CRKT M16-14Z blade steel?

N

neoprimitive

Joined
Jun 8, 2011
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My wife and I were recently up in Oregon for a week looking for a house to buy. We didn't bring a knife with us on the trip.
So I went to a local store and bought a CRKT M16-14Z to carry with me while we there.. When I bought it, I assumed the blade
was AUS 8 steel. Looking online and at CRKT's site, I'm left wondering what my blade steel is.. On a lot of site's where it's for
sale, it's listed as AUS 4, yet on CRKT's site, it's listed as AUS 8... And if is AUS 4, exactly how decent of a steel is it? I've read some
threads here about AUS 4, and most of what I read was saying it's junk steel, while a few others revered its qualities and said
it's actually a good steel. And on CRKT's site, I'm not exactly clear on the difference between a M16-04Z and 14Z????
http://www.crkt.com/M1604Z
Thanks for any info...
 
On line retailers will sometimes get the steel wrong. Trust the maker/manufacturer's information. That said, it's possible you got one that was sitting on the shelf for a while and CRKT changed steels (IDK if they have, just a possibility).

IMHO, AUS 4 is an acceptable blade steel (though you must keep in mind I've been doing cardboard cutting tests with annealed 1095 blades lately). I'd use as shallow and angle as you dare, left at as coarse a finish as you can manage. Something like a Black (220) DMT xtra coarse bench stone. For my coarse edges, I've been using a 220 grit green Silicon Carbide waterstone. For this relative grade of knife (low to mid price), blade geometry and sharpening skill will overshadow what is percieved to be a lesser grade steel. Overall design is important too. I like many CRKT designs, especially the large M16 Tanto.
 
I really like the looks of the m16 series but people complain about the liner locks being somewhat flimsy.
 
Don't buy CRKT knives unless you know for sure what kind of blade steel you're getting. I saw the M16-13Z go from an AUS6 to an AUS4 without any notification from the company. Now I think the blade's changed again. So how does a buyer know what kind of blade steel he's getting? The quality generally goes down, down to Chinatown. I've got two new AUS6 versions which I'll keep for collector's sake, but I think AUS4 makes for good liner lock steel, but not good blade steel. And since you can't trust CRKT, don't buy it! Get Cold Steel, Spyderco or Benchmade.
 
Thanks guys.. Maybe I'll call CRKT and see what they tell me.. It's a little late because I already bought it.. But in the future, I will be doing more research before I get another CRKT.. I really like the knife though, rock solid lockup, no blade play, and it came shaving sharp.. But isn't AUS 4 going to be a really easy steel to sharpen?
 
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