INFI and/or SR-101 vs 3v thoughts?

OBX351

OBX351

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I am sure we've covered this but I have a theory about INFI and I'd love to hear your opinions, good or bad for either. This group might be skewed but I'd still like to hear your thoughts. I'd even be interested to hear opinions about SR-101 vs 3V. Jerry B thinks it's as good as 3v and that INFI is better than both.
 
What is your theory about infi? I had an Infidu that didn't keep an edge like 3V for everyday/kitchen/outdoors use. It may be very tough when it comes to not chipping when chopping, but to me, its edge holding when talking about wear resistance was no better than A2. That may have been just my copy of that blade, but since I had so much 3V experience I was underwhelmed. I sold it. It never came close to the 5.1. I did just grab a SWATmandu, which won't replace my 5.1 as an outdoors kknife, but will replace the Gerber Strongarm on my body armor.

Had an SR 101 ratmandu as well. Same thing. Its a good knife and I love profile of the ratmandu, but the coating leaves me wanting. Sr 101 is just 52-100 or 52-100b with a great heat treat. Its a ball bearing steel. It stains very easily when compared to 3V. Remember that to really compare properties of a steel all other factors need to be standardized. Basically you need two of the exact knives with the only difference being the steel composition. Exact heat treat, hardness, grind and edge geometry. 3V at 57 will act different than 3V at 61 hrc.

I would be perfectly happy if I could only ever have 3V steel. For me it is the perfect blend of toughness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance.
 
And I bought the SWATmandu because I liked the look of the knife and where I may use it, I will require more resistance to chipping and less wear resistance. And I don't wanna f up my 5.1
 
I think anecdotally all 3 steels will perform beyond most peoples needs. That said, I love these kind of debates! I have knives in all 3 but have only extensively used the 3V from survive, and the only thing that has made it flinch was accidentally scrapping it laterally against a rock... that would happen with any steel, and Guy fixed it up great. This winter season I will get more use with all 3 steels and might have more to add, and I might even go crazy and pick up a couple more survive! knives with the new heat treat which could change hearts and minds even more...

So I guess I added nothing...haha...but am interested as well to see others experiences. :)
 
Infi is great for larger blades
I had a few rolls but no chips yet
3v is great for large med snd small blades no issues
SR101 is great stuff
 
I've really enjoyed my 3v knives. I just bought an infi but I haven't used it yet. This thread will be interesting.
 
Only experience I've had out of the three is 3v. So I can't contribute to the conversation but it is an interesting thread.
 
One thing i have noticed as I've trolled the Busse sub-forum and been involved in this one for a while, the two knives are so often cross shopped or purchased by the same customers. I would say that regardless of your feelings about Busse, if you are a newer company that has attracted the same customers as an older one with a rather loyal and rabid fanbase, thats a pretty damn good job! Tip-of-the-cap :) and as for my statement of being happy with any of them, I would say my enjoyment of the choil on my ASH-1 has changed my views on the 5.1, which bums me out because now I wish I had one on pre-order... and will have to try and spring on the first batch of available ones... something else that could be discussed is sharpening? that seems to be an area all 3 steels excel at but in various ways?
 
Edge retention from wear is not Infi's strong point.

It is great for large choppers that will see heavy hard chopping. But it won't hold an edge as long in say, paper cutting, or cardboard.


Busse does occasional runs at a higher hardness, and for smaller knives, this is the way to go!.

Toughness and rust resistance is where it shines.
 
P1040106.JPG


Sooner or later I'm going to get around to a thorough review of my Hog Muk, only INFI blade I own.

From what I've read on it, INFI has edge-retention in the realm of 154CM, no mean feat. Will it match 3V with all that vanadium? Probably not, but I've yet to see a thorough comparison of the two. Nevertheless, INFI seems a fine steel to use in smaller as well as larger blades. The biggest complaint I've heard about Busse knives, and Scrapyard and Swamp Rat as well, is that the edges are overly thick from the shop. I can attest to this personally regarding a SYKCO 511, Rodent 9, Ratmandu, HRLM, RS, and Mudd Mutt. But the SYKCO ScrapMax 460s and this Hog Muk came with excellent edges, e.g.:

P1040098.JPG


Some excellent slicing geometry right there :cool:

EVERY knife I've gotten from S!K has been razor sharp and relatively thin, even if a few could have benefited from even thinner geometry. I'd give the "edge" in factory sharpness to Guy. As for steel superiority, yet to be determined from my end. I will say that I liked the handle of RMD better than my early 5.1, but like the choil of the 5.1 better than the RMDs. I very much look forward to Guy's revisions. But I continue to own both S!K and Bussekin knives. Great companies :thumbup:
 
Interesting thread. I have an Infidu and I hear some not so great comments from a friend about Infi steel so having preordered a couple of Survive! knives I would really like to hear about all the opinions too from all the great folks here who have really put these steels to the test. I was still thinking of getting a regular RMD with SR-101 to try it out. I have to admit though that I am not a heavy user but merely a knife enthusiast so as what redwood22 said, these steels will perform beyond my needs. Nevertheless it is great info and good to know.
 
Chiral, I think we can credit you with putting the bug in Guy's ear to revise the handle design of his knives and give a little hump/drop to the spine side of the handles. And we can credit Busse and the RMD handle design as your inspiration for the revision. That review and comparison you did was one of the best damn knife reviews I have ever read.
 
All my experience has been on 3v. That being said, I just sold my older model S!5.1 because it just couldn't replace my Infidu or my BRKT Bravo 1. They seem to be about the same in edge retention thus far. Only stropped to retain shaving sharp.

On the flip side, my Rodent Solution can't hold a candle to my S!3.5 or even my BRKT Ultralight Bushcrafter.

I'm still debating on either the GSO 8 or 10....
 
Riz2530 said:
What is your theory about infi? I had an Infidu that didn't keep an edge like 3V for everyday/kitchen/outdoors use. It may be very tough when it comes to not chipping when chopping, but to me, its edge holding when talking about wear resistance was no better than A2. That may have been just my copy of that blade, but since I had so much 3V experience I was underwhelmed. I sold it. It never came close to the 5.1. I did just grab a SWATmandu, which won't replace my 5.1 as an outdoors kknife, but will replace the Gerber Strongarm on my body armor.

Had an SR 101 ratmandu as well. Same thing. Its a good knife and I love profile of the ratmandu, but the coating leaves me wanting. Sr 101 is just 52-100 or 52-100b with a great heat treat. Its a ball bearing steel. It stains very easily when compared to 3V. Remember that to really compare properties of a steel all other factors need to be standardized. Basically you need two of the exact knives with the only difference being the steel composition. Exact heat treat, hardness, grind and edge geometry. 3V at 57 will act different than 3V at 61 hrc.

I would be perfectly happy if I could only ever have 3V steel. For me it is the perfect blend of toughness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance.
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I think INFI mushes when hard used. It doesn't seem to fold like other metals, at least for me. I noticed it after some hard work with a few of my INFI knives. I totally agree with you. Busse Knives tend to be overbuilt, with the exception of some of their smaller knives like the INFI RMD. I've seen stress test videos and the INFI blades can take some abuse but at a 1/4" think they are going to be harder to break, but also unwieldy because of the weight. Still, I was disappointed after I found several of my INFI knives lost their edge faster than my 3v S!Ks after some hard use. I was also unhappy with the blade/edge profile. You have to re-profile them to get them to make finer/thinner cuts. I had my SR-101 re-profiled to about a 20% convex edge, similar to my S!Ks. So far it's cutting 100% better but we'll see how long it'll hold an edge.

I agree with you about 3v, though I am also starting to fall in love with 01. I am excited to see what Guy comes up with for his new SK series.
 
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pjandyho said:
I have to admit though that I am not a heavy user but merely a knife enthusiast so as what redwood22 said, these steels will perform beyond my needs. Nevertheless it is great info and good to know.
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Well said, I can totally relate. I'm definitely not a mountain man, but I can absolutely say I'm a knife and outdoors enthusiast. To say I'm a SURVIVE! enthusiast would be an understatement :)

Riz2530 said:
Chiral, I think we can credit you with putting the bug in Guy's ear to revise the handle design of his knives and give a little hump/drop to the spine side of the handles. And we can credit Busse and the RMD handle design as your inspiration for the revision. That review and comparison you did was one of the best damn knife reviews I have ever read.
Click to expand...
I have thought this several times since the physical models of the 5.1 and 4.7 have been teased. Between Chiral's assessments and impact on handle design and Rodger lobbying for the GSO 8, clearly Guy values the good ideas coming from our subforum :thumbup:
 
redwood22 said:
One thing i have noticed as I've trolled the Busse sub-forum and been involved in this one for a while, the two knives are so often cross shopped or purchased by the same customers. I would say that regardless of your feelings about Busse, if you are a newer company that has attracted the same customers as an older one with a rather loyal and rabid fanbase, thats a pretty damn good job! Tip-of-the-cap :) and as for my statement of being happy with any of them, I would say my enjoyment of the choil on my ASH-1 has changed my views on the 5.1, which bums me out because now I wish I had one on pre-order... and will have to try and spring on the first batch of available ones... something else that could be discussed is sharpening? that seems to be an area all 3 steels excel at but in various ways?
Click to expand...


Interesting that you bring up sharpening. My SR-101 RMD came back pretty quickly when I stroped it. It was hard to tell with my INFI knives because the blade angle. I think I may have accidentally re-profiled one of them. The angle was pretty shallow I believe. For me 3v was the hardest to bring back with a strop. But it also held an edge longer than the other two when I batoned seasoned oak and carved up a hard oak dowel.
 
The vanadium and chromium carbides that are present in 3V increase its wear resistance over something like 52-100. I believe that chromium is around 8% and vanadium around 3 in 3V. That's going to create a lot of extremely hard and fine carbides which are what make steel abrasion resistant and also corrosion resistant

52-100 has roughly 1.5% chromium and no vanadium. This is why it doesn't have the wear resistance or corrosion resistance of 3V
 
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