Need advice on steel characteristics before buying

[lbpop]

Hi, I'm looking at getting a Grohmann #4 sabre grind but I'm torn on whether to go with their stainless or carbon variety, so I came here for advice.

For my purposes I'm more concerned with blade toughness than edge holding (I don't mind sharpening knives, I find it therapeutic ). I want to pick the one that will be least likely to fail under hard use or unplanned abuse.

Grohmann uses C70 carbon or 4110 stainless which, if I understand correctly, are roughly equivalent to 1070 carbon or 440A stainless. I don't know anything about their heat treating but their website says that all of their outdoor knife steels are hardened to 56-58 Rockwell hardness.

Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

 

[thegeek574]

your loathing of sharpening will be massive if you have to maintain something in 440A with constant use. go with the 1070. as far as the knife goes, unless you are in love with the look, you can do better for the price.

 

[lbpop]

Can anyone hazard an educated guess as to which steel, C70 or 4110, would be tougher if hardened to the same degree? I broke a knife once trying to pry open a frozen C6 GPMG bolt because it was the only thing I had at the time, that's the sort of abuse I'm talking about.