Ideal fixed blade steel?

J

JDX

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Mar 2, 2014
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I see people throw around 1095 or some variant steel for fixed blades. Is there anything better? Stronger, more durable? It would be used around camp, brought with me hiking/backpacking/hunting. Would be used for batoning small logs for kindling? Splitting branches to mark paths, and other heavy duty tasks. Not that I have an issue with 1095, but its just boring I guess.
 
Lol, why do you say 1095 is boring? It's a fantastic steel with excellent edge retention if properly heat treated. Yes, it does require a little maintenance such as oiling and care, but as far as its price to performance ratio, it's one of the best steels out there.
 
L6 is definitely a contender, also 1084 if you want to trade a bit of hardness for more toughness in longer blades.

L6 is especially tough because of the bainite microstructures that are found in the steel.
 
Try Swamp Rat's SR-101.

P.S. If 1095 bores you you'd be comatose around some of my favorite 440-x knives.
 
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Money not being an issue, I'd go with CPM3V or INFI.
On the more budget side, 52100 is regarded as an excellent steel, as is L6.
5160 is very tough, but lacks edge retention compared to 1095.
 
I have no qualms with 1095, and actually don't have much experience with any other carbon styles (sk5, 1095, 1095 crovan, and L6). I can say of those, L6 is the least corrosion resistant, and 1085 crovan is the most.

That said, I hear CPM - 3V is great (crazy toughness, like 3x tougher than 1095, according to some charts anyway). I hear great things about INFI too (apparently it's fairly similar to cpm- 3v, with an edge in toughness).

A2 is another one that I'm quite interested in. It sounds like it is somewhere midway between 1095 and cpm 3v, but is much cheaper.
 
EChoil said:
Try Swamp Rat's SR-101.

P.S. If 1095 bores you you'd be comatose around some of my favorite 440-x knives.
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That's funny! :)

(especially because my favorite knife is made with 440C)

And I love my Becker BK-9 in 1095 CV - it is lovely steel.
 
There are so many really good steels available today that it's almost ridiculous. CPM-3V is my overall favorite.

ocnLogan said:
A2 is another one that I'm quite interested in. It sounds like it is somewhere midway between 1095 and cpm 3v, but is much cheaper.
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That's a reasonable way to look at it. :thumbup:
 
Humble 1070 is used in a lot of hard-use tools, such as machetes, shovels and my Ivan Campos Scandi...
 
D2 is very corrosion resistant for a carbon steel, some even call it"semi stainless". It also has great edge retention. Is downside is that it is not a very tough steel, so it is fairly brittle. For that reason it is mostly found in smaller hunting/skinning knives (holds an edge for a long time), but not found in many large chopper style blades.
 
Dacus_Nomadic said:
Lol, why do you say 1095 is boring? It's a fantastic steel with excellent edge retention if properly heat treated. Yes, it does require a little maintenance such as oiling and care, but as far as its price to performance ratio, it's one of the best steels out there.
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I said it's boring because it's all I see. You're not going to buy a bunch of the same type of shoe. (Weird example, but whatever). Which is why I asked this question.
 
I have knives in D2, O2, ATS-34, 440C, and 1095 as well as a couple of the newer somethingCrVMo designations.

I like all of them. If I could only have one, it would be D2. But I am happy for the variety.
 
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