I Hate Stainless!!!!!

[Monocrom]

Except for some very limited applications... such as those display knives that I plan to close up in a display box and hang on the wall, I HATE stainless steel knives. What makes it worse is I have a hard time finding carbon blades.

Damn..... I'm not a huge fan of carbon steel, (rusts too easily; speaking from 1st-hand experience) but you don't see me making an entire topic about it!

Try one of the better stainless steels out on the market. My Spyderco Centofante III has a VG10 blade that hasn't failed me yet; and I seriously doubt if it ever will. :thumbup:

 

[ranger88]

Except for some very limited applications... such as those display knives that I plan to close up in a display box and hang on the wall, I HATE stainless steel knives. What makes it worse is I have a hard time finding carbon blades.

Amen brother. I feel the same way. carbon is just much easier to keep and edge on. Stainless is good to look at, but i just don't believe it should ever be put in a knife handle.

Now i know I'm gonna hear about rust, but there's nothing some sand paper and wd-40 wont fix. Give me a rusty Kabar and I'll be cutting and chopping with in no time :thumbup:

 

[buckg]

Now i know I'm gonna hear about rust, but there's nothing some sand paper and wd-40 wont fix. Give me a rusty Kabar and I'll be cutting and chopping with in no time :thumbup:

Well, I guess I can't argue with logic like that.

 

[ranger88]

I suppose i was going overboard a bit, but i was just making a point.

 

[ranger88]

I think all of us Old timers are just used to handling Carbon steel blades more than stainless. maybe it's just me, but i find SS hard to sharpen.

 

[Big Ugly Tall Texan]

Ihave never found a stainless blade that would take an edge as well asthe carbon blades from my youth. Especially, I recall my father's Case knives I have mentioned. He always kept those blades where they would shave large patches of hair from his arm with one light swoop.I have tried to reproduce and never been able to... except with carbon blades.

Also, I guess it's that I am an old fuddy duddy and hate change.

Besides, I figured it was a little slow around here and it was time to stir the pot a bit.

By the way, I also HATE automated answering systems. I keep waiting for an option that allows me to speak with a real live human being... and hopefully not some guy in Bangladesh.

 

[mnblade]

>"What makes it worse is I have a hard time finding carbon blades."

========================

A) Since you say carbon is so tough, you probably only need a few laying around to last you the rest of your life, right? For $100 or so, you should be set.

B) There's actually a good number of carbon steel pocketknives available. Check out Mooremaker. I believe Queen is releasing some knives in 1095. And Case's yellow and amber bone handle knives in CV steel are supposed to be excellent. There are tons of Old Timers on Ebay all the time. By the way, I think these Bokers -- or these are the best thing going these days for someone who insists on carbon steel.

 

[HARDMETAL]

I hate carbon steel because it gets rust easily & the strength is very good.
the best steel made knife is t1(18% w),i think.but it also get rust.
as carbon steel,tool steel & high speed steel get rust .
the stainless steel is developed ,now high quality stainless steel have certain good properties that like that of tools steel & hss.
so choose stainless steel for good knives should be s30v,60v,vg10,ats34 or some called super gold powder steel.

 

[gbaker]

By the way, I also HATE automated answering systems. I keep waiting for an option that allows me to speak with a real live human being... and hopefully not some guy in Bangladesh.

Every so often I find that by pressing 0, esp at beginning of messages, will take me straight to an operator. Whether they speak English well is another story.

By the way have you ever tried a tool steel?

 

[Hair]

Ihave never found a stainless blade that would take an edge as well asthe carbon blades from my youth. Especially, I recall my father's Case knives I have mentioned. He always kept those blades where they would shave large patches of hair from his arm with one light swoop.I have tried to reproduce and never been able to... except with carbon blades.

Quite simply, you need to look harder. If the high-end stainless steels cannot give you an edge that will shave hair with amazing ease and cut better than carbon steel, then you need to get better at sharpening. The high-end stainless steels tend to be much harder than most carbon steels, which makes them harder to sharpen.

If you said "I dislike stainless steel because it is too hard for me to sharpen" that would be one thing, but you have also called stainless steel junk. I think you just need to experience a good stainless steel such as S30V, VG10, BG42, ATS34, 154CM, or ZDP189.

Carbon steel is great too. It is very easy to sharpen, and can be very tough. But if you want shaving sharp, well, that is one thing stainless steel is actually better at. If you want to chop wood, that is where stainless steel can be inferior to carbon (generally, but not always). But for pure cutting and slicing, stainless is as good if not better than carbon in terms of taking a sharp edge, and holding it.

Also try tool steel.

 

[Doug C]

Haven't heard of too many Stainless blades doing well at Cutting Comps but I may be wrong.Everything in it's place.
There are some fine stainless blades as previously noted.

Doug

 

[flipe8]

I really don't know anything about cutting comps, and I even know less on what perfroms best at these comps. That said, competitions usually favour something at least somewhat speciallized, but that's not likely day to day applications. And if you, as a user, need something for a specific task, you'll likely be eliminating a whole bunch of things for that very reason. I really don't know how much better carbon is than SS in terms of pure cutting ability, but I do know if the pivot is rusted to the point of not being able to easily open the knife, it's of no use to me. If you use a knife to whittle or to skin game, you probably have the time to make sure the tool is ready for action. I don't do those things. I do, however, leave my work knife in my bunker gear for exenteded periods of time where it is exposed to water, sweat, soot, peat moss and whatever else might make it into my pocket. When I need the knife for any task, I probably need it now. How's the carbon going to hold up? My other work knife lives on my PFD and gets a fresh water rinse when I remember to do it. How would a stockman hold up living that life?
It's all about uses and there are better and worse tools for different needs.

 

[flipe8]

Ihave never found a stainless blade that would take an edge as well asthe carbon blades from my youth. Especially, I recall my father's Case knives I have mentioned. He always kept those blades where they would shave large patches of hair from his arm with one light swoop.I have tried to reproduce and never been able to... except with carbon blades).

Can't help you there other than to say ALL my SS knives will shave. I'd say it's either poor quality SS you've used or the sharpening technique needing some work.

 

[Big Ugly Tall Texan]

I will readily admit to not being the best knife sharpener on the planet. But, using the same techniques, I can ALWAYS get a better edge from a carbon blade than I can from a stainless blade.

Could it be that I somehow work a little harder on that carbon blade due to a subconscious prejudice against stainless? Quite possibly. But given a choice of two knifes, one stainless and one carbon, I will pick the carbon blade everytime.

And I never worry about rust since I don't abuse my knives. I seem to lose them more often than I like, but I don't abuse them.

 

[Ebbtide]

I do, however, leave my work knife in my bunker gear for exenteded periods of time where it is exposed to water, sweat, soot, peat moss and whatever else might make it into my pocket. When I need the knife for any task, I probably need it now. How's the carbon going to hold up? My other work knife lives on my PFD and gets a fresh water rinse when I remember to do it. How would a stockman hold up living that life?

Sounds like you need a knife that can stand to be neglected.
(Not that there's anything wrong with that)

I was taught to buy the best tools you can afford and to take care of them.

BUTT, as far as your sharpening skills go...there is nothing like practice, practice, practice.
And once you get it good and sharp, maintain the edge instead of using it to the point of butterknife dull.

 

[Hair]

Could it be that I somehow work a little harder on that carbon blade due to a subconscious prejudice against stainless? Quite possibly.

Two better explainations:

-You are good enough at sharpening to get a good edge on common carbon steel, but not high-end stainless steel. The same technique can be enough to get good results with one, but not the other.

-You have not used any high-end stainless steel that will take a good edge.

 

[flipe8]

Sounds like you need a knife that can stand to be neglected.
(Not that there's anything wrong with that)

I was taught to buy the best tools you can afford and to take care of them.

Yep, I was taught the same thing, but reality is rusting can happen in very short periods of time in harsh environments and some things can take "neglect" better than others. My EDC is cleaned every day, but it doesn't need to be just by the nature of its' material. I dropped a stainless on the beach during a landing and found it about an hour later and it was already rusting. Functional, but oxidation took place. I don't know how a carbon blade would've done.

 

[Boats]

The criticism of carbon steel in this thread makes me wonder how trappers and mountain men ever made it over the Continental Divide without their rifles and blades turning into crumbling lumps of orange-red iron oxide.

It's called maintenance folks, and it takes but a minute or two for knives and some thinking ahead for guns.

I live in western Oregon, which, if my perputal roof battle with moss is any indication, is as soggy as most anywhere inhabitable. I have two stainless locking folders and some SAKs, but the EDC is either an M2 or D2 blade from Benchmade, one of which is long since stripped of coating. My field knives are usually either a BRKT Gameskeeper, or a carbon Jarvenpaa puukko. These knives take a patina and then most concerns are over. I lightly smear the edge with a little olive oil so I can use these knives on food and I have never had a problem.

My hunting rifle is either a blue steel Remington with a wood stock or a Marlin .30-30 that go out no matter the weather.

It seems that wiping down the entire exposable surfaces of carbon steel with a Sentry cloth takes care of corrosion for the rifles. Stocks and forearm wood are removed in August and rubbed with wax to make them hydrophobic to prevent swelling.

Despite these precautions have I had some surface rust attacks over the years? Yep, it's inevitable because of human error if nothing else. However, any damage has been extremely cosmetic in nature and all of it easily corrected within moments of discovery.

One has to be extremely neglectful to let a carbon steel tool be compromised by corrosion. I guess those are the people whom the stainless market is aimed at.

 

[flipe8]

BUTT, as far as your sharpening skills go...there is nothing like practice, practice, practice.
And once you get it good and sharp, maintain the edge instead of using it to the point of butterknife dull.

I think you mis-read, my sharpening skills are good enough to keep all my knives good and hair-popping.

 

[Thomas Linton]

. . .
For a pocket folder, stainless is vastly superior, unless you like rust.
Stainless is excellent for folders. (quality stainless, that is) Wall hangers are made out of pure crap.
. . .

Another fan of the Stainless Steel Rat scifi series. no doubt.