Elmax for a "tougher" use knife?

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noob93

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Feb 6, 2016
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As I said in a previous post I have ordered my first custom and or handmade knife. It's 9 inches oal with a 4.4 inch blade made if elmax at 59-60 rc. It has a flat Saber grind almost full flat. Just wondering if brittle Ness should be an issue for tougher tasks or it should hold up.
 
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That should have good toughness at that hardness. What sort of tasks?
 
I use my zt 0562 with elmax steel for work, professional landscaping and gardening. I cut rope, nylon cord, small branches, tough plastic pots etc. It has held up very well. Its been six months and i still havent actually fully sharpened the knife. Just touch ups on a strop or ceramic stone.
 
I am sure that with the proper HT and grind it would be fine, but I don't believe it's the optimum steel for consistent hard use that borders on abuse....something that let's say 3V does very well with....
 
Im not all that interested in 3v Id honestly rather take a2 for a knife that will be borderline abused. 3v would shine in a hunting or tactical application quite well though but so doesnt a2 or if you needed more stain resistance I think pd-1 is on paper just as good. I have seen carothers elmax though and i think as you said with proper ht and good geometry itll be fine.
 
Alot of stuff that 115italian said just maybe with its design a bit more woodsy type things while im hiking like splitting some little pieces of wood like sticks basicly. Just a jack of all type knife is what im hoping for its only got a 4.4 inch blade so its definitely no chopper though i might de-limb a tree or something need be.
 
I think geometry/grind will be the variable you're going to want to get right.

I am sure it will work fine for what you mentioned above. You might want to look at 20CV/M390 as well.
Beyond wonderful edge retention, I put 20CV @ 15DPS through repeated beatings with zero issues.
 
It has a reputation for being tough for what it is. However I've noticed I get microchips from use on a few of my knives ZT 770 cf and Bark River Gunny Elmax.
 
I did get a small chip in my blade but i hit a chain link fence. The chip was very small and should easily sharpen out.
 
unless the geometry is geared solely toward a great slicer you should have no problem with almost any steel in a blade that size... depending on what your tougher use tasks are. if it's a little chippy, just resharpen it at a steeper angle and you should be fine.
 
Well I think it really does come down to ht and geometry. The maker I'd rather new to the game at 2 years of practice but it was sent out for ht and he's over in poland. They should be very accustomed to that steel and his grinds look pretty nice to the point I did not hesitate. That's saying something as I'm rather bad at decisions regarding money spending.
 
I have lost all faith in Elmax, a good friend bought a $200 ZT with Elmax and the edge rolled cutting a copper wire, I use and abuse one of those $4 wallyworld flippers at work and it can cut through copper wire all day long and not roll an edge. Any steel that rolls an edge on soft copper is not super.
 
In testing some high-hardness choppers, I came across a test that really separated knife steels/heat treats with good edge stability from those with poor edge stability. It’s an abusive test, but the better steels can handle it. It involves chopping bailing wire on a big block of Douglas fir.

Here is a custom knife in Elmas at 60 Rc:
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Here’s a hand-forged blade in 1095 at about 60 Rc:
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Here’s a 3V blade at 60.5 Rc:
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Here’s an M4 blade at 64 Rc by Gillson, which is almost untouched:
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Here’s a Zero Tolerance in Vanadis 4E (unknown hardness) that is barely damaged:
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Here are the players:
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noob93 said:
Man great post I apreciate it. Where did you find that test is there a video?
Click to expand...

It was my backyard test. There is no video. I was testing for edge stability on some high-hardness choppers. The whole test is in the Review subforum. My old 3V chopper would chip out hacking salmonberries, so I began a journey to find a better chopper. I was looking for the effectiveness of geometry/design and also edge stability, because of the past chipping issues.

The wire test (chopping a piece of bailing wire) turned out to be a good way of separating blades with good edge stability from those with poor edge stability. I've since heard that some of the better knife makers will use this same test or a similar one to make sure their own blades are properly heat treated.
 
I've had great luck w handmade fixed blades in Elmax & 20cv. I routinely use them to chop brick & fell ancient trees. I really have used a couple of them pretty roughly on my ranch & on camping trips. 59-60 is a wee bit lower for Elmax actually...the knives I'm referring to are both a solid 61. I'm no metallurgist, but the true advantage of steels like these is their combo of edge holding/cor. resistance/relatively high toughness & stability, & for me anyhow, edge holding is most important, which suffers a bit at lower hardnesses - now, 59-60 isn't too low, I'm sure your maker knows his stuff & will make a fantastic knife for you.

Again, I really dig Elmax & 20cv/m390 as they're the Lebron of knife steels, they can perform at a high level in every facet, & they were all 1st produced in Ohio (I made that up). I've also had great luck with 90v, & then getting less fancy-pants, I've got a # of great fixed in AEB-L that kick butt all across the board. Steels don't need to be in the 'super' category to perform at very high levels. That said, I do caution you believing the folks who say that steel doesn't matter at all & it's all in the HT & geometry. Those aspects are very important, yes, but so is the steel type. My favorite non-stainless steels are CruForge-V & 52100 - those are the most 'fun' steels for me as it's just easier to get them stupid sharp, like sharper than anything should ever be, & they're still plenty tough & have more cor. res. than most non-ss.

Noob93, which I'm assuming either means you're 93yo or 22-23yo, I hope you love your 1st custom/handmade brother...they're all I go for anymore as the options are literally without limit. Lastly, I'm going to do that thing where I make you feel some unfair sense of obligation & ask you to post pics when the knife comes in - best of luck!
 
haha that first line Gave me a good chuckle. I do agree it could have been treated a bit harder but should be a bit tougher for it perhaps and easier to sharpen? Im interested in all of the steels you mentioned and get the ball comparison...actually kind of perfectly explained it. Iv had some good luck with cold steels carbon in the past as well as esee and becker. I definitely dont listen to that whole sales pitch like the hey iv only got ats-34 for your chopper but its all about ht and edge geometry. Probably end up with more of a cold chisel then a knife. noob93 was an old gamer tag I had and ya 93 was the year i was born so im not quite 93 yet :p. Thanks man I hope I love it as well and will be eagerly awaiting it. Ill definely post some pics here of my "unboxing" and get some of the knife being used as well :D
 
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