I do personally like the Carbon V in spite of my inquiry about it and it does seem to be suitable for hard work. But I, like yourself would like to know more about their materials that they use. Spyderco for instance even will give you a steel chart so you know more about their materials.
Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
SK-5 is a japanese steel very similar to the american steel W1 :
sk-5 : carbon 0.8% - 0.9%, silicon 0.35% max, manganese 0.50% max, nickel 0.25% max, chromium 0.30% max, copper 0.25%
Carbon V : 50100-b : W7 : 0.93% C, 0.43% Mn, 0.24% Si, 0.60% Cr, 0.21 % V, 0.03% Ni, 0.16% Cu.
The one for sk-5 is the designation of the steel which is why it has ranges and max values, the one for carbon v is an analysis of a piece of steel which is why it the numbers are not neatly rounded. What would be critical in the performance was how they were hardened, and the consistency as they are very similar in composition.
-Cliff
sk-5 : carbon 0.8% - 0.9%, silicon 0.35% max, manganese 0.50% max, nickel 0.25% max, chromium 0.30% max, copper 0.25%
Carbon V : 50100-b : W7 : 0.93% C, 0.43% Mn, 0.24% Si, 0.60% Cr, 0.21 % V, 0.03% Ni, 0.16% Cu.
The one for sk-5 is the designation of the steel which is why it has ranges and max values, the one for carbon v is an analysis of a piece of steel which is why it the numbers are not neatly rounded. What would be critical in the performance was how they were hardened, and the consistency as they are very similar in composition.
-Cliff
Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
I would assume it is the same steel, Cold Steel runs it softer though, 54 HRC, so it will bend and deform easier, but be easy to file.
-Cliff
-Cliff
Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
The Bushman is a fairly simple design compared to the SOG bowie, but costs of knives in general don't reflect much except the ability of the knife to sell which can be influenced significantly by aspects which have nothing to do with performance.
-Cliff
-Cliff
- Joined
- Nov 28, 1999
- Messages
- 14,985
GarageBoy said:
All you have to do is look a little closer at the SOG vs the CS, and you'll have your answer. Not trying to be a smardazz or anything, but there's a huge difference in the grinding and fit and finish of these knives. I'm sure that makes up the majority of the price difference.