How is Valiant Co?

[Knifeclerk]

I'm lookng through their website and am interested in a few of their products. Has anyone here dealt with them before? Are the products sturdy and do they hold up? I always feel icky when a site uses generic terms like "Spring Steel."
Thanks

 

[judge]

I am interested in some of their products too. A while ago I did a search on their parangs and stuff and came up with a few reviews, which generally were very positive. You might even find something on this forum. Don´t know about the company´s service though.
"Spring steel" is usually 5160 or comparable low chromium alloyed (non-stainless of course) steel. Excellent for long or highly stressed blades. If the heat treat is right, one of the best steels for long blades you can get.
Reason why they call it "spring steel" is they probably recycle vehicle leaf springs, which usually is a cheap, but perfectly acceptable way of getting steel in the Phillipines, Malaysia, Indonesia. The automotive industry standard for leaf spring alloys is 5160, and an experienced smith probably notices if it´s something different in forging or heat treating/testing.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

In terms of geometry, the blades are among the most optimal I have seen for light vegetation and wood working. However all of the ones I have see have had problems with heat treatment, the edges were too soft, when I mentioned this I was sent a few prototypes with harder edges but they were far too brittle and chipped out far too readily even on soft woods. There are also handle related issues, cracks and they have even come off.

A lot of people though have had much better luck with them, they were very well liked on Knifeforums on the old Wilderness forum.

-Cliff

 

[Knifeclerk]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the input!

 

[raghorn]

I ordered a kerambit from their website about a year and a half ago. It took about four weeks to get here (international shipping); I was pleased with the the service and the product, and their email communication was very good.