N690Co stainless ?

[Guyon]

Before I pre-order that Hossom Forester, who can tell me about this steel?

Ooh-la-la.

 

[samhain73]

It's pretty much Austrian VG-10. Good stuff! It's what Extrema Ratio and Ontario use.

 

[zenheretic]

I've been using it in my Volpe for many months now...I'm happy with it...pretty much what samhain said.

 

[rifon2]

It's made by Bohler of Austria.

It's a high-speed stainless steel.

It has cobalt content.

C 1.07
Cr 17.00
Mo 1.10
Ni ---
V 0.10
Co 1.50

It's also known as X105CrCoMo18-2

It's got a very good reputation in Europe.
There's no pure AISI equivalent.

 

[The Mastiff]

It has a nice grain structure, seems to be a clean steel. It takes a decent edge, holds it pretty well and isn't real difficult to sharpen.

I too like it in my Volpe, and my Retribution. To me, it's a cobaltized, 440C with added molybendum. It does put it up there near VG10, the standard to shoot for in good production folders. Joe

 

[Dog of War]

I've had the opportunity to try N690 in a friend's Benchmade Monochrome, and like it a lot. Easy to obtain a very, very high level of sharpness - pushcutting newsprint at 4.6" from point of hold - and edge retention seems excellent, certainly better than any 440C I've ever used and probably right up there with VG10.

Of course heat treats vary from company to company ... but I would expect Spyderco's to be as good or better than Benchmade's.

 

[Guyon]

Thanks for the info. Sounds like good steel. Looking forward to trying it.