Krupp 4116 steel?

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Hadji Flip Me Over

Joined
Mar 1, 2010
Messages
674
From just a quick Google session, it appears that Krupp 4116 is a rather cheap, low-quality stainless steel. It got my attention because Cold Steel has started using it in their cheaper blades and I would like to know for sure if it should be a deal-breaker for one of their blades in the future. That's pretty much where I am right now.

Can anyone who's used it tell me about their general experience? (edge-holding, toughness, etc)
 
Think SAK and you will have your answers as they are pretty much the same performance wise.
 
Ankerson said:
Think SAK and you will have your answers as they are pretty much the same performance wise.
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^Exactly this. It's not nearly as bad as folks make it out to be. You just need to know what to expect from it.
 
That's about what I expected. What I didn't expect was them to make their Ka-Bar rip-off out of that particular steel. I really thought they would've gone with something more suited to hard use. Oh well. Wasn't going to buy it anyway. =/
 
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Its not a bad steel, just not a premium steel. I've used a CS Canadian Belt Knife before and it works just fine. My mom has confiscated it for her own use in the kitchen actually, and for this purpose its pretty well suited. Easy to sharpen, holds its edge reasonably well, very corrosion resistant, I see no problems with the steel in my own use.
 
Hadji Flip Me Over said:
That's about what I expected. What I didn't expect was them to make their Ka-Bar rip-off out of that particular steel. I really thought they would've gone with something more suited to hard use. Oh well. Wasn't going to buy it anyway. =/
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Well...actually it's pretty tough for a stainless. What it lacks in is edge retention--not impact or corrosion resistance. :)
 
Hadji Flip Me Over said:
That I did not know. :foot:
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It's commonly used in German kitchen knives, if that helps put it in perspective. Holds up well to the abuse that a typical household puts a knife through. Doesn't rust easily, dings or rolls rather than chips, and is easy to resharpen.
 
Personally I find 420HC to have a little better edge retention. I'd say 4116 has similar edge holding to well-tempered 440A. :)
 
Could be the HT. Carbon content wise, the 420HC is at ~.45 and 4116 is at ~.45-.55. These are going off memory BTW.

They are close enough that a good/bad HT on either one could easily make a difference
 
Good point. I'd say, however, that the pieces in 4116 I've used (both Cold Steel and kitchen knives) have, for whatever reason, held an edge most similarly either to Swiss Army Knife steel or Kershaw's old 440A. Wear resistance is a factor of edge retention, though, so I'm not sure how the alloys stack up compared to each other.
 
I have the cold steel kitchen classics set and they take a fine edge and hold it well for kitchen use, outside the kitchen i dont have experience with it. I am pleased with it for the price.
 
legato1 said:
I have the cold steel kitchen classics set and they take a fine edge and hold it well for kitchen use, outside the kitchen i dont have experience with it. I am pleased with it for the price.
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They either switched them to 4116 in the past couple of years or were labeling it differently because when I bought the in-laws a set 4 years ago they were calling it "400-series stainless" which I had taken as meaning either 440A or 420J in that it was good enough to both mentioning it was 400-series but it clearly wasn't 440C or 420HC.
 
I have a couple CRKT knives in the Krupp 4116 steel that i started using in the kitchen before last thanksgiving, and i have been pleasently surprised with the overall performance. Not great compared to a super steel, but nothing to sneeze at either. Very.....average i guess : ) As a side note, i did purchase these knives before joining bladeforums or i wouldn't have even purchased them, and only after reading about how crappy they were did i decide to use them in the kitchen rather than just throw them away. So after expecting them to dull after slicing an onion and fall apart in the sink while washing them, I'm still using those two knives with zero issues and have no plans on replacing them.

Hope that helps,
 
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