INFI vs SR101

mckrob

mckrob

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Question from a newbie: can someone give me a quick and dirty comparison between INFI and SR101? which SRKW models are INFI and which are SR101 ? Thanks in advance !
 
infi-coot is the only infi srkw knife, the rest are sr101.

i think that you would have to be REALLY hard on a knife to notice the difference between the two steels. i've never heard anyone give a reason as to why infi is better than sr101 other than it is more stain resistant.
 
There's a whole database of comparison info on http://swampshack.com/. Click on the "Steel FAQ" tab at the top of the page.

Like Swizzle said the Bandicoot is the only one that was ever made of INFI; and that was an error. It's called the INFICoot.

The concensus seems to be that the average user would never notice a difference in performance under "normal use". It's under extreme performance tests that notable differences have arisen, and in those cases intentional destruction was the stated goal.

I'm a novice myself, but what I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) is that the heat treat protocol is the same for Busse INFI, Swamp SR-101, and Dog SR-77. The 40+ hours of heat treating and cryo-treat that the steels go through make the steel perform far above others. I've come to think that it's not the steel as much as the heat treating the steel is given. I say this because the early Busse's that were A2 and 51600 are amazing performers, and so isn't the D2 that some Rats were made of. These out-perform other knives of the same steel (A2, D2, etc.) So it begs the question: "Is it the steel, or the company's heat treating protocal." I'm guessing the latter.
 
I think your right about the heat treat being more important than most people realize. Fallkniven experimented with infi and did not find it that impressive.
I would say Sr77 for toughness SR101 for edge retention and infi for both.
 
Unsub said:
I think your right about the heat treat being more important than most people realize. Fallkniven experimented with infi and did not find it that impressive.
I would say Sr77 for toughness SR101 for edge retention and infi for both.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that INFI was proprietary to Busse. How did Fallkniven get it to use? Did they purchase it from Busse? I have to confess I'm skeptical of your claim.
 
XMP said:
I was under the impression that INFI was proprietary to Busse. How did Fallkniven get it to use? Did they purchase it from Busse? I have to confess I'm skeptical of your claim.
Click to expand...

They got it by borrowing my Fusion Battle Mistress. After felling a forest and leaving it in the mud for the winter said they were disappointed how the blade dulled out a little and had developed a tinge of rust on the tip. :rolleyes:
 
Unsub said:
I think your right about the heat treat being more important than most people realize. Fallkniven experimented with infi and did not find it that impressive.
I would say Sr77 for toughness SR101 for edge retention and infi for both.
Click to expand...

I also want to know where you got that info?

I'll ask Peter H :) If he has some old F1's in INFI i must have one! :D
 
I've never heard of such, and yes INFI is a proprietary steel. I'd love to see where this "test" is.
 
Falkniven may have gotten an INFI blade, but if I was them I would not want to make that comparison, because I for one would easily spend the money on a falkniven to show everyone how much better INFI is. I have owned several A-1's and they were good knives with very sharp factory edges. The blade geometry was no where near as good for cutting because they were sabre ground and much thicer all the way down to the edge. INFI is leaps and bounds better in toughness and resistance to chipping. Wear is similar as is edge holding, but INFI sharpens way easier.

But I'd like to hear who at Falkniven said that so I can personally meet them at Blade. We can then do a nice big comparison in front of many onlookers and then post it on BF and KF to show which is better. I think that should stop any craptalking. And by all means, lets make sure we include all the other crap talkers on-line. There are many and I will have a few blades.
 
not to hijack but how does the abrasion resistance and edgeholding of infi and sr101 compare? I assume infi's ductility makes it a better chopper, but how about cutting abrasive materials like cardboard or carpet?
 
BlondieAlmostEdge said:
not to hijack but how does the abrasion resistance and edgeholding of infi and sr101 compare? I assume infi's ductility makes it a better chopper, but how about cutting abrasive materials like cardboard or carpet?
Click to expand...

INFI has way more abrassion resistance than SR101 or 52100. It has more alloys making it much more wear resistant. SR101 is more wear resistant than SR77 but no where near as tough.

It isn't INFI's ductility. It is INFI's toughness that makes it a better chopper. Ductility ad toughness are not direct relationships. A tough steel can be ductile, but a ductile steel does not necessarily have to be tugh.
 
I heard it on the Fallkniven forum.
I doubt Jerry actually rented a foundry and developed a knife steel on his own.
More likely he found a really good steel being used for some other purpose and bought the rights to be the sole knifemaker using it. I belive Fallkiven tried it before Jerry did. I like their knives but not as much as I like the Busse family's.
They are what I recomend to people who don't like the way you have to buy
Busse knives
 
Link?? Quote?? Anything other than supposition?

I've not found anything yet in my searches, a little help would be much appreciated.
 
Unsub said:
Fallkniven experimented with infi and did not find it that impressive.
Click to expand...

The great thing about INFI is the COMBINATION of toughness, edge holding, and stain resistance. No other steel out there can match that combination. That having been said there are steels out there that offer better stain resistance, better edge holding, and even (gasp!) better toughness than INFI, they just don't offer the same combination of those attributes. Nevertheless, I don't see Fallkniven's VG-10 beating INFI in any category other than stain resistance.
 
Unsub said:
I heard it on the Fallkniven forum.
I doubt Jerry actually rented a foundry and developed a knife steel on his own.
More likely he found a really good steel being used for some other purpose and bought the rights to be the sole knifemaker using it. I belive Fallkiven tried it before Jerry did. I like their knives but not as much as I like the Busse family's.
They are what I recomend to people who don't like the way you have to buy
Busse knives
Click to expand...

First off, Falkniven never tried INFI before Busse, because he's the one that came up with it.

Second, there is no comparison. Falknivens are good for Stainless Steel blades, but they would never stack up against any good quality carbon steel blade or low chrome alloy steel blade like INFI, CPM3V, 52100, 5160, L6, etc. I would not recommend them. To those looking for Busse type blades at less money and more availability, I would recommend Ranger, HI, Scrapyard, etc.

Fact is Falkniven is not anywhere near INFI (not even second, third or fourth) in any comparison except corrosion resistance.
 
Cobalt said:
First off, Falkniven never tried INFI before Busse, because he's the one that came up with it.

Second, there is no comparison. Falknivens are good for Stainless Steel blades, but they would never stack up against any good quality carbon steel blade or low chrome alloy steel blade like INFI, CPM3V, 52100, 5160, L6, etc. I would not recommend them. To those looking for Busse type blades at less money and more availability, I would recommend Ranger, HI, Scrapyard, etc.

Fact is Falkniven is not anywhere near INFI (not even second, third or fourth) in any comparison except corrosion resistance.
Click to expand...

Anyway I really like my Fallknivens in 3G steel :thumbup:
 
Neo said:
Anyway I really like my Fallknivens in 3G steel :thumbup:
Click to expand...

No slam against Falkniven, I think they may be the best Stainless Steel knives being made today. :thumbup:

But Unsub's absolutely rediculous suppositions had to be answered and he had to be corrected.:thumbup:
 
Unsub said:
I heard it on the Fallkniven forum.
I doubt Jerry actually rented a foundry and developed a knife steel on his own.
Click to expand...


Actually, that's pretty much what he did.

In a thread that was old when I read it 5 or so years ago, Jerry said he found a foundry fairly close by in N Ohio that could both do computer projections of different alloy combinations AND most important run off small batches to test rather than tons for minimums.

Unless someone saved it, I do believe it was lost when Spark redid the BF computers.

Rob
 
Unsub said:
I heard it on the Fallkniven forum.
I doubt Jerry actually rented a foundry and developed a knife steel on his own.
More likely he found a really good steel being used for some other purpose and bought the rights to be the sole knifemaker using it. I belive Fallkiven tried it before Jerry did. I like their knives but not as much as I like the Busse family's.
They are what I recomend to people who don't like the way you have to buy
Busse knives
Click to expand...


1. Yup, all on his lonesome... he's been playing with steels for eon's...
2. Nope - I've heard that they have tried INFI, but they wouldn't know where to start with Busse's 40+ hour heat and cryo treatment/tempering... hence why they wouldn't have gotten the performance out of it...


Jerry researched and developed INFI himself, and once he had it sussed, patented it or something, so no-one else use's it, although I believe in some of his older web pages (which are archived on the web) he mentioned that they 'may' look at allowing some other companies to use it... other than Scrapyard / Swamp Rat, I don't know who else would though!!!!


"but not as much as I like the Busse family's" :thumbup:
 
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