"Re: If it don't rust don't trust it."
Originally posted by SilverFoxKnows
I find that this has carried over into my tastes in other knives as well.
I've been looking at the BK10 Crewman and TOPS Prairie Fox, both carbon steel.
Those are the only fixed blades that aren't khukuris to catch my eye.
Am I the only one to who feels compelled to go back to basics?
Frank
Naaw. If everyone felt this way we would still be using stone tools.
Can you just imagine what was first said about copper when it was first smelted and made into tools?
Look at the "Iceman" whom is now named Otzi and his copper axe.
The copper is much softer than a stone tool, but also less brittle and so apt to less chipping.
So is that why it was smelted, and at great cost because the process somehow produced arsenic that was hazardous to those people's health although they probably weren't aware of it?
Then came the addition of tin to the copper for bronze which made even a much more usable tool.
Then someone discovered how to smelt iron. How about a knife or tool made from pure, or as pure an iron as could be smelted back then?
It surely must've been better than bronze or we wouldn't have developed iron into steel.
Carbon is iron's friend, but can also be iron's enemy as a little of it in iron is good for tools like knives and such, but in large amounts, say 4% or 5% the iron becomes brittle and usless for a knife although I had rather have a knife made from cast iron than I would one made out of copper, not so sure about bronze as I don't know what its performance may be like even though I do know some bronze is dayumed tough to machine.
I do speak from experience when I say a cut from cast iron is a whole lot nastier than a carbon steel knife material, at least they were/are on me.
There is a place in today's world for stainless steel knives and other similar tools and it has improved leaps and bounds over the years.
Everyone I'm sure recalls the crappy cheap stainless that knives were first made of when stainless made its debut.:barf:
(I had an old Japanese Fishing Knife that was so soft it would load up a file similar to copper!!!!:barf: It was nigh impossible to get an edge on and when you did it wouldn't last.)
In today's world I would and do much prefer a whole lot of various foods that has been prepared in stainless cooking utensils compared to the old cast iron, although for certain things the old cast iron cannot be surpassed.
(Aluminium is a whole 'nother subject as far as health is concerned and in my opinion it should
Never be used as a surface for cooking acidic foods such as tomato sauce and s
similar!!!!)
For instance a really good long simmered spaghetti sauce cooked in a cast iron pot develops a flavor I just don't really care for, although I have to admit the iron content may be helpful for people that doesn't get a lot of iron in their diet from other sources.
To me the stainless cookware much surpases the old cast iron!!!!
The same is true for kitchen stainless knives.
Such kitchen knives as the famous Old Hickory Brand that was/is made from a good quality of high carbon steel makes some foods cut with them have a nasty flavor compared with the same food being prepared with a stainless blade.
So, like most things there are many pros and cons about carbon versus stainless knives and other similar tools but in the end both have their place where they excell.
I don't believe that one is superior to the other.
Just different.
