Do you guys use your high end knives made out of the so called super stainless steels

Well, if you like the Thor, but prefer steels like O1, how about a Cold Steel Trailmaster in O1? It's definitely not the looker that the Fallkniven is, and it will lack the high level fit and finish and convex edgex but it's 1/5 the price, made in a steel you prefer and have experience with and is, overall, a very similar knife.

Heck, put the cost difference into modding the Trailmaster and I bet you can easily end up with precisely the knife you want in the steel you prefer.
 
i just dont understand why they use vg10 for those knives and market them as outdoor knives cause in my experience they very brittle .
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In my experience if it damages VG10 then it damages carbon steel. Big difference is in the wear resistance and how much of a PITA it is to sharpen. Most carbon steels, unless particularly hard (63+RC), are pretty easy to Sharpen.
 
from sweden said:
thx sorry for bad spelling grammar commas and all that .. i did have a cold steel trail master once . i did like it exept
foor the kraton grip it wore out pretty fast on me the grip i mean it was comfortable when it was new did rust on me few times but still good
lost it canoeing with friend .. left it camp spot we could not go back straight away it was gone once i made it back ..
like i said i like the looks of the fallkniven thor odin i like the leather handles reminds me eastwing hammers and leather handles are comfortable ..
i just dont understand why they use vg10 for those knives and market them as outdoor knives cause in my experience they very brittle ..
Click to expand...


To adress this Q for application on Australian hardwoods, the issue came up on another forum in the past.
An Australian member couldn't get his NL1 Tor to hold an edge on Aussie hardwoods and asked for advice.

A wellknown Aussie member (nowadays infamous) and skilled outdoorsman, agreed on resharpening + testing the edge on Eucalyptus.
He did this and showed the pic's of the NL1 in use.
His conclusion was no chipping, no rolls!

The knife was sent back to the owner, but upon receiving the now sharp NL1 he decided not to use it and later sold the knife.


I'm in Sweden but I sometimes work in exotic hardwoods or dense, knotty Scandinavian hardwoods and my NL's have gone through the woodpieces without any issues.
I think VG-10 works excellent in a large blade made for chopping, but I know others have reported trouble.

I don't think it's a steelissue at all, but a geometry or grinding problem on factory edges.
By setting the edgeangle for the material being cut, the edge will hold up way better!
Also, an edge that has gone too hot in the final stages of factory grinding, will most likely need a new edge before it shows proper edgeholding.

Don't blame the steel, it's about geometry & sharpening!



Regards
Mikael
 
from sweden said:
Hi im originally from sweden but i live in Australia now .
I was never a fan of the vg10 steel in larger knives ,like the a1 series< also found the finger guard to be little bit short on that series ..
Yes very sharp holds edge well, when cutting soft stuff ,but any chopping battoning and you get chipping in blade..
or even drop it, and yes that happens ..and i have seen it on friends vg10 knives mostly fallkniven .. and the a1 is marketed as survival knife
reason is i use my knives, and i always had edges chip with fallkniven a1 .. i hade 2 , they were very brittle , i re profiled the blades edges
to a traditional flat v grind non convex and sold them ..
i do like the looks of the northern light thor odin , but id be scared to spend that much $ to find that when i use it its brittle ..
dont get me wrong im not bashing a particular brand ,its more vg10 and other so called super stainless steels .
just not what i would consider a good steel for bigger blades .. and in my experience the stainless steels that many
consider inferior like some of the 440b 440a stainless steels or puma 1.4116 i found to be very good when you actually
using the knife .. i love 1095 and randalls 01 .. o1 wich i think is fantastic easy to resharpen quickly not brittle at al but they do rust but easy to resharpen and they very tough ..
i under stand that heat treatment plays a big part like a 440 b can be heat treated to be real good tough steel for a stainless steel .. but is it just me or is vg 10 a really bad choice for larger fixed blade knives ..
i know the newer fallknivens are laminated with 420 stainless vg10 core ..

also now when i live in australia i found if you have a camp knife aussie wood is very hard and some steels are like a joke
once you actually use them ..
i used to work in forest sweden when i was young ,, chain saw ..it was like cutting true butter.. first time i tried cutting aussie trees
eucalyptus and other native trees i thought what the hell is this ..
and some of the other steels like d2 , even if its not a true stainless it has very good resistance to rust but very hard to sharpen in my opinion
ease of sharpening in the field non brittle is more important to me than super hard steels that holds edge longer but is brittle and hard to sharpen ..
i wish they would of made the odin thor fallkniven in carbon steel .. or used something instead of vg10

Cheers
Click to expand...

Tl,dr. To answer the question asked in the thread title, yes, I use my knives that have high end steels. I don't buy knives as artwork. Some people do and I can appreciate that. I buy and use knives with high end steel because I expect the steel to stand up to rougher and more extended use, not just as a status symbol or whatever.

If I bought a high end knife as a piece of art I'd buy one in something like LC200N or some other highly corrosion resistant steel that I never really needed to worry about, definitely not a tool or carbon steel unless it was a very uncommon and irresistible Damascus pattern.
 
from sweden said:
Hi im originally from sweden but i live in Australia now .
I was never a fan of the vg10 steel in larger knives ,like the a1 series< also found the finger guard to be little bit short on that series ..
Yes very sharp holds edge well, when cutting soft stuff ,but any chopping battoning and you get chipping in blade..
or even drop it, and yes that happens ..and i have seen it on friends vg10 knives mostly fallkniven .. and the a1 is marketed as survival knife
reason is i use my knives, and i always had edges chip with fallkniven a1 .. i hade 2 , they were very brittle , i re profiled the blades edges
to a traditional flat v grind non convex and sold them ..
i do like the looks of the northern light thor odin , but id be scared to spend that much $ to find that when i use it its brittle ..
dont get me wrong im not bashing a particular brand ,its more vg10 and other so called super stainless steels .
just not what i would consider a good steel for bigger blades .. and in my experience the stainless steels that many
consider inferior like some of the 440b 440a stainless steels or puma 1.4116 i found to be very good when you actually
using the knife .. i love 1095 and randalls 01 .. o1 wich i think is fantastic easy to resharpen quickly not brittle at al but they do rust but easy to resharpen and they very tough ..
i under stand that heat treatment plays a big part like a 440 b can be heat treated to be real good tough steel for a stainless steel .. but is it just me or is vg 10 a really bad choice for larger fixed blade knives ..
i know the newer fallknivens are laminated with 420 stainless vg10 core ..

also now when i live in australia i found if you have a camp knife aussie wood is very hard and some steels are like a joke
once you actually use them ..
i used to work in forest sweden when i was young ,, chain saw ..it was like cutting true butter.. first time i tried cutting aussie trees
eucalyptus and other native trees i thought what the hell is this ..
and some of the other steels like d2 , even if its not a true stainless it has very good resistance to rust but very hard to sharpen in my opinion
ease of sharpening in the field non brittle is more important to me than super hard steels that holds edge longer but is brittle and hard to sharpen ..
i wish they would of made the odin thor fallkniven in carbon steel .. or used something instead of vg10

Cheers
Click to expand...

It depends, although I understand why you post it.

My straightforward answer is that yes, I use them, and yes, they are THAT good that are worthy. The real question is if the steel is adequate for the knife.

I love 3V and I love INFI. They really make a difference.

However I too dislike Fällkniven's vg10 (Hattori from japan if I got that right). It boggles my mind how there isnt more info online about this chipping issue, because when you look up Fällkniven all is praise.

The edge of my A1 flattens when smacked against wood, and even though it's thick and heavy and resistant as hell, it's of little use when your edge can get screwed up so easily.

I'm dissappointed with the A1, I regeret not buying a Busse or a Survive! instead.
 
DPC said:
It depends, although I understand why you post it.

My straightforward answer is that yes, I use them, and yes, they are THAT good that are worthy. The real question is if the steel is adequate for the knife.

I love 3V and I love INFI. They really make a difference.

However I too dislike Fällkniven's vg10 (Hattori from japan if I got that right). It boggles my mind how there isnt more info online about this chipping issue, because when you look up Fällkniven all is praise.

The edge of my A1 flattens when smacked against wood, and even though it's thick and heavy and resistant as hell, it's of little use when your edge can get screwed up so easily.

I'm dissappointed with the A1, I regeret not buying a Busse or a Survive! instead.
Click to expand...

I have been very clear about Your issues and what others have with VG-10, in this thread and for several years on various forums!

Sharpen Your A1 4-5 times, to get past the factoryedge and the troubles should go away.


Regards
Mikael
 
Mikael W said:
I have been very clear about Your issues and what others have with VG-10, in this thread and for several years on various forums!

Sharpen Your A1 4-5 times, to get past the factoryedge and the troubles should go away.


Regards
Mikael
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
Mikael W said:
To adress this Q for application on Australian hardwoods, the issue came up on another forum in the past.
An Australian member couldn't get his NL1 Tor to hold an edge on Aussie hardwoods and asked for advice.

A wellknown Aussie member (nowadays infamous) and skilled outdoorsman, agreed on resharpening + testing the edge on Eucalyptus.
He did this and showed the pic's of the NL1 in use.
His conclusion was no chipping, no rolls!

The knife was sent back to the owner, but upon receiving the now sharp NL1 he decided not to use it and later sold the knife.


I'm in Sweden but I sometimes work in exotic hardwoods or dense, knotty Scandinavian hardwoods and my NL's have gone through the woodpieces without any issues.
I think VG-10 works excellent in a large blade made for chopping, but I know others have reported trouble.

I don't think it's a steelissue at all, but a geometry or grinding problem on factory edges.
By setting the edgeangle for the material being cut, the edge will hold up way better!
Also, an edge that has gone too hot in the final stages of factory grinding, will most likely need a new edge before it shows proper edgeholding.

Don't blame the steel, it's about geometry & sharpening!



Regards
Mikael
Click to expand...

Update:
I was wrong about the owner selling the knife.
He didn't and he still own and use his NL1 from time to time. :thumbup:
 
I use all my knives or they go away. I haven't had a chance lately to go out in the woods but I normally have a camp knife in 3V with me. I beat it up. I have a small EDC fixed in s90v that I use quite a bit. I have a new to me 10V kephart that I plan on using and pushing and I'll have a 10v puukko soon that will get a ton of use.

I've never babied any of the high end super steels. I have some infi that I haven't used yet and I've beaten up some sr-101. I much prefer 3V to the sr-101.

After everything though, I think my knife in 440C gets the most use.

It's made me the opposite of a steel snob. I don't care what steel it is, I'm using it and using it hard.
 
" get past the factory edge " , yes I've seen that many times !
VG-10 and similar 690 are very good for what they are but the "powder steels " are a step above those. Try CPM 3V. Use a diamond stone to sharpen and make it easy.
 
E3nHMSX.jpg


Isn't that, you know, WHY we buy super steels?
 
mete said:
" get past the factory edge " , yes I've seen that many times !
VG-10 and similar 690 are very good for what they are but the "powder steels " are a step above those. Try CPM 3V. Use a diamond stone to sharpen and make it easy.
Click to expand...

I have 3 knives in CPM 3V, 3"-4" bladelenght and they are indeed very good!
Personally I wouldn't mind to try an 8" blade in 3V, but it had to be a traditional design and so far I have not seen one made.


Regards
Mikael
 
To op. The A1 has always had a very good reputation. So not sure why you have had issues. Yes a good carbon tool steel is tougher, but a moderate carbon content stainless steel can be tough enough at lower Rc's. I have abused the crap out of 440A and B knives and they have proven themselves fairfly tough. Of course steels like 52100, 5160, A2, etc will be tougher. Heck 1095 will be tougher. But that doesn't mean your A1 isn't fit for work. Here is just two videos showing good toughness and decent edge holding on hard woods in the second video.

[video=youtube;ULKEpv51dCM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULKEpv51dCM[/video]

[video=youtube;NeqH6dVxbFA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeqH6dVxbFA[/video]

Nothing wrong with wanting something different, but don't discount a properly HT'd stainless steel.
 
Cold Steel's VG1 San Mai III is not as chippy as Falkniven's laminated VG10 in my personal experience.

I had an A1, and that thing chipped like crazy. Perhaps I had a bad one, but I doubt it. Both Cold Steel's San Mai knives, and Falkniven's laminated VG10 knives are made by Hattori. Hattori is one of the very best knife makers, in terms of craftsmanship, on the planet.

I use a San Mai III Master Hunter as my go to hunting knife. Even through bone, I have never had a chip.

Also have a San Mai III Trail Master, and chopped extensively with it, as well as batoned. No chips at all.

The San Mai III Trail Master is convex ground also. I saw one for sale in the exchange, if you are interested.
 
Mikael. I have a fine 8" custom CPM 3V heavy duty camping knife .It's great ! The maker and I worked together to make a knife comfortable, efficient and a joy to use ! It's a knife you would treasure !
 
ursamajor said:
Cold Steel's VG1 San Mai III is not as chippy as Falkniven's laminated VG10 in my personal experience.

I had an A1, and that thing chipped like crazy. Perhaps I had a bad one, but I doubt it. Both Cold Steel's San Mai knives, and Falkniven's laminated VG10 knives are made by Hattori. Hattori is one of the very best knife makers, in terms of craftsmanship, on the planet.

I use a San Mai III Master Hunter as my go to hunting knife. Even through bone, I have never had a chip.

Also have a San Mai III Trail Master, and chopped extensively with it, as well as batoned. No chips at all.

The San Mai III Trail Master is convex ground also. I saw one for sale in the exchange, if you are interested.
Click to expand...

VG1 as made in the Cold Steel version, is said to have more toughness than VG-10, but less edgeretention.
I believe them to be Great Knives!

Sorry to hear about Your experience with Your A1.
I don't know why there are differences in the user reports, but I think the knives should be the same for any owner!
I have used the A1 as my son has one.
His A1 doesn't show what You have experienced, so there are obviously differences between knives of the same model.
My son has accidentally hit a stone with the edge of his A1, but it dented instead of chipping.
I have done the same on Limestone with my NL2, but the denting was minimal and the edge was back after 5 minutes on the DC stone.

I have used the NL2 in chopping Sycomore Maple for 2,5 hours of continous work, without seeing any damage to the edge.
I have batoned & splitted firewood + chopped 4" to 5" Mapletrees, for years with the NL2 and it still have the original edge.
It only need maintenance from the strop and the ultrafine ceramic side of the brown DC 4 stone.
I'm happy for this and I'm content with the quality of that NL2.
It's the same with my NL1, even if I don't use it as much as the NL2.

IMO the NL's are what Peter Hjortberger, the owner of Fällkniven promise them to be.
He has personally told me many times, that to this date, he hasn't got any NL's back to him in pieces!


Regards
Mikael
 
Last edited:
mete said:
Mikael. I have a fine 8" custom CPM 3V heavy duty camping knife .It's great ! The maker and I worked together to make a knife comfortable, efficient and a joy to use ! It's a knife you would treasure !
Click to expand...

Interesting!

Can You show it to us?



Regards
Mikael
 
Arbitrary if S30V is considered a super-steel anymore ( I think it is ,as far as performance and edge-holding goes) , but I've been beating on my Benchmade bushcrafter going on 3 years with no troubles at all and no edge chipping or failure of any sort. Sharpening doesn't take long with diamonds , which is the recommended medium for this steel anyways , and my primary choice in sharpening gear.

Used my S1 for for many years also , but I always redo the factory edge on Fallkivens anyhow to minimise the chance of chipping.

My knives in 3V ( Koster bushmaster , Bravo 1.25) are others that perform astoundingly well , but expensive.
 
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