I recommended AUS8. Did I...

I have not been impressed with CRKTs AUS8.

Holds an edge like it is made of some type of silver cheese.
 
AUS-8 has worked fine for me at med. to light use, fairly inexpensive. I do like the upper end steels very well also. For big blades I lean toward the high carbon steels but I do live in an arid enviroment.
 
I've Owned lots of Sog's in my time, and never really noticed them to be bad. I HAVE a seal pup that I beat the hell out of, with no damage.
It is a great steel at an affordable price. Just sometimes our tastes become more refined and higher priced. I've had S30V chip on me, and have never had that problem with an Aus 8. Not downing either, just sharing my experiences.
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Wow...those are really nice SOG'S. Thanks for sharing the information. I haven't had any problems with my SOG Team either. :)
 
cgmblade said:
I recently acquired a Ka-Bar Dozier folding hunter and so far my experience has been different from yours. I've used it to cut/whittle wood and it performed very well and held a good edge. There was a slight amount of rolling in places but it cleaned up beautifully with just a few passes on the Sharpmakre.

In fact it didn't seem to be any more prone to rolling than knives with 154cm or VG-10 that I tested alongside it. Those knives also had some very minor rolling that cleaned up quickly.

I know that AUS-8 is softer steel than 154cm, VG-10, or S30V, but I still think it is a good quality steel for general purpose use. I'm not sure having a super hard steel is all that advantageous. They are hard to sharpen and more prone to chipping. It's a lot easier to clean up a rolled edge than it is to fix a chipped one.

For the $21.95 I paid for the Dozier I think it is a good knife. Sorry you aren't pleased with yours.

BTW, the edge on mine is 40 degrees.
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I completely agree. Cold Steel was making all his line of AUS- 8 steel and they cut cars in a half with his tanto ( and other ) knives. This is excellent steel in every way. 440 c is more fragile but easy to resharpen. S30V holds edge good, easy to resharpen, true stainless but somehow gets dull instantly and it won't cut at all ( butter knife dull ) and isn't tough. AUS- 8 and similar steels lose edge slowly and are more impact resistant ( Cold Steel tanto ).
 
It all really comes down to heat treatment. AUS8 will always be softer than the higher end steels, like so many have previously stated, but a company that has bad heat treatment on their steels will make an AUS8 that is far too soft. Although it won't chip on you, AUS8 may be a pain when you have a lot of cutting to be done since it will lose its edge pretty fast.

For me, I'd rather stick to VG10 and higher end steels in my folders. They are not too far out of my price range when compared with other folders that have AUS8. For really hard work, you should get a fixed blade, preferably in a strong carbon steel. Case in point - an Izula. The heat treatment for the 1095 of the Izula is top-notch. It's easy to sharpen, rarely chips and maintains an edge for a good long time. Plus you don't have to worry about anything breaking when you work it since it's just one solid piece of steel.
 
Ok steel, I wouldn't buy anything made with AUS-8 these days, though. This is 2009 and I have no reason to settle for anything less than 154CM, VG-10 or a good carbon or tool steel. We have plenty of great steel options these days for excellent prices.
 
AUS8 is a very good steel in my past experiences, never had one bit of trouble with it, sharpens up quickly taking a extremely sharp edge, and holds an edge respectfully well.
 
Its interesting to me that Buck uses 420HC steel throughout their line of knives and "everyone" seems to agree that the Buck folding hunter is a great "proven" knife.

Also the food (fish and meat) processing industry doesn't use the costly super steel blades. Most use Victorinox (forschner) and Victorinox doesn't use super steel either.

I like to see a real quantified cutting comparison of knife blade steel.

Is the super steel syndrome is a unnecessary hoax and gimmick?
 
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Just from my own, personal (heavy) use of lots of different knives in lots of different steels, I don't think there's any question that the "super steels" perform better. But here's where a lot of people miss the boat: That doesn't mean that the other steels are somehow pieces of junk that are no good for anything. They're still perfectly serviceable.
 
Super! Love all the info..Ill def look into the high carbon and S30V you guys talk about! Seems a good way to go. Take care! :thumbup::D
 
I've never had a problem with SOG's AUS8. CRKT's AUS6 didn't hold an edge very long (but never chipped out, even when I did dumb stuff). AUS8 is a fine steel for most day to day uses. Unless you are going to be cutting cardboard all day long or hammering on it you should be okay.

Frank
 
Question, steel gurus. I always thought that softer steels to a degree were better for hard use as these steels would be more prone to roll at the edge instead of chip, but apparently this is not the case as I have read in this post the back and fourth over AUS8.

Have I been wrong in my thinking or is the softer steel (to a degree) theory I've latched on to correct? If it is correct then a softer steel like AUS8 that has been properly heat treated should be good for a harduse knife such as the SOG pup is intended for? Am I on the right tract or again is my thinking off base?

Thanks in advance
 
MikeC said:
Question, steel gurus. I always thought that softer steels to a degree were better for hard use as these steels would be more prone to roll at the edge instead of chip, but apparently this is not the case as I have read in this post the back and fourth over AUS8.

Have I been wrong in my thinking or is the softer steel (to a degree) theory I've latched on to correct?
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You really don't want a knife blade made out of "soft" steel, meaning its hardness (or "softness") as measured on the Rockwell scale.

For a hard use knife, it's not so much a matter of whether a steel is "soft".

Instead, it's a matter of whether a steel - by its very chemical composition - is "tough".
"Toughness" in a steel means, in general terms, that it's resilient.
As an extreme example, the steel often used in jackhammer bits (S-7) is not necessarily "soft", but it's very "tough".

(There's much more to be said about "softness", "toughness", and other attributes of blade steel; this is only a very brief description.)
 
There was a time when Cold Steel used to claim that their AUS 8 used in their Tantos made in Seki City, Japan were hardened in a vacuum furnace and cryogenically ("sub-zero") quenched. I know recently they claimed this was done on the VG1 steel in the Konjo I bought and they even claimed the sub-zero quenching on the 420HC they were using.

I have seen data where cryogenic quenching, when correctly done, can give up to a fivefold increase in wear resistance over standard room temperature quenching in steels like A2, D2, and 52100. So won't this allow you to create an AUS 8 knife that will outperform a higher end steel knife that is conventionally heat treated?
 
cabala said:
I completely agree. Cold Steel was making all his line of AUS- 8 steel and they cut cars in a half with his tanto ( and other ) knives. This is excellent steel in every way. 440 c is more fragile but easy to resharpen. S30V holds edge good, easy to resharpen, true stainless but somehow gets dull instantly and it won't cut at all ( butter knife dull ) and isn't tough. AUS- 8 and similar steels lose edge slowly and are more impact resistant ( Cold Steel tanto ).
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I find your description of S30V at odds with my experiences---completely at odds.

I like AUS 8 when it's done well. My Beretta Loveless Hunters (made by Moki) are AUS8 and they are just amazing cutting devices. I loved this knife so much that when a stray dog ran away with mine I bought four of them just so I would never be without one again.
 
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