Cold Steel

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d762nato

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Hello, first post here. Does anybody know the pro's and con's of cold steel san mai steel? Thanks, d762nato,
 
Actually the softer spine supporting part of the blade is a lot softer and scratches very easily even from minor things like rubbing it to clean it with your shirt. The more you handle a san mai the more it dings up. They are not bad though. Personally I prefer the older blades to these newer ones.

STR
 
Cold Steel's San Mai is clad VG-1.

I had a Master Hunter in San Mai. It was nicely made (in Japan), took a very sharp edge, and held it for a decent length of time.
 
The recon scout, do you think its as tough as infi? I can't wait to get a busse. Thank's guys,
 
d762nato said:
The recon scout, do you think its as tough as infi? I can't wait to get a busse. Thank's guys,
Click to expand...

No. The Recon Scout is one I've had in Carbon V though and I rather liked the blade. Its a great size. My son took that one of mine to Iraq with him. He still has it. I think for the money they are not a bad deal. San Mai to me is a bit of marketing hype combined with the appeal of something laminated. It works very well for slicers but I'm not sure just how good a choice it is for a chopper.

STR
 
Try to find one of the old ones in Carbon V steel. Much better user. Just my $.02.--KV
 
It's not that I'm looking for one, my wife got me a recon scout san-mai for xmas. It has a convex edge on it, and its verrry!!! sharp. So I was just curious as to the quality. and the convex edge. Being I've never owned a knife with this type of an edge. How easy is it to sharpen said edge?
 
Best way to sharpen a full convex blade like that is with sandpaper and strop. -may sound weird, but with a little practice it is realy quite easy, and will get you AMAZING results on a blade like that.

Check out the maintenance forum, or look at some youtube vids for advice/tips on how this is done.
 
I'm sure it will be very nice. San Mai may be harder to get sharp due to being heat treated to a higher hardness but in their choppers it may not be as much of an issue as it can be with the folders since it would make sense that it would be tougher if it was not quite as hard. Unfortunately that information is not readily available and even if you called Cold Steel customer service you'd likely get someone that doesn't even know what Rockwell hardness means let alone what it is set at on those knives. To be safe I'd be careful with it chopping around big knots and nails but for all I know it may go right through them. Personally I feel the old Carbon V versions of this knife are the best examples of it. There were some instances of those breaking at the handle/blade junction right there at the guard but I believe some of the blades may have had sharp angles and stress risers that were not taken into account until some of them broke and were sent back. At least two of those were posted on the forums with pictures.

I think overall though, for the money the RS is a fine knife and many people are certainly sold on the San Mai steel.

STR
 
VG-1 is a very decent utility steel. About on par with 154CM. I wouldn't go and hit the knife with a hammer (that's what Busse is for :thumbup:), but for general camp use it should be just fine.
 
Thanks for the imfo guys, What seems to be the best steel going now a days?
You know easy to sharpen,edge holding, toughness, not to worried about stain resisdency so much. Just not chipping or breaking,but then again I'm not going to use it as a pry bar either.
 
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