Cold Steel's "Steel V" vs their San Mai SS lamanate.

[johned]

I watched a test on you tube where a guy sliced thru bamboo with the San Mai Trail Master. Fantastic demo and the bamboo was sliced like it was overcooked pasta.

At the end of the film the guysaid "I have this knife in V and it will not perform like this.

Hummmmmm? I found a film of the Trailmaster in V and it bounced off of that Bamboo like the knife had been used to cut up cement block.

What gives? Is V that much inferior to a SS that has a lower RC rating? Was the V improperly treated or sharpened? Help me with this. I bought a Laredo in V. Should I use it to cut my wrists?

Thanks,

John

 

[marcinek]

Who are these "guys"?

Maybe neither knows how to sharpen a knife. Having a video camera does not turn one into an expert.

Initially, two steels, sharpened the same, will cut the same. Thats geometry, not steel.

 

[hardheart]

You could go to Home Depot, buy a piece of mild steel flat bar, take it home, sharpen it, and then be able to make one cut through a piece of bamboo on video. If you can't, you didn't get it sharp enough, or you didn't swing it correctly.

 

[Brian Sargent]

The SanMai version is convexed and doesn't have a coating.

All of the others have a beveled edge and most of the later Carbon V models had a coating.

The heavy epoxy coating really slows them down.

You would not believe the difference in cutting performance between a beveled edge and a properly convexed edge.

Convexed wins every time in cutting performance.

 

[knarfeng]

I watched a test on you tube where a guy sliced thru bamboo with the San Mai Trail Master. Fantastic demo and the bamboo was sliced like it was overcooked pasta.

At the end of the film the guysaid "I have this knife in V and it will not perform like this.

Hummmmmm? I found a film of the Trailmaster in V and it bounced off of that Bamboo like the knife had been used to cut up cement block.

What gives? Is V that much inferior to a SS that has a lower RC rating? Was the V improperly treated or sharpened? Help me with this. I bought a Laredo in V. Should I use it to cut my wrists?

Thanks,

John

I assume by "V", it is meant Carbon V, the alloy that is similar to 1095 in carbon content that Camillus used in making Cold Steel blades.

There have been several Cold Steel San Mai III's. You did not indicate which this was.
The earlier was based on a core of AUS8.
The current is based on a core of VG1.

I've not done edge retention testing on San Mai III, but I have tested
Carbon V
AUS8
VG1

In my side by side manila rope cutting tests, Carbon V held an edge about as well as AUS8.

VG1 held an edge far better than either of them.

So, based on my own testing, if the blade in question is based on a VG1 core, I would expect it to hold an edge better than Carbon V. If it was based on a core of AUS8, I would expect the performance to be about equal.

I am not sure where you get the impression that San Mai III is not equally as hard as Carbon V. The outer layers are soft steel, but the core that does the cutting should be fully hardened. The VG1 blade that I tested was 59HRC. I tested it.

If I had a Carbon V blade I would certainly keep it as an excellent blade.