EKA 92 - cheap, excellent bush folder, better steel than VG10

[meanwhile]

An EKA 92 looks like this:
http://www.ragweedforge.com/eka-catalog.html

I bought mine on ebay for a ridiculously low bid. I never really had occasion to use it until yesterday, attacking the undergrowth blocking the windows in a house I've moved into. In half an hour I cleared enough to pick a three cubic metre bonfire pile, and the blade was still sharp enough to cut paper. I'd sliced through tough green branches a centimetre or more thick, and chopped axe-style through branches several times thicker (like the handle on a Manix or a Strider, the 95 handle lets you hold securely at the very back to get extra chopping leverage). The blade shape is excellent - the tip is great for twist-and-pry cutting, and the edge has a nice belly to it.

As well as the knife performed, I have to admit I've never made more than a perfunctory effort to sharpen it! I should really put a secondary edge on it and treat it properly.

Oh - good strong catch, excellent handle (reminds me of the descriptions of Respirene on Swamp Rat knives). The knife has a good 4mm spine and works well with batton cutting.

So finally taking the knife seriously, I did some research. It's made of Sandvik 12C27. Although not a glamour steel, it is damn good stuff - at least in the same league a VG10. It's used in the Frost military Puukko's UK survival schools love, and in the EKA WM11 - a rival to the Falkniven F1.

So, if you've ever wanted a folding equivalent of one of those survival school Puukkos, but with a thicker tougher blade (I think the Puukko's aren't that thick?) this could be your knife. Except for the lack of one hand opening, the 92 might make a great cheaper alternative to a Manix or Military - a strong folder than chop through branches safely and efficiently, and still make tinder sticks afterwards - it's only $35 in the US. About 1/4 the Military's price? I'd love to see what Chris Stamp thinks of this knife.

Btw - there's plenty of exposed blade when the knike is closed. Someone handy with a Dremel might be able to add a Wave opener?

Oh - some googling I did suggested that EKA's are very popular with Royal Marines.

 

[znode]

So finally taking the knife seriously, I did some research. It's made of Sandvik 12C27. Although not a glamour steel, it is damn good stuff - at least in the same league a VG10.

Hardly true. If it were in the same league as VG10 it too would be a glamour steel, because VG-10 is pretty darn premium.

In the commonly accepted edgeholding classes of performance, 12C27 is in the AUS 8, 13C26, and 8Cr13 class of steels. 440C, 154CM, ATS-34, VG-10, and BG-42 forms another class.

In a purely cutting and slicing tool, VG-10 will probably significantly outperform 12C27 in all regards if they're both used to make two identical knives for comparison. However, VG-10 is not as tough in a Big Blade, and so Fallkniven laminates it with 420 in their fixed blades.

 

[Kiah]

I have a Swede 88 that I'm rather fond of.

I bought mine on ebay for a ridiculously low bid.

Got mine on Ebay for around 3 bucks

but with a thicker tougher blade (I think the Puukko's aren't that thick?)

If you mean moras, I don't think my EKA is thicker than any of my moras.

I'd love to see what Chris Stamp thinks of this knife.

I'm assuming you meant Cliff Stamp. He's no longer permitted to post here, so if you want his opinion you'll have to email him.

 

[meanwhile]

Hardly true. If it were in the same league as VG10 it too would be a glamour steel, because VG-10 is pretty darn premium.

You're assuming that "glamour" means high performance. It doesn't - it's about image and marketing.

In the commonly accepted edgeholding classes of performance, 12C27 is in the AUS 8, 13C26, and 8Cr13 class of steels. 440C, 154CM, ATS-34, VG-10, and BG-42 forms another class.

In a purely cutting and slicing tool, VG-10 will probably significantly outperform 12C27..

Yes, and I specifically posted about a type of knife and application where ***chopping*** is important. Arguing that a VG10 blade is better because it possibly slices better is as irrelevant as saying a thinner blade is better for the same reason. For this job the extra toughness that the Scandinavian steel has seems to be an advantage.

Empirically, the 92 had real potential as a folding bush knife. I just chopped enough really nasty bush and wood to make a shelter. I did it much more easily than I expected, being out of practice, and the knife was sharp enough to make tinder sticks afterwards.

 

[dulledge2]

i have a few eka's all are very well made and keeps a sharp edge.

 

[Kiah]

Yes, and I specifically posted about a type of knife and application where ***chopping*** is important.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the EKA 92 folder was not designed as a chopping tool.

Arguing that a VG10 blade is better because it possibly slices better is as irrelevant as saying a thinner blade is better for the same reason.

Slicing is more important, to most of us, in a pocket knife.

It sounds to me like you are trying to justify your purchase of this knife. I think that EKAs are fantastic bargains. They are great little cutters. That said, they are small light folders, and are not the best tool for chopping.

 

[Neo]

I'm assuming you meant Cliff Stamp. He's no longer permitted to post here, so if you want his opinion you'll have to email him.

WOW that's news for me.
I' ve been some time from the forum, but since 7 years I can't imagine bladeforums without Cliff.

What has he done to get banned ???

 

[ashtxsniper]

Being an idiot retard.

 

[znode]

Yes, and I specifically posted about a type of knife and application where ***chopping*** is important.

It sounds like you're trying to justify to yourself your own purchase of a $30 knife . Nobody is arguing with you about your purchase, but rather what you loudly claim in both the title of the thread, AND your post, that 12C27 is "better steel than VG10", which is blatantly untrue. Both are pocketknife steels, not heavy choppers steels, and they should be compared in that context.

Furthermore, you did in fact purchase a folder. It's not impossible to chop with a folder given the right technique, but it's dangerous and unsuited for the task.

Arguing that a VG10 blade is better because it possibly slices better is as irrelevant as saying a thinner blade is better for the same reason. For this job the extra toughness that the Scandinavian steel has seems to be an advantage.

Arguing that a 12C27 blade is better than VG-10 in chopping is just as irrelevant. Neither are designed to be, or commonly used as, chopping steels, particularly as EKA hardens the 12C27 to 57-59 HRC. It's like arguing that a full-sized sedan is better at offroading than Coupé. This is further complicated by your choice of a Scandi-ground, folder, both decidedly unsuited for chopping.

Again, nobody is arguing about your purchase, especially as I am a Scandi nut myself. But chopping is decidedly the wrong context to evaluate 12C27 steel.

 

[Kiah]

WOW that's news for me.
I' ve been some time from the forum, but since 7 years I can't imagine bladeforums without Cliff.

What has he done to get banned ???

He insulted Spark. There is a thread in the Service and Support forum discussing it.

 

[HARDMETAL]

Eka 92 is very sharp & economical for actual use .I have EKA new model 8 lite ,which is made of au8 .
For practical use,Eka is very useful , but the designs seem to be ''traditional''.
In my opinion ,12c27 can compete with 440c or aus 8 .
for higer class, they should be vg10 & ats34.

 

[knarfeng]

You're assuming that "glamour" means high performance. It doesn't - it's about image and marketing.



Yes, and I specifically posted about a type of knife and application where ***chopping*** is important. Arguing that a VG10 blade is better because it possibly slices better is as irrelevant as saying a thinner blade is better for the same reason. For this job the extra toughness that the Scandinavian steel has seems to be an advantage.

Empirically, the 92 had real potential as a folding bush knife. I just chopped enough really nasty bush and wood to make a shelter. I did it much more easily than I expected, being out of practice, and the knife was sharp enough to make tinder sticks afterwards.

He's BAAAAAAACk.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

He's back? With a begin date of November 2005? OK ...

Meanwhile, meanwhile, let me back you up here! 12C27 is great steel, always has been, always will be. It's been a standard in Scandis with stainless steel blades, like the stainless Moras, and I believe Opinel is now using it as their stainless also. KERSHAW has been using it in some of their new models -- I know it performed well in my Storm II.

Mike Stewart of Bark River Knives recently won a contract to provide the Marines with a modification of his Gameskeeper. The new knife is called the Bravo-1 and is made of the same A2 steel he uses in so many of his big fixed blades. But then the Marines came back to him and asked for a knife for wet environments also. He is making them a variant of his Nebula, a Scandi grind blade -- in 12C27.

Is it a supersteel? I don't want to get into definitions. I have read that the iron ore at Sandvik is free of many of the impurities that other ores suffer from. That may have gotten it a good reputation in Europe way back when. But when a knife company needs a good, reliable stainless, this one works, it isn't the most expensive, so the product is available to more people. And as you found, the performanc is reliable.

EKA also has some good-looking fixed blades on the same page as you linked for the Swede 92. But is a folder a chopper? I am amazed that anyone would argue the point after you just did chop with it. Obviously, you didn't take down a large oak, you trimmed branches. But the edge wasn't damaged and the handle was comfortable. I think you got a fine knife there.

I still think VG-10 is a "better" steel.
(What !? Define "better" !!! :grumpy

 

[Kiah]

12C27 is great steel, always has been, always will be.

I agree. I have several 12c27 knives.

I am amazed that anyone would argue the point after you just did chop with it.

I was arguing with the comment "I specifically posted about a type of knife and application where ***chopping*** is important." The EKA 92 is not a type of knife where chopping is important. I don't doubt that you can chop with it. You can chop down a redwood with a spoon given enough effort.