Common -- really now . . .

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bladefoolish

Joined
Mar 26, 2004
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I like knives. I like to talk about knives. And I like to debate the relative merits and disadvanages of various steels and blade designs about as much as anyone here. But . . .

As a truely practical matter, how much difference does it really make if a blade is of 440c, 52100, 1095, D2, A2, etc. etc.

I usually carry a mini-grip in 154cm. Takes a good edge, only touch it up every week or so. When I'm up in PA, for some reason my edc is an old beater CRKT Prowler with a AUS 6 blade. I use it for stuff I would want to subject the mini-grip to. I could, but don't want to. Does it hold up as well? No, but a few swipes on the whetstone at the end of the day, and it's ready to go again.

I love my A2 Barkies, but for most of the stuff I do my vintage Cold Steel SRK made of whatever the hell was in their "Carbon V" at the time does just as well. NOT that the Barkies won't outperform the SRK, it's just that I don't need it to.

My outdoors knife for 30 years was a Marble's Ideal, bought in the mid 60's, and I have no idea what it was made of, but I never found anything I needed it to do that it failed out. 'Course, I never tried to chop a tree down with it -- but never wanted to either.

Don't get me wrong. I love kewl knives and taking mine out and impressing people by shaving the hair off my arm, but frankly 95% of everything I use a knife for could be acomplished by a Buck 110.
 
I agree. For some reason the performance steel knives i have i tend to baby and use the AUS stuff for the job at hand. I dunno?
 
Don't get me wrong. I love kewl knives and taking mine out and impressing people by shaving the hair off my arm, but frankly 95% of everything I use a knife for could be acomplished by a Buck 110.
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As can the bulk of the folks who use knives on a daily basis. It is all preference , people on here can argue and debate till they are blue in the face about which steel is better for what task , etc etc...
Our Grandpas didnt have any "supersteels" and they got by just fine.

That said , my Buck 110 will shave my arm :D
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
I agree. For some reason the performance steel knives i have i tend to baby and use the AUS stuff for the job at hand. I dunno?
Click to expand...

I've done the same thing more time than I can count. I've had some nice Spydercos & Benchmades but I never wanted to mess them up. So all the grubby jobs were done by a CRKT, a Boker slip joint or an Okapi. The cheap, low end steel, crude Okapi made a good showing last camping trip. Go figure.

Frank
 
To me it makes a difference. How I take care of it for one. Stainless steels dont rust as easily as carbon/tool steels. What am I using it for? I am a big fan of choppers and find certain steels perform better than others. I like certain properties in a larger bladed knife like does the edge chip or roll? Can I put an edge back on it somewhat easily? How will it take impacts to say rocks if I slip?

For my hunting knife I have a Gossman hunter in D2, holds an edge for a VERY long time and is used primarily for slicing and skinning. I like being able to go through a hole animal and then some without sharpening. I have had to resharpen in the past when doing several deer with a 440C knife. I am still going with a still sharp knife when other guys are using a semi dull one.

for folders? I like my folders to not have to be sharpened as often so I chose a better steel with a harder RC, so I like S30V or BG-42 in alot of mine. I own many knives with AUS-6,8, 440-C etc but they just dont hold an edge as long as I like. Could they do the job? Yes....but why not have one that does the job and does it longer?

Most jobs can be done with a 110. but it doesnt have a clip, it doesnt deploy one handed. I like those two features in my knives as well. I carry alot of spyderco's, kershaws and BM's along with Sebbies and Striders. Could all the work i do with them be done with heck even a Case Sodbuster? Yes it can but I am a knife knut......so I want all the toys!



Oh and as far as "it was ok for our grampa's so why should we get something else?". I agree it was "good enough" for them. But dont you think if some of them could have had knives that stayed sharper longer, took more abuse and generally were more ergonomic and better functioning they would? I think some of them would. People are always looking to advance in anything, its fun to step back and used what worked back then because it still does now. But thats no reason not to use what works better now either.
 
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I think steel composition makes a huge difference - both in terms of practical use and also in my appreciation for the knife as a tool and collectible.

I'm sitting here with a 110 I got back in the '70s in one hand, and a Sebenza in the other. I'll agree with you that the 110 will do 95% of what the Sebenza will... for about 40% as long without resharpening. .95 x .40 = 38% as good as a practical tool.

The 110 has huge sentimental value. I took it on innumerable Scout trips, to Philmont twice, lived outdoors on the road with it for a few years, etc. But at face value, as a personal accessory... the Sebenza blows the 110 off the map.
 
I agree. It is steel tweeking. Nothing out performs my A2 blade except...INFI.
 
I still go back to my SAK's with < RC 56 blade steel and love their simplicity and value. I enjoy the process of sharpening so it's not a hassle for me to give them a few swipes on my Sharpmaker when they need it. And boy do they come back to life fast. :)

My BG-42, D2, S30V and other high wear steels do just that - they take a noticeably longer time to wear in between sharpening's. That's cool too. Expensive, but rightfully so.

I'm actually regressing in my most recent purchases back to good 'ol carbon tool steels. There's a certain draw I have to knives made with materials suited for other heavy duty needs - tool and die steels, high heat engine fans, ball bearings.

Part of being a knife collector and user is appreciating both ends of the spectrum [cheap/simple to expensive/exotic], and everything in between.
 
Variety is also marketing.
Phill Hartsfield shared this wisdom with me.
"I've tried all the stainless steels and so far, nothing has out cut my tool steel. Why use a stainless steel that will rust anyway and not perform as well as a tool steel, is beyond me."
 
Is there a question asked in this post or is it just a general statement that any knife can be used for any job as long as it's sharp? Sure I can use a 440C blade to break down boxes at work. I then also have to stop breaking down boxes to resharpen the blade after too long. OR I could just use say my Kershaw Shallot with ZDP-189 edge and not have to worry about resharpening the blade for a couple of days. I will telly you that my boss would rather I carry the ZDP blade. It is true that good steel is equilvilant to a good heat treat, but sometimes you just need or desire a higher quality steel that can just stand up to more.

It's like saying I can use some cheap tools I bought at a Flea Market. Those pliers may hold up for awhile and that screwdriver may do it's job for a couple of weeks, but eventually we all know that these cheaper tools are going to kick the bucket.... Then what? Personally I'll spend the extra money on some Klein Tools that I know will last. Same with my steel. Personally I'll buy S30V over 440C any day just because I know the steel is of higher quality.
 
Lycosa said:
Variety is also marketing.
Phill Hartsfield shared this wisdom with me.
"I've tried all the stainless steels and so far, nothing has out cut my tool steel. Why use a stainless steel that will rust anyway and not perform as well as a tool steel, is beyond me."
Click to expand...


Doesn't D2 tool steel rust faster than stainless steels? I'm sure that Morimotom's test over in the Spyderco forum proved that.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=658351
 
Yes...if you soak it it salt water.
Just keep the tool steel lightly oiled.
 
Tony8179 said:
Doesn't D2 tool steel rust faster than stainless steels? I'm sure that Morimotom's test over in the Spyderco forum proved that.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=658351
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D2 isn't considered a "stainless" steel.... it's "semi-stainless" [right on the edge between carbon and stainless].

It has less chromium than the other steels tested, so that's why you saw the occurrence of rust/pitting faster than the other steels. You leave any steel in a salt water bath and it will eventually rust and pit.
 
Tony8179 said:
Is there a question asked in this post or is it just a general statement that any knife can be used for any job as long as it's sharp?
Click to expand...

I don't know that there's a question, just sort of a discussion opener. I'm not saying that all knives are equal, or that there are not times when a higher performance steel can make a significan difference. I prefer quality knives, but my point is that a decently made knife with decent steel will suffice for the majority of the uses that most of us really need. I can sit here and argue that my mini-grip in 154cm is superior to a mini-grip in 440c, but frankly, day in and day out, I'm not going to notice the difference.

Up in PA I find myself doing a lot rougher work than down in Texas, and misusing the knife a lot. I don't like AUS 6, but that old Prowler will sharpen up quickly and is at least as suitable for what I'm using it for as a better made, more expensive knife.

Now, if I were going to be in a situtation where my life depended on the quality of my knife, I'd of course opt for the best. But on an overnight outing a few miles out in the boonies most any reasonably well made knife would perform all the tasks I needed it to. If I were going on a six month trek through the Amazon jungle, that would be a different story. But I don't go on six month treks through the Amazon.
 
Knives as choppers were mentioned. Okay, for those that like that sort of a thing, that is the sort of thing that they like. But I can count on the thumbs of one foot the number of times I've HAD to chop down a tree with a knife. Or wanted to. As I've said before, that's why god made hatchets -- or chainsaws. Must be getting lazy in my old age.
 
symphonyincminor said:
D2 isn't considered a "stainless" steel.... it's "semi-stainless" [right on the edge between carbon and stainless].

It has less chromium than the other steels tested, so that's why you saw the occurrence of rust/pitting faster than the other steels. You leave any steel in a salt water bath and it will eventually rust and pit.
Click to expand...

I know that D2 isn't stainless steel and is actually tool steel. I even said that in the post you quoted. I do agree with Lycosa that if you keep D2 oiled then you will have no problem. I keep all my tool steel blades wiped down with some mineral oil. What I was saying was that the properties of D2 make it less resistant to rust than stainless steels. I wouldn't go so far as to say that any steel left in salt water will rust. I think we all know about H1 at this point in the game. We also know, as knife nuts, that in areas with higher average humidity and in environments around salt water untreated D2 and other tool steels will simply rust and pit faster than stainless steels.
 
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