I recommended AUS8. Did I...

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 dunno, I literally shredded a number of catalogues with my Strider SMF (S30V) and it was still shaving sharp when I was done.

AUS8A is a very good steel, it's tough, takes an amazing edge. :D

Also Cold Steels VG-1 is about the same in performance as S30V in my experience. It's very tough, holds an edge for a very long time and it will take a bleeding sharp edge like S30V will.
 
i have all the exotic steels,too,but i am impressed with the cold steel recon 1 in aus-8a. it has proven to be wickedly sharp, blowing through everything i cut with it with little effort,& holding a good edge.i hacked through a huge bunch of peppermint plants with little effort. they can sometimes be a bit tough.plastic tubing & heavy cord are real easily cut as well.if heat treated & ground well, its a great steel...
 
goldie said:
i have all the exotic steels,too,but i am impressed with the cold steel recon 1 in aus-8a. it has proven to be wickedly sharp, blowing through everything i cut with it with little effort,& holding a good edge.i hacked through a huge bunch of peppermint plants with little effort. they can sometimes be a bit tough.plastic tubing & heavy cord are real easily cut as well.if heat treated & ground well, its a great steel...
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Yeah I have 2 of them and they do a great job. :D
 
I have been edcing two AUS-8 blades recently. Al MAr Eagle Ultralight and Cold Steel Large Espada. I have not had to sharpen either one in several weeks of use. YMMV.
 
elkins45 said:
I loved this knife so much that when a stray dog ran away with mine......
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ROTFLMAO!!:D:D I'd just love to hear the whole story on that one!:thumbup: Must have been the same dog that kept eating my homework in school! I bet he was testing how well your knife could push cut my term papers.:p

P.S. It's ok. I bet the wife doesn't check the forums.;)
 
cabala said:
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.
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Yes. S30V holds an edge forever, is very corrosion resistant, and is considered a tough blade steel, however, it loses its edge rather quickly, rusts overnight, and chips like mad.:rolleyes:
 
3Guardsmen said:
ROTFLMAO!!:D:D I'd just love to hear the whole story on that one!:thumbup: Must have been the same dog that kept eating my homework in school! I bet he was testing how well your knife could push cut my term papers.:p

P.S. It's ok. I bet the wife doesn't check the forums.;)
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I had used the knife to dress and then skin a deer, so it was covered with dried blood and a big clump of cooled, hardened fat. I made the mistake of leaving it on the tailgate of my truck overnight rather than taking it inside to clean it. The next morning it was gone but the sheath was still there.

I live in the middle of nowhere, so there's little chance someone drove up the lane and took my knife in the middle of the night (a person wouldn't have left the sheath either) so my conclusion was that a dog was attracted by the blood and fat and ran away with it. It must have been one lucky dog to not slice its mouth and tongue to bits!

I fully expected to drive over it with the mower somewhere out in the yard the following spring, but I've never seen it since.
 
I have extensive use of AUS-8 and it is a serviceable steel. Not AUS-4 and AUS-6, those lose edge quite easily.
 
I bought a SOG Trident in 1988.It has a 6"AUS8 blade,and a black paper micarta handle w/white spacers.It has been a truly great knife,my son has it now.My tastes have moved on a bit,but that does'nt make the knife any less useful.It's mundane AUS8 steel was my favorite at that time.I still would pack that blade and not feel it was inadequate.
 
GRIM 62 said:
It's mundane AUS8 steel was my favorite at that time.I still would pack that blade and not feel it was inadequate.
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AUS8 is by no means an "inadequate" steel. It's a good, mid-level steel that has the great attribute of being able to take a super sharp edge.
It just doesn't hold that edge as long as the "better" blade steels, in my experience.
 
I have been EDCing (primarily) a first generation Spydy endura se for over 10 years,
lots of hard use military, hiking, field food prep (professionally) in AUS 8 . I have lots of other knives with "better" steels but I keep putting the old, sharp endura in my waistband. In the kitchen I now use a Russel carbon steel Chinese cleaver 20$
Most chefs would use very expensive Japanese or german Knives, I sharpen for 1 minute every day so I don't need fancy steels or snob appeal .Anyway AUS 8 Spyderco great steel.
 
I have not used Sog's AUS-8, but I like the way Cold Steel does it and love the way it works in Benchmade's Red class knives. BM seems to run it a little harder. I also used a Kershaw Vapor II in AUS-6 for years and it held an edge very well with a highly polished finish. It is supposed to be a step below AUS-8.
 
Thanks, Elkins45, for the story on it!:thumbup: Your conclusion sounds logical to me. For some reason, when I read your initial post, I pictured a saavy dog, with a keen eye for decent knives, wandering up to you, grabbing the knife out of your hand and running off. I also pictured you jumping over your balcony and giving chase, just as Zobair Barry would have done.:D
 
3Guardsmen said:
Thanks, Elkins45, for the story on it!:thumbup: Your conclusion sounds logical to me. For some reason, when I read your initial post, I pictured a saavy dog, with a keen eye for decent knives, wandering up to you, grabbing the knife out of your hand and running off. I also pictured you jumping over your balcony and giving chase, just as Zobair Barry would have done.:D
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Wouldn't Zobair Barry have just scratched it up really bad and then ran away?
 
mordi said:
I have been EDCing (primarily) a first generation Spydy endura se for over 10 years,
lots of hard use military, hiking, field food prep (professionally) in AUS 8 . I have lots of other knives with "better" steels but I keep putting the old, sharp endura in my waistband.
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If you have 2 knives which are identical - except that one has a serrated edge and the other a plain edge - and use them for an equal length of time,
the serrated edge knife will continue "cutting" more effectively than the plain edge knife.

AUS8, mostly because of its middling carbon content, just doesn't hold its initial edge as long as various other types of blade steel.
(One of the reasons that Spyderco now uses VG-10 rather than AUS8 in the Endura.)
 
I remember a thread a while back which asked about AUS8 and my take on it was from 3 different companies in which I had used knives from:

SOG:
Edge sharpness: 10
Edge Holding: 7

Cold Steel:
Edge Sharpness: 9
Edge Holding: 6

CRKT:
Edge Sharpness: 8
Edge Holding: 5

SOG has a very nice heat treat (cryogenic process) and their edges hold for quite a long time, example being the SOG Trident folders. Cold Steel makes some unbelievable locks and blades and I've always been very happy with their Recon-1 folders. CRKT uses AUS8 as their "high end" steel to keep their prices down, but they never seen to hold an edge for anything once put to use.

Now, to throw a monkey wrench into the mix, Bucks 420HC seems to be as good or better than SOG's AUS8 :p It's all in the heat treat and blade angle :)
 
elkins45 said:
Wouldn't Zobair Barry have just scratched it up really bad and then ran away?
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Yes, he would have. Had that dog followed his example, you'd still have your knife, albeit a "defaced" one.:D If you ever catch that dog, send him to gaol!!:p
 
AUS8 is a bit soft for my taste, I prefer CPM 154 or S30V over it any day. D2 aswell.
 
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