How's the edge retension...

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nemesis27

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Jan 22, 2008
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On a 440C knife, comparable to 1095 or worse? Im curious as I was wanting to pick up a "cheaper" knife for an EDC to throw into my rotation. However I do use my knives everyday to cut garden hosing, felt weed barrier, cardboard, plastic ties, limbs (trees, not people : p) and I cut these everyday for roughly oh...an hour of actual cutting time.

I know some of these cheaper steel take an edge quick however I know alot of them lose it just as quick. I have a few "surgical steel"/440X (x meaning im not sure which) by S&W and a Gerber Profile that actually holds up pretty darn good in comparison to my 154cm knives, must have got a special one.

Anyhow what do you think about this common steel?




PS Boker is the brand im looking at if that makes a difference in the HT of the steel.
 
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My 440C BM griptillian cuts anything I throw at it. Sometimes it takes a little more force to cut it tougher stuff. But for an everyday or camping application, It should work fine. Better edge retention than 420, 440A, AUS-6, AUS-8. Has good corrosion resistance and is pretty easy to resharpen. I put a wicked edge on mine with a Lansky sharpening system and it has held well.
 
It will depend on the HT. 440C was the gold standard for few years, but wonder metals have superceeded it. The knives I have in it show great corrosion resistantance.
 
I've only used an AUS8 Boker Trance but it's done well for the steel used.
 
nemesis27 said:
On a 440C knife, comparable to 1095 or worse? Im curious as I was wanting to pick up a "cheaper" knife for an EDC to throw into my rotation. However I do use my knives everyday to cut garden hosing, felt weed barrier, cardboard, plastic ties, limbs (trees, not people : p) and I cut these everyday for roughly oh...an hour of actual cutting time.

I know some of these cheaper steel take an edge quick however I know alot of them lose it just as quick. I have a few "surgical steel"/440X (x meaning im not sure which) by S&W and a Gerber Profile that actually holds up pretty darn good in comparison to my 154cm knives, must have got a special one.

Anyhow what do you think about this common steel?

PS Boker is the brand im looking at if that makes a difference in the HT of the steel.
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Knives with "440 stainless" blades are usually 440A, not 440C. 440A has much poorer edge retention than 440C. A lot of the S&W knives are made in China from Chinese steels, which I am told have much more variability in performance from lot to lot of steel from the foundry.

True 440C holds an edge in the same class as 154CM or VG10, though it may be a half step behind them. The edge retention of 440C is a definite full step beyond that of AUS8.

IMO the Boker heat treat is less of a question than whether they are actually using 440C. If it is actual 440C, I don't think you will be disappointed in the performance.
 
440C is a great steel. It's pretty much the same thing as ATS-34, and just below VG10, 154CM and other mid to higher-end steels.

Overall, 440C won't disappoint!
 
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