Is there a reason there are no carbon steel folding knives?

W

Waldamir

Joined
Jun 30, 2012
Messages
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I know there are some slip joints that are in carbon steel but how come we never see any company's like kershaw or spyderco making folders in carbon steel. I would trade s30v for 1095 carbon any day. I was just wondering if there is a good reason why no one makes modern folders in carbon steels
 
rust. the steel can rust in the warehouse or in the box or on the user. 1095 also needs a fast quench, which means chemicals to store and dispose of, plus more issues in bulk heat treat. and then there is performance.
 
hardheart said:
rust.
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Thats a good point but we do have coatings plus some people i know oil there stainless steel to prevent rust as part of regular maintenance. im not saying there's anything wrong with the stainless steels they use but I think some of the benefits of carbon outweigh their stain resistance or lack there of
 
Moreover, if you process carbon steel on the same equipment used to process stainless steel, you can contaminate the stainless and have rust problems on that. Not good.
 
knarfeng said:
Moreover, if you process carbon steel on the same equipment used to process stainless steel, you can contaminate the stainless and have rust problems on that. Not good.
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With that being said i guess being seprate machines for carbon and stainless would bring price up
 
with that said, there are makers of carbon steel folding knives. this had been discussed in the past and a few makers came up, none of whom I can remember haha sorry. besides the typical slipjoints by case, gec, etc... the svord peasant had a carbon blade, but it's not exactly modern.

of course there are plenty of non stainless, tool steel blades made by modern companies like spyderco, benchmade, etc... the super blue blades you can find in some spyderco knives sound like they behave like more simple carbon steels, though they have more alloying elements if I remember correctly.
 
there are custom makers who work in carbon steels who won't exactly break the bank. they are usually more traditional, but these Michael Morris friction folders can be operated with one hand and are sexy to boot. (made from old files, so they might be considered tool steel, not simple carbon?)

confucius37 said:
I'll just leave these here :D :p

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Kershaw uses CPM-D2 on some of their composite blade knives. Also, the Alabama Damascus they use is made of carbon steels. Spyderco uses CPM-M4 on various models. I think the Opinel cabon steel knives use 1095, if you were looking for that steel specifically.
 
I would like a fully modern locking knife in a carbon steel like 1095, I'm talking one-handed opening... I just like the character carbon blades can develop, you don't really get that with stainless.
 
TotalDbag said:
It's LE, but still


And IIRC the Scallion is 420HC
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420hc is stainless.

Goosey said:
I would like a fully modern locking knife in a carbon steel like 1095, I'm talking one-handed opening... I just like the character carbon blades can develop, you don't really get that with stainless.
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look at the spyderco knives in Super Blue steel, they will stain up as easily as 1095 and keep a screaming edge to boot. I believe they have done the Caly, Caly 3.5, and are coming out with the stretch and Delica in this steel.

technically cpm m4 will stain up too, but it is much more resistant than 1095 and the like. the natural patina that develops is very light unless you force it.
 
The question gets confusing when folks use the wrong terms.

There is stainless
There is low alloy steel.
There is non-stainless High alloy steel.
There is Carbon steel.

None of these terms is actually interchangeable.

D2 actually qualifies as "Stainless"

Case CV and KaBar 1095 Cro-Van alloys are "low alloy steel".

CPM M4 is "high alloy non-stainless".

1095 is "carbon steel".
 
good info, I generally only narrowed it down to three, even though I knew low alloy steels like CV were technically different, they behave enough like 1095 so I tend to lump them in as carbon.

is super blue a low or high alloy steel? I know it stains like a low alloy, but that's not all there is to it.
 
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