Knives to avoid?

Its a tough, stainless steel, not unlike 425 Modified. I dislike its edge holding powers, but like the toughness in my BM42A:)

Not a good EDC steel for the discerning user.:(
 
Seriously, why waste the time to make a nice knife (meaning handle etc...) around a blade of 440a or some other junk. For my money, a super simple knife made of D2 or ATS-34 or another top steel beats the pants off a fancy-do model that won't cut
 
Originally posted by NFMee
Seriously, why waste the time to make a nice knife (meaning handle etc...) around a blade of 440a or some other junk. For my money, a super simple knife made of D2 or ATS-34 or another top steel beats the pants off a fancy-do model that won't cut

I agree! My current EDC is a Benchmade 806D2! :D

But even D2 isn't indestructable...I've already dulled the tip...:(
 
Originally posted by brownshoe
It's a good steel. I have an EKA and Benchmade Balisong in that steel. They hold a reasonable edge, very corrosion resistant and are easy to sharpen. The steel also is very flexible, perfect for a balisong where you may drop it on the concrete floor while practicing. I personally think Benchmade switched to 440C just due to the ignorance of the American customer.

You can't always compare steels by their elemental content, the heat treat and edge geometry is just as important as the steel type. The Sandivik steel has an excellent reputation in Northern Europe (and France) as a fair priced good performing blade steel. It also has a reputation of a steel that needs a good heat treatment for good performance.

Yeah.. i've talked to a few custom makers outside of North America who just swear by that steal... it doesn't seem to popular here tho. These makers sell knives around $100-$200US.. so they're on the lower end of the spectrum... one quote i got from one guy said that he would use 440C for the same price.. but he felt that Sandvik 12c27 was much more corrosion resistant and tougher, in his opinion the tradeoff for hardness was worth it.
 
Originally posted by W.T. Beck



It is a shame that there are alot of well-designed, well-made knives out there that use steels like 440A, Aus6, Aus8, etc. I was very tempted to get a SOG Trident until SOG admitted that it was made from Aus8 rather than 440C, as they had previously claimed.

YES!!! The Trident screams for 154CM...what in the hell were they thinking when they designed such a gorgeous knife and then turned it into a cheap whore??!! (And then they've got the audacity to charge over 200.00 for it.)
 
it is so funny how home shoping t.v. tries to tell us they will sell us 100 QUALITY knives for $100. when, indeed they are junk! go figure!
those two guys on late at night are hoot, though!
honestly, i wouldn't buy their 100 knives for a dime!


holdanedge.
 
Originally posted by Silver Puss
Undoubtedly the worst knife I own is a Boker Smatchet. Their Applegate-Fairbairn dagger is ok though.

I've seen photos of the Smatchet, but have never been able to heft one. What specifically don't you like about it? The steel (420HC isn't it), the design, the fit/finish?
 
mr. mutt i think you are an alright dude. but, sometimes i don't understand what you are trying to say! that i think is why so many "wars" start around here. and i don't mean just between you and me. when someone doesn't understand something someone is saying, why not ask for clarification instead of instantly getting mad?
ok, what i am doing here is asking you for clarification! why is any knife i want no good? i own and also want to own many good knives. some not so good! did you mean i am a stickler for quality and find faults with everything? if that IS what you meant, it is indeed so.
seeing as you put "lol" at the end of your post i figure you meant this in a joking way, so i will take it with a grain of salt in case you decide NOT to elaborate on what you meant.

thank you,
holdanedge.
 
Hi all,

A few bits I can add in here...

Bought 2 of the Cold Steel Black Bear Classics here in Australia a while back - one of the best designed fighting knives I've seen (originally a Bob Loveless design from memory) - and I love the subhilt style fighter anyway...

HOWEVER - both of them had LOUSY edge grinds and whats worse I found out later on that the heat treatment was *SH*T*... Out of the shop neither of them could hardly hold an edge:-( (I just assumed they had been there a 'long time'...)

Managed to track down some email addresses at Cold Steel and emailed them (about a year ago) - and still no reply to this day...

WORST case of ZERO customer service I've seen...

OBVIOUSLY don't fancy calling all the way to the US (from Australia) to try and get something done about this - I found out later on that Cold Steel themselves had been unhappy themselves with the first few runs of these knives because they were made in Taiwan and the consistency of quality just wasn't there - I believe they now make the Black Bear Classic in the US instead (which is fine for everyone else except ME - with $1200 Australian invested in two DUD Cold Steel knives...:-(

To be fair, I spent ages on one of them and completely reground/finished the edges by hand - it is now MUCH better than the one that is untouched - but because the tempering is rubbish it still has to be touched up far too frequently...

All in all a VERY disappointing experience because the actual DESIGN of the knife is brilliant... (I'd still LOVE to get a really GOOD QUALITY KNIFE with the exact same design)...

I still reckon that Cold Steel has got some GREAT designs and some really WELL made knives (I think the Vacquero Grande is the BEST large factory lockback for the money out there right now) - but obviously they aren't consistent - some of their stuff is brilliant and other stuff is... Well, about the same as the Pakistani rubbish you guys have been talking about...

From personal experience I would NEVER buy ANY bladeware made in ANY Asian country - apart from Japan that is - the Jap stuff is good...

Moral of the story - I assumed I was okay because I was buying something with a NAME on it - this *doesn't* always work though:-)

My 2 cents...
 
Anytime anything is said with LOL, it means that the statement is made with a sense of humor, jokingly, or in a teasing manner...

Seeing as you've been having a few problems with your knives recently...
 
I would have to say the cheap and nasty Chris Reeve Sebenza.... ;)
If you have one of these horrible knives, you can send it to me for safe disposal .................
 
I would have to say the cheap and nasty Chris Reeve Sebenza.... ;)
If you have one of these horrible knives, you can send it to me for safe disposal .................
 
steven andrews, hahahaha. nice try!

mr. mutt, no problem. i figured you were just joking.


thank you,
holdanedge.
 
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