How much do you all know about these two knives?

S

Shawn_Jewell

Joined
May 11, 2013
Messages
52
Getting immediately to the point. I have been looking at the Cold Steel Leatherneck SF. It seems to be the "Kabar type" knife from Cold Steel. I don't know too much about its steel but I have heard it is a much better slicer than the traditional Kabar due to the FFG. This sounds like it would be true but I just know nothing about the German steel. I am however, very familiar with 1095 cro van steel. So if someone could compare them a bit?

Cutting power
Penetration power
Edge retention
Ease of sharpening (not a huge deal to me because I don't mind sharpening knives)
How easily the point would break (I am somewhat afraid of the Kabars tip just being a little fragile but I'm not sure)

The other knife, the Gerber De Facto, my friend is looking into getting. So I decided to ask about it in the same post. We have no idea what kind of steel this knife is made out of and are very curious because we love the design of the blade. Any information on that is very appreciated.

Sorry for the somewhat long post and many questions haha. Thank you all in advance :D
 
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I have a Leatherneck SF! It's one of my favorite knives. This is the new hollow ground Krupp 4116 version. The SK-5 FFG version was discontinued.

Cutting power is amazing. I've sliced through a jug with my Leatherneck Tanto and barely felt it. Super clean cut. The blade is broad with a nice hollow grind, so cutting power will definitely be higher than a Kabar's.

I haven't stabbed anything with my Leathernecks, but I expect the penetration to be excellent. The tip is super sharp, but at the same time reinforced, so you get a tip that will penetrate well, but at the same time is very sturdy. If you hit something really hard that the knife can't go through, yeah, you might lose a tiny bit of the very tip, but you won't lose a significant part of the tip. It's very well designed.

Edge retention is good. Definitely not as good as the Kabar's, but this is a question of German 4116 Krupp steel versus 1095CV. One of my most used knives is in this steel, and it takes a wicked edge thanks to its fine grain structure and that vanadium content. It holds it pretty well, and is then quite easy to sharpen.

I should also mention that Krupp 4116 is very tough and highly rust resistant.

The handle is amazing. Very grippy even when wet. I like the thick steel guard and machined steel pommel, which I have used to great success when smashing crab and lobster shells.

The sheath is excellent, secure-ex. Holds the knife securely. It and the whole knife are weather resistant and built tough.

It'l only run you about 50 bucks, on top of all this.
 
Shawn_Jewell said:
Very nice! :D I think I may pick one up to go with my Ontario Sp1 soon. Need another large fixed blade
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You'll definitely be very happy with it. Comes very, very sharp out of the box, and if there are any problems, Cold Steel's great customer service team has got your back.
 
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