least chippy super steel

Wowbagger said:
Oh Deadbox,

You can still cut through LOTS of stuff with your 45° per side; you just got to use a bigger sledge hammer. Most ULTRA LIGHT high performance back packs have a built in sledge hammer sheath because the modern makers know how real woodsmen love their stoat knives and so provide for that. :p

Oh wait . . . I may be making stuff up again . . . :rolleyes:


Sorry here's a better one.
You'll love this one for sure.

[video=youtube;KXt_od8GDO4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXt_od8GDO4[/video]
Click to expand...

hahahaha
 
I've had good luck with M4. It seems to resñist chipping very well. In my experience it has great edge stability. I have also had good luck with M390, 154cm, s35vn and surprisingly D2 is very tough. I saw one video where the guy put the edge of his D2 bm710 on a penny, hammered on the spine like he was trying to baton the penny, and there were no chips. Still my best luck has been with M4.

Since you are looking for a foldMer I assume you are mostly looking at stainless steels. Do you ever consider maybe getting a steel that is easy to resharpen if it does chip?
 
I have never seen any knife made of S5 steel before even though I have try some serious google search.
 
OP,

I skimmed the thread, perhaps a Gayle Bradley if folder is what being sought for.
If fixed blade, try BCMW CWF when bluntcut starts another sale.

Edit: just realized you went with GB. Not worse than Contego as tested here:
[youtube]v3-TmRU3q3w[/youtube]
 
Last edited:
fielder said:
I prefer stainless for a folder, especially in hot or humid conditions. Ultimate toughness isn't really an issue for folders. Cpm154 would be a good choice. Also there is nothing wrong with S35VN. The Sandvik steels are tough, though maybe not the best edge retention.
Click to expand...

Please dont take this as me being a prick or anything its more just me trying to gain a better understanding of blade toughness. Why do people say toughness isnt an issue for folders? Doesnt toughness prevent chipping? If I do harder tasks with a folder specifically stripping wire or cutting through other harder materials wouldnt tougher steels be ideal? Im an electrician by trade so stripping wire large gauge wire is pretty common for me. I have chipped numerous knife blades while doing work that I would hardly call abuse. Perhaps my understanding of blade toughness is flawed and it has more to do with rockwell hardness? I have read several people say toughness is only needed with larger fixed blades.
 
Last edited:
Alot of over generalization in this thread...
Cpm3v tough s30v chips. Not exactly true.
Chipping has alot to do with edge geometry much more than steel type.
On a thin hollow ground blade risk of chipping is much higher than on a convex
 
AntDog said:
INFI. By far.
Click to expand...

My obsession with knives started with a napal kukri, then several 1095 blades tops, esee, ect.. and some D2, S30V, 3v, and a cheap Rambo knife :).. an I tell you..when I finally sprung for a (what I thought at the time) expensive swamp rat blade in SR101.. It was the biggest "holy shit!!" knife moment I have had regarding knives..I mean the stuff was so stubbornly tough I was blown away.. since then I have fallen deeply in love with Busse's INFI.. its equal or even tougher than SR101..but it won't rust and it is I swear I can't get it to chip... the stuff is TRULY incredible... if you haven't tried a Jerry Busse heat treated steel blade ..try one you plan to beat the living hell out of. infi or sr101..you will be impressed.
 
3V with the right HT has the toughest edge out there for any steel period. 3V with a thin high performance edge will resist chipping and rolling better than anything I've ever tested. If you want more wear resistance/ carbide content, M390 is super, super tough and not to mention completely stainless. In my testing M390 can handle some very hard use while maintaining a thin edge. In the very top category of wear resistance I think 10V is still king. It is tougher than s90V, 110V, 15V etc... K390 may be tougher but it doesn't seem to have the same edge holding ability of 10V. Its an old steel there's alot of data out there to back up its performance.

Other notable steels are Vanadis 4E, which is really difficult to get ahold of and and also Z-Wear, which offers a little bit more wear resistance than 3V but is likely not quite as tough. But in my testing I have had no issues with chipping and it can maintain a thin edge very well.
 
Huntsman Knife Co. said:
3V with the right HT has the toughest edge out there for any steel period. 3V with a thin high performance edge will resist chipping and rolling better than anything I've ever tested. If you want more wear resistance/ carbide content, M390 is super, super tough and not to mention completely stainless. In my testing M390 can handle some very hard use while maintaining a thin edge. In the very top category of wear resistance I think 10V is still king. It is tougher than s90V, 110V, 15V etc... K390 may be tougher but it doesn't seem to have the same edge holding ability of 10V. Its an old steel there's alot of data out there to back up its performance.

Other notable steels are Vanadis 4E, which is really difficult to get ahold of and and also Z-Wear, which offers a little bit more wear resistance than 3V but is likely not quite as tough. But in my testing I have had no issues with chipping and it can maintain a thin edge very well.
Click to expand...

You sum it up greatly. But I think in toughness realm of stainless no steel beat Elmax and follow by XHP.

I have use tip of a knife in both steel at 61rc to crave some brass to create texture and its both prove to be much tougher than any stainless.
 
lamanian said:
Please dont take this as me being a prick or anything its more just me trying to gain a better understanding of blade toughness. Why do people say toughness isnt an issue for folders? Doesnt toughness prevent chipping? If I do harder tasks with a folder specifically stripping wire or cutting through other harder materials wouldnt tougher steels be ideal? Im an electrician by trade so stripping wire large gauge wire is pretty common for me. I have chipped numerous knife blades while doing work that I would hardly call abuse. Perhaps my understanding of blade toughness is flawed and it has more to do with rockwell hardness? I have read several people say toughness is only needed with larger fixed blades.
Click to expand...

People say this because they have no idea what's required of a knife in some lines of work, where fixed blades are neither an option, nor convenient.
 
Based on my experience and all the metallurgical research I read throught the term "supersteel" is not being used in material research science
this term was simply created for marketing purposes relatively recently.

At first if you dont know how the blade was heat treated the chemical composition of the the blade material respectively steel type has
such a wide sprectrum of how it could possibly behave that it has no point to focus on a particular steel exclusively.

In general once there is enough carbon in the steel to allow it to harden there is a very basic principle:
The more carbon the higher hardness/strength can material achieve after heat treatment
while at the same time its ductility is decreased.

All these so called supersteels are quite high in carbon and many other alloying elements making them very wear resistant
relatively strong[depends] however their toughness is compromised. Carbon content of these is anywhere between
1% and 3% or even over which is too high [despite the PM production] to allow these materials to be resistant
to hard impacts. So it is always a compromise and for each steel there is more and less optimal application.

Certainly lower toughness can be compensated by design with thicker geometry and higher edge angle to prevent chipping
but it wont cut so well any more. Again the compromises ! :jerkit:

So if u have 2 steels of similar composition the one with less alloying and less carbon will be tougher.
the one with more alloying and more carbon will be more wear resistant. There is no steel that is ultimately
superior in everything or vice versa.. :cool:
 
I gotta say im curious what it is exactly your doing with your folder out in the wilderness, that requires such toughnes.
 
Vanadis 4E and its very close cousin CPM 4V are not as tough as CPM 3V, but they have more abrasion resistance as they can be a couple of points harder. A number of folks would argue that the "perfect" non-stainless knife steel is one of those or nominally similar steels like Zapp Z-Wear or Carpenter CTS PD-1,which both kind of look like PM versions of the old Vasco-Wear steel.
hugofeynman said:
Vanadis 4 extra and if you need indestructible, k600 (not that great edge retention).
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top