My first GEC, stainless or carbon?

[cultivateitnow]

knarfeng & myself did extensive tests on gec carbon & 440c at the ist of 2010 & some testing in 2009. i went 240 lb. burst strength cardboard or 275 lb. edge crush cardboard. knarfeng used 3/8 sisal rope in a special jig setup. my results on the gec 1095 against queen d2 gave about a 5% edge to the gec 1095. when i shipped the knives in 1095 & 440c to knarfeng, queens d2 shaded both gec alloys about 6% with the 440c very slightly ahead of the 1095. frank measured bevels right behind the edge on queen & gec. the queen was 026 thousandths while gec was o 019 thousandths. this invalidated my 1095 tests against queen d2 because although they were equally sharp at start the gec had a friction advantage. gec has excellent heattreat on both steels, i prefer carbon since i like the way the blade finish ages.
dennis

If I'm reading his correctly you are saying 440C beat both of the non-stainless blades, 1095 and D2 by 6% even with those two having a better profile? They 1095 doesn't surprise me but the D2 getting beat does a little. With that said I've seen other test in which 440C beat out the popular super steels. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, I do like my 440C regardless.

 

[2Dead]

#25 Wharncliffe Jack 1095, #25 EZ-Open 440C, #12 Toothpick 1095. They are small but still very usable. The #25s are supposed to be 3" closed with a blade of about 2 1/8". The toothpick is 4" closed and a 3" blade.

 

[DennisStrickland]

cultivate no the tests went like this:
queen d2
gec 440
gec 1095
the differance was 440 about 3% less than d2 & 1095 about 6% less than d2. the d2 lost it's razor edge faster but held a real sharp using edge for a long time. gec 1095 shaded both d2 & gec 440 in ulitimate keenness.i hope this is clear.
dennis

 

[cultivateitnow]

That is what I would normally expect, and is the way it should be. Some companies do not heat treat as well as others and I think that accounts for the cases when 440C and 420 HC out perform super steels.