INFI vs CruWear vs SR-101

[AriesTheCam]

This is good info. I have always meant to pick up a knife in one of the S??V's.

I was wondering if anyone else here has any experience with some of the more exotic stuff.. like enough to make comparisons between some really high dollar ones. I have been eyeballing the Para 3 in S110V, the Spyderco Police 4 lightweight in K390, and a Para 2 (I think) in both Maxamet and Rex45

I also want something in REX 121, 4V, AND Vanadis.

Niolox sounds super cool at thin levels. I saw a video of a guy bending the edge with no damage at like filet knife thickness. It was super im pressive (I think it was this steel.. I'm currently trying to find the video)

 

[nattynarwhal]

This is good info. I have always meant to pick up a knife in one of the S??V's.

I was wondering if anyone else here has any experience with some of the more exotic stuff.. like enough to make comparisons between some really high dollar ones. I have been eyeballing the Para 3 in S110V, the Spyderco Police 4 lightweight in K390, and a Para 2 (I think) in both Maxamet and Rex45

I also want something in REX 121, 4V, AND Vanadis.

Niolox sounds super cool at thin levels. I saw a video of a guy bending the edge with no damage at like filet knife thickness. It was super im pressive (I think it was this steel.. I'm currently trying to find the video)

K390 and Rex 45 from Spyderco are heat treated for strength. Both can take extreme BTE thicknesses and edge angles, but are not stainless and will rust if not cared for. S110V will probably cut as long as k390, but is stainless and nowhere near as tough. It's also heat treated to 62-63 HRC allegedly, so it won't have the strength to take thinner edges like the rex 45 and k390 which are heat treated to the 65-66 HRC range. All three of those steels are good stuff, and rex 45 especially is a treat since it's easier to sharpen than the others, and is extremely resilient against chipping and rolling. Seems to be an upgrade over M4 in every way for the average user. Check out triplebhandmade on YouTube for his tests on Spyderco's rex 45 and k390... extremely impressive stuff.

 

[AriesTheCam]

K390 and Rex 45 from Spyderco are heat treated for strength. Both can take extreme BTE thicknesses and edge angles, but are not stainless and will rust if not cared for. S110V will probably around as long as k390, but is stainless and nowhere near as tough. It's also heat treated to 62-63 HRC allegedly, so it won't have the strength to take thinner edges like the rex 45 and k390 which are heat treated to the 65-66 HRC range. All three of those steels are good stuff, and rex 45 especially is a treat since it's easier to sharpen than the others, and is extremely resilient against chipping and rolling. Seems to be an upgrade over M4 in every way for the average user. Check out triplebhandmade on YouTube for his tests on Spyderco's rex 45 and k390... extremely impressive stuff.

Very informative response. I'll take all that I to consideration for my next purchase. Rex45 is sounds pretty dang nice.

Any experience with its brother 121? I've heard that stuff is magic.

 

[AriesTheCam]

K390 and Rex 45 from Spyderco are heat treated for strength. Both can take extreme BTE thicknesses and edge angles, but are not stainless and will rust if not cared for. S110V will probably around as long as k390, but is stainless and nowhere near as tough. It's also heat treated to 62-63 HRC allegedly, so it won't have the strength to take thinner edges like the rex 45 and k390 which are heat treated to the 65-66 HRC range. All three of those steels are good stuff, and rex 45 especially is a treat since it's easier to sharpen than the others, and is extremely resilient against chipping and rolling. Seems to be an upgrade over M4 in every way for the average user. Check out triplebhandmade on YouTube for his tests on Spyderco's rex 45 and k390... extremely impressive stuff.

Also love triplebhandmade's stuff. He's really knowledgeable on all things sharpening. I don't think I've poked around in the section of his site on steels.

I wanted to get his course diamond stone, but he's sold out all the time.

I ended up going over to Japanese knife imports and bought their 300A Diamond stone with the flattening stone.

Oh and BTW.. If you haven't had the pleasure of using a really high end course stone you should.

It's life changing. Thing makes my insides smile

 

[nattynarwhal]

Very informative response. I'll take all that I to consideration for my next purchase. Rex45 is sounds pretty dang nice.

Any experience with its brother 121? I've heard that stuff is magic.

Rex 121 should in theory be the king of edge retention when it comes to steels. However, I personally don't consider myself skilled enough to use the k390/maxamet/rex 121 class of steels. A knife is only as good as the edge a user puts on it, and my sharpening skills probably aren't at a level where I would be able to bring out the best in those steels . That's why my favourite steels are CruWear, Magnacut, Vanax and Nitrobe77. Sure, these won't hold an edge like some of the more extreme steels, but they are a breeze to sharpen compared to the ones we were talking about and all of them (except vanax) can be heat treated to a very high Rockwell and so have the strength to hold extreme geometries (<0.01" BTE). Of course, the strength factor is why people love M4, Rex 45 and k390 to begin with. But they are a bit harder to sharpen and take skill to really shine imo.

Also love triplebhandmade's stuff. He's really knowledgeable on all things sharpening. I don't think I've poked around in the section of his site on steels.

I wanted to get his course diamond stone, but he's sold out all the time.

I ended up going over to Japanese knife imports and bought their 300A Diamond stone with the flattening stone.

Oh and BTW.. If you haven't had the pleasure of using a really high end course stone you should.

It's life changing. Thing makes my insides smile

Yeah I really really need one of the diamond stones. I was thinking of saving up a bit and getting one of the 3k Naniwa diamonds but those stones are expensive! Someday I'll be able to afford one of BBBs super vitrified diamond water stones

 

[AriesTheCam]

That's why my favourite steels are CruWear, Magnacut, Vanax and Nitrobe77.

Ohhh Nitrobe 77 was the steel I was thinking of earlier. Not Niolox.

There's a video of a dude on YouTube who ground Damasteel Nitrobe77 to an insane thinness and then like bent the blade across the corner of something and it was fine. I think it was under 10 thousands.. crazy. I was very impressed by that steels toughness at extremely thin grinds.

This video:

I saw that and spazzed. The only thing is finding a knife made if it that's not of a questionable source.

I found one dude on Ebay named alloysteelpro that seems to make knives out of extremely exotic steels. He had one of Nitrobe77 (apparently) afew months ago. Haven't checked since. I would love to get my hands on one from a well known maker though.

I bet that steel would make one hell of a fillet knife.

 

[nattynarwhal]

Ohhh Nitrobe 77 was the steel I was thinking of earlier. Not Niolox.

There's a video of a dude on YouTube who ground Damasteel Nitrobe77 to an insane thinness and then like bent the blade across the corner of something and it was fine. I think it was under 10 thousands.. crazy. I was very impressed by that steels toughness at extremely thin grinds.

This video:

I saw that and spazzed. The only thing is finding a knife made if it that's not of a questionable source.

I found one dude on Ebay named alloysteelpro that seems to make knives out of extremely exotic steels. He had one of Nitrobe77 (apparently) afew months ago. Haven't checked since. I would love to get my hands on one from a well known maker though.

I bet that steel would make one hell of a fillet knife.

Here's another demonstration of just how resilient nitrobe 77 is to chipping damage:

It's a pity that Erasteel stopped producing this steel. It has some amazing properties that no other steel on the market has other than maybe 52100. But that's not stainless like nitrobe 77

 

[AriesTheCam]

Here's another demonstration of just how resilient nitrobe 77 is to chipping damage:

It's a pity that Erasteel stopped producing this steel. It has some amazing properties that no other steel on the market has other than maybe 52100. But that's not stainless like nitrobe 77

Yeah.. I need some of that in my life for sure