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

willywall said:
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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A lot of times the exact process is kept under wraps as a trade secret.
 
Not only that, but a lot of companies have their blades heat treated to bring out whatever properties they prefer in the steel. Some customers prefer easier sharpening and others prefer edge holding, for example. But, in low cost Chinese knives, who knows what you will get with the heat treatment?
 
OK, the fact that they keep the process secret answers my question. That makes a lot of sense. I know a lot of people like the Chinese knives but it doesn't make sense not to buy American in this instance. So many awesome American knives in every price range. Thanks for all the info guys
 
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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I have heard about that, but I reckon those Chinese companies importing steel from the U.S do go above and beyond especially with the amount of tax they have to pay.
 
willywall said:
OK, the fact that they keep the process secret answers my question. That makes a lot of sense. I know a lot of people like the Chinese knives but it doesn't make sense not to buy American in this instance. So many awesome American knives in every price range. Thanks for all the info guys
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Obviously you heard only what you wanted. There are quality Chinese companies, and not. There are quality American companies, and not. Why not just by from a reputable company so you don't have to worry?
 
I will say CRKT is a company that mostly has knives made in China and they get a lot of grief over these budget steels and while I'm not a fan of CRKT I will say I have one with an 8Cr14Mov blade that according to CRKT's site is heat treated to 58-59 and I have found it to perform rather well particularly given the relatively low cost of the knife. I still prefer other steels and I have an Italian knife in AUS8 that performs better than the CRKT and I think it has a better HT. My Spyderco's are an Italian and Japanese made model using VG-10 and Elmax but I couldn't begin to compare them as the knives are just too different.
 
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