Looking for a 1095 knife

N

NWcityguy2

Joined
Sep 13, 2016
Messages
3
I've recently got back into knife making and I looking for a factory knife that I could use as a known quantity to test my knives against. I'm only working with simple carbon steels (O-1, 1084 and 1095), heat treat myself with basic tools and want something roughly comparable from a known manufacturer. I know this isn't the knife making sub-forum, but this is more of an inquiry into a quality factory knife. I don't want to spend a lot, don't care about sheaths and don't plan on doing any destructive testing to the factory knife. The closest knives I have are the Condor Basic Bushcraft (super soft steel, I think they messed up the heat treat), Cold Steel Bushman (softer heat treat than I plan on doing, but intentional of CS's part), and a custom O-1 knife that is marked "Shook" but I bought it second hand and don't know who made it (not a known quantity). Everything else I own is stainless.

Among the budget 1095 steel knives out there on the market (Schrade, Ka-Bar, Tops, Ontario), is there really that much of a quality difference in the steel itself?

Thanks.
 
I have a TOPS Fieldcraft B. O. B. (Brothers of Bushcraft) in 1095. This is a camp knife, if that's the style you're looking for. It's a pretty popular and generally well liked knife for its purpose. I think I paid about $110 or so. I have more expensive knives but I'll never let this one go.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Welcome!

As to the quality of the steel? You mean, its purity or something like that? I don't know if I can' honestly answer that one.

Typically with these steels (and essentially any steel), the key is the heat treat. And some makers are known for being better/more consistent than others in that area. I'm not sure what testing you're planning on doing. But I'd say that Mora, TOPs, and ESEE have "plain" 1095 pretty figured out. I like Kabar as well, but their 1095 isn't "pure" 1095, its 1095 CroVan (Actually called 0170-6/50100-B, which at some point was also called "Carbon V" by Cold Steel), which sounds like it would be less desirable for you (just because its not plain 1095).

I'd think that if you're using it to compare your own blades to, you might have to actually check the hardness of the knife (do your own rockwell test), as even good manufacturers can only give you a range of hardness for most of their blades, not an exact figure.

Good luck :).
 
I plan on doing various knife tasks with it, such as cutting with it, dulling it, and then sharpening it again. I don't mean to talk down to anyone, but I'm fairly knowledgeable about knives, just out of the loop on what the industry has been doing for the last 10 years. By quality of the steel, I mean does any one of those specific companies produce a knife in 1095 (1095CroVan is fine too) that outshines it peers in all aspects, such as edge retention, toughness, and sharpen-ablity? If not, that's fine and I'll pick something with the best value. My goal isn't to mimic a factory knife, it's to compare my knives to it.

As for Rockwell hardness of my knives, I'll save that for a later date. For right now the File test does everything I need.
 
the Becker series is very good and would work 1095 croVan, Esee pretty much most of their knives are 1095 and consistent in the heat treat. Pretty much sounds exactly like what you want.
 
Have there been any real changes in heat treat for 1095 in the past 50 years?

Serious question.
 
ESEE is probably the most logical choice, established quality and make the most out of 1095 it seems.
 
So you're looking for a 1095 based knife that is well respected/consistent performer to compare a knife your making against? Then I'd grab whatever ESEE, kabar/becker is most similar to your design, and go from there.
 
Cobalt said:
Without a doubt the most consistent HT.
Click to expand...

This is probably pretty important for a knife that will be used as the control example in your testing. Ontario has some knives that would fit your description and I love the Ontarios that I own, however, I wouldn't recommend them for your purpose because they have a bit of a reputation for inconsistent heat treat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top