N690Co steel... Worth 100?

I have used a number of knives in N690C made by FOX. It is a very good blade steel that FOX does a great job of producing. To me it sharpens as easy and performs better than 440C and AUS8. As far as cost, if you like it, it's worth it.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
The Government, I think you misunderstand a couple of key points here.

First of all, the steel is only one element of a knife's price, not necessarily a major element, at that. Only really exotic steels jack up the price noticeably, sometimes because they are only available in one country.

Also, knife companies don't always make all their own knives. In fact, few do. Ontario farms out the RAT-1 to a Taiwan contractor. It has nothing to do with Ontario knives made elsewhere. The XM models are probably made in Italy, like the Retributions.
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I guess I was unclear. I understand the Ontario and most companies outsource the manufacturing process, but I assume that their designs are created within the company. The RAT-1 was created by Mike and Jeff and I assume another guy from Ontario okay'd the design for production. I like other ontario knives aswell, so I assume that they put a good amount of design efforts into a knife before they okay it for production. Once they pick out a manufacturer they probably have an exec from the company oversee the first batches. This just gives me a little assurance that Ontario will okay good designs for production.

Thanks everyone for the comments. I just wanted to make sure I wasnt considering buying a knife with a blade steel that is not worth the price. As if it would shock you to hear that steel was in a 100 knife -just making sure.

I am sorry if this was a hard question to answer. I know that a lot of value comes from things besides the blade steel. Either way this thread helped me.

Thanks
 
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Have a Benchmade in 154CM - knife sharpener at a gun show complimented the steel - was a gift - about $225.


DennisStrickland said:
my info on this alloy is that it has 1% cobalt.i'm nmot a tech whiz & i'm sure by the end of day ,other forum members will fill us in.i do know that the chinese 9cr13 which i have in a benchmade is excellent.seems to make the alloy tougher.the metallurights will probably will explain the significance of cobalt & also alloy info today. i'm really curiours myself.is it a swedish for.?
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I have a curtis F3 in N690. It gets carried and used a lot. It is very easy to maintain with a strop. It holds an edge about the same as VG10 which is pretty good in my opinion.
 
Little late to the game on this but... I was looking at this Fox E.R.T. Rescue for a dive knife. Pacific, salt water, scuba diving. Is N960C good in salt water?
 
Only a little, would have been better as its own thread. If you are meaning N690Co, its not great. There are far worse, but not something I'd use to have live with wet gear. If you baby your stuff maybe, but even then it would need more than a rinse. I could not find N960Co in places that didn't seem like a typo. I've got a spyderco pingo in N690 and have had it in the pocket when beach fishing, by the end of the day in the surf it was speckled.
 
pathfinder74 said:
Little late to the game on this but... I was looking at this Fox E.R.T. Rescue for a dive knife. Pacific, salt water, scuba diving. Is N960C good in salt water?
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LC200 or H1 Steel are generally regarded as good choices for the application. Look at the Salt Series from Spyderco.
 
orthogonal1 said:
It is hard to say what a knife is worth without seeing the rest of it. Quality and value go beyound the steel of the blade.

What knife are you asking about?
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Imho n690 performs alot closer to vg10 than to 440c. I think it is a great steel; especially for a user knife. Its chemical composition, while not that far off from 440c, but its even closer to vg10.

I see no issue with a 100$ nc690 knifd.
 
Lapedog said:
Imho n690 performs alot closer to vg10 than to 440c. I think it is a great steel; especially for a user knife. Its chemical composition, while not that far off from 440c, but its even closer to vg10.

I see no issue with a 100$ nc690 knifd.
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The thread is from 2009...
 
b00n said:
LC200 or H1 Steel are generally regarded as good choices for the application. Look at the Salt Series from Spyderco.
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This^^^
For a little more money, Benchmade offers several products in Bohler N680. Supposedly it is designed to be used in salt water, plus holds a decent edge, easy to sharpen, and has decent wear resistance.
 
I Had an ontario xm-1 with the gov't batch numbers personally i felt like it was a 60 dollar knife at most because it was chunky blocky feeling and not nimble or ergonomic in anyway.

Thick blade stock and thick bte thickness that lended itself towards prybar and not cutting. As far as the steel went the blade was so thick that it didnt matter what steel it was it had so much meat it wouldn't chip etc. but it wouldnt cut anything well either.
 
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Depends on heat treatment.


This N690 is done at high hrc with Ln2 and near zero ground... It's longer edge retention than m390.
 
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