Don't the Chinese have better budget steel than 8Cr13MoV?

even so, they don't heat treat it well enough. so it really doesn't matter what metal they use.
 
This really isn't a Spyderco question but some Chinese makers have several knives with S35vn, same steel used by Chris Reeves. It seems to have a good heat, and holds a good edge. These knives are not real low priced knives. They have quality fit and finish, and good steel in their blades. Check them out some time.

S35VN is an American powdered steel created by Crucible Steel in collaboration with famous knifemaker Chris Reeve especially for knife industry. It contains 1.38% carbon, 14% chromium, 3% vanadium, 2% molybdenum, 0.5% niobium and has a hardness of 59-60 HRC.


I'll still carry my Spyderco Gayle Bradley 1 for all uses around the shop and home. It is the only EDC I need.
 
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Sal Glesser said:
There are also companies in China what will put whatever they want as steel on the blade even though they're made out of something else.

sal
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I had a bad feeling this was the case. I see a lot of Chinese blades marked D2 but don’t really perform like D2. I figured they were just marking what they want on them to make them sell.
 
i thought d2 or chinese equivalent was easy to get and very common in china. also thought it was likely just poor heat treat more than fake d2 or equivalent steel....although who really knows......
 
vwb563 said:
I had a bad feeling this was the case. I see a lot of Chinese blades marked D2 but don’t really perform like D2. I figured they were just marking what they want on them to make them sell.
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D2 is pretty common. It's been around forever. I am going to say this, not to spark a debate, but as a point of fact. Not all Chinese knife MFRs are shady, so yes they are probably using D2, and in my experience it has performed as expected. If they were going to fake stamp a blade why not just use cheap 3cr and call it s90v?
 
These 440A/8Cr class steels are cheap and a person cannot tell any difference by looking at them. I see a lot of knives sold as various makes and steels, none of which are true. It is not only the Chinese who copy and sell things this way. A lot of countries do things like this and everyone just thinks it is normal (until someone copies them!).
 
neffarious said:
D2 is pretty common. It's been around forever. I am going to say this, not to spark a debate, but as a point of fact. Not all Chinese knife MFRs are shady, so yes they are probably using D2, and in my experience it has performed as expected. If they were going to fake stamp a blade why not just use cheap 3cr and call it s90v?
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For a one time sale, and immediate change of website or profile, they can do this successfully. A hundred dollars profit might be a months pay for some in China. I think if Chinese were successfully manufacturing d2 to a high standard, they would put their own stamp on it.
 
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Sal Glesser said:
There are some companies in China that import steel from the US. There are also companies in China what will put whatever they want as steel on the blade even though they're made out of something else.

sal
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This is why I asked in the past, what companies use correct steel. It’s going to be useful for BF to have such sticky information. D2 has been mentioned and China has its version of it. However I don’t know if Takefu exports VG10 to China, so i am doubtful about Chinese made VG10 (example some Kizers and Bokers).
 
Can someone explain to me how the heat treatment can be good or not so good? Does each company have a proprietary heat treatment? If there were problems with a heat treatment wouldn't they make adjustments later to correct it? Not trolling just looking for general knife knowledge.
 
This Tenacious I have is not too bad.

A lot of times a company can ride on the coat tails of a good manufacturer and use, or at least claim to use the same steel in an attempt to market their knives. Their heat treatment is a lot of times just some bottom dollar process that is barely adequate so that more knives can be pumped out for cheap.

Makes a big difference when a company cares about their knives. There are a few out there that do a decent job.
 
willywall said:
Can someone explain to me how the heat treatment can be good or not so good? Does each company have a proprietary heat treatment? If there were problems with a heat treatment wouldn't they make adjustments later to correct it? Not trolling just looking for general knife knowledge.
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I am no expert on this and hopefully someone who is will chime in. Heat treating can make a steel much harder, or relationally softer. Harder steels generally hold an edge better, but if they are run too hard they can become brittle. Softer steels are usually tougher and can stand up to more abuse but usually do not hold an edge as well as the same steel run harder. In addition, the heat treat can affect things like corrosion resistance, wear resistance, toughness, and all sorts of things. Each steel has a range that its hardness can be run to bring out its best qualities. Some, for example, can be hardened between 54-59 Rc. Others can be run as high as 65 Rc and still perform. There are steels that can be run harder, but they are not common. If you do a search there are some threads addressing harding, Rockwell testing, heat treat, and etc.
 
DocT said:
I am no expert on this and hopefully someone who is will chime in. Heat treating can make a steel much harder, or relationally softer. Harder steels generally hold an edge better, but if they are run too hard they can become brittle. Softer steels are usually tougher and can stand up to more abuse but usually do not hold an edge as well as the same steel run harder. In addition, the heat treat can affect things like corrosion resistance, wear resistance, toughness, and all sorts of things. Each steel has a range that its hardness can be run to bring out its best qualities. Some, for example, can be hardened between 54-59 Rc. Others can be run as high as 65 Rc and still perform. There are steels that can be run harder, but they are not common. If you do a search there are some threads addressing harding, Rockwell testing, heat treat, and etc.
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Thanks for the info. So does each company have their own heat treat for a given steel? Just wondering if one company does their treatment at a certain temp, gets a good result with a good balance of attributes why would another company not use the same treatment.
 
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