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

Texas_toothpick said:
I would like to try a scandi just to give it a shot. I've never used one, I think it'd be nice to give a try doing a try stick or making a spoon.
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Not sure if Guy will ever make one but maybe the 4.7 will do the job.
 
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Ha ha! I know, just saw a chance for a friendly jab :) :devilish:

(Dang, no stick-poking icon)
 
See, you get it! I imagine sometimes Ellie wishes we liked her a little less :D

Sorry for the sidetrack, now back to your regularly scheduled programming :)
 
Well, this has been a great read. I'm still crying broke, only to find another knife that I want. Damn, I love BladeForums.
 
I have more experience with 3V than INFI, S!K than Busse. I only owned one Busse, a Team Gemini, and sold it soon after I purchased it. It was just more knife than I wanted or needed...

Everything in life is a compromise, with pros and cons. To me, S!K and 3V are a better fit with my needs. But Busse makes a SUPER knife and I think that INFI is a spectacular steel.

To put it another way, if the zombies attacked tomorrow and the only knife I had was a Busse, I would consider myself a lucky guy. I would consider myself SLIGHTLY more lucky if I had a S!K, but that is just my preference.

Cheers!
 
I have owned and used a lot of both. My anecdotal, non-scientific, personal experience (covering my ass here if you can't tell) is that 3V has a bit better wear resistance/edge retention than INFI, whereas INFI is a little more corrosion resistant.

I have and love my Busse's, but the fact is that for my uses (bushcraft-y) some of the Busse designs are cumbersome or just not suitable. I keep the ones that are usable for me, and re-sell those that aren't.
 
Skrapmetal said:
Have you never tried carving wood with one? The grind really shines there.
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Yeah, a little. With actual Scandinavian knives, and US approximations. Didn't see an advantage of the scandi over a good flat or saber grind, and they are less advantageous in other applications (food prep, game prep, which I have more use for). I still have several, but they rarely get used anymore.
 
rockspyder said:
Yeah, a little. With actual Scandinavian knives, and US approximations. Didn't see an advantage of the scandi over a good flat or saber grind, and they are less advantageous in other applications (food prep, game prep, which I have more use for). I still have several, but they rarely get used anymore.
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- That might be an interesting thread to start. I've recently purchased a scandi bushcrafter knife and I really like it. It's not going to do the heavy duty batoning, chopping, etc. that I can do with my 5 or 5.1 but it's quite a good cutter.
 
I like 3v a lot and I also like INFI. This is a fairly old thread but came a crossed it and wanted to chime in. A lot of knocking on BUSSE edge geometry and just want to note there are INFI slicers. As of now the 3 hunting knives I use the most are a BUSSE Culti, Bark River N. Star in 3v and Buck Woodsman 420hc. Between the INFI and 3v its a toss up for a hunting blade. Both hold an edge and put up with mucho use and strop back on a loaded strop to razor sharp. Bone contact, hide and hair both laugh at and keep cutting. I would challenge the statement that INFI edge retention equals 154cm. I do not have a lot of experience with 154cm so can't say that is wrong but that doesn't sound right on paper. Just joining the discussion and adding my perspective..... There's also a stainless Mora that fits in to rotation. But who doesn't have a trusty Mora.
 
I believe currently INFI is the toughest, then 3v , the SR-101/52100. Edge retention would be SR-101/52100 first, then CPM-3v, then INFI. corrosion resistance INFI, then CPM-3V, Then SR-101/52100.

That being said OP, if you check out my thread in S!K INFI may have a tough fight ahead of it for toughness.

CPM-3V seems like the best compromise between edge retention and toughness to me. Unless you plan on smashing your knife through concrete on a regular basis I would go with CPM-3V. There isn't anything that INFI is going to do in most situations that CPM-3V can't. SR-101 is a great steel also but is not as tough as CPM-3V or INFI and will rust very quickly if not properly maintained. I own blades in all three steels and I like CPM-3v the best.
 
I am really interested in what ZTuff does from ZAPP. I am a fan of companies for sure but when spending money I want performance over a name. ZTUFF may rival both INFI and 3v. But maybe not, also so far no one uses it and there's not a lot of info out there about it. Time will tell. One thing is for sure we are pretty lucky with the knife steels that are available to us today.
 
I know Miller Bros. Blades uses Z-wear PM and Z-tuff PM. They're custom and not production or even mid-tech, but out of the little I know, they're the only ones I've ever heard using those steels.
 
Silver Needle said:
I know Miller Bros. Blades uses Z-wear PM and Z-tuff PM. They're custom and not production or even mid-tech, but out of the little I know, they're the only ones I've ever heard using those steels.
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Is that their proprietary steel?
 
I don't believe it is proprietary at all, but I don't know a whole lot about it. I always learn more than I'm able to contribute to threads like this!
 
Its made by ZAPP I am pretty sure anyone can buy the stuff. I didn't know miller bros used it. Just checked them out. Cool stuff. Wish they had a better description of the steels they use.
 
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I don't get how some people say that a lower carbon steel will hold an edge as good as something with the same amount of carbon, and way more vanadium, that doesn't make sense. I'm guessing most haven't used either enough to actually see. I have used all 3 elk hunting, and can tell you infi and sr101 hold an edge no where near 3v with its vanadium content, and good heat treat. Not sure how many people have broken down an elk in the field. It's a tough job for any knife. And a true test of edge retention. I would take 3v easily over the other 2. Now if you like to stop, And resharpen as its getting dark on you, then the other 2 work just fine, and infi is much easier to resharpen than 3v, less carbides!!!!! Toughness would go to infi, as that's more what it's designed for, then 3v, then 52100. For a "survive style knife" infi is good, but I still prepare 3v.
 
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