NO HOLDS BARRED! Which steel cuts best?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Beam
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J

Jim Beam

Forget rust resistence (with the use of coatings, it can be mitigated) What is your vote for the steel that has the sharpest edge for the longest period of time, ease of sharpening is secondary... M2, A2, CPM 3v?
Also What testing has anyone done to prove that one is better than another? (making the same knife out of a bunch of steels so that edge/blade geometry is not a factor) thanks
 
D2
that's a gut answer.....you will get a lot more detailed opinions. But, not ,necessarilly, more accurate ones.
Let me know when we get to guessing the length of a piece of string.
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I suppose my sig says it all.....



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BrianWE

Believe me....being this old and having to live with all this experience is not the picnic I thought it was going to be.
 
52100 E bearing steel when in the hands of a mastersmith such as Ed Fowler or Rick Dunkerley or Wayne Goddard.

There's tons of steel out there and before someone else says it, I will. It ain't worth a thing if it ain't heat treated right.

Also, the need for rust resistance is so over rated. I live in an area where we get over 100 inches of rain a year and I have yet to see any rust on my working knives since I started using Tuf-Cloth. Give me high carbon any day.

Sincerely,

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~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska

 
Kodiak
good one......nothing wrong with high carbon stainless, though ?
Best of all worlds.
But I do know what you mean about caring for carbon steel. It can last forever.
Not in my care, though. Funny thing is that I grew up with it. Must be genetically adaptable .....wouldn't be here otherwise.
Just gone into hour #26 without a cigarette.....if that means anything.



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BrianWE

Believe me....being this old and having to live with all this experience is not the picnic I thought it was going to be.
 
I don't know about anyone else but I would love to test D2 -vs- INFI.

Cliff Stamp could add to this thread based on his experience.

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Any minute, now, Gaknife is gonna stand by the Wootz thing.
Gotta see this.......would luvvit to be true !

Go, mate !

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BrianWE

Believe me....being this old and having to live with all this experience is not the picnic I thought it was going to be.
 
Jim has the right idea. Testing various steels can't be valid unless the blades are very close in shape and edge geometry. It would very interesting to see a bunch of identical blades made of various steels tested side by side. It's not likely to happen. Too expensive and too much whining after the test.
biggrin.gif

 
First off it depends on what kinds of cutting you are talking about. If we are just talking about low stress slicing then CPM-10V will hold a very sharp edge for a very long time. You can blunt D2 for example and still see no impact on CPM-10V doing the same amount of work. It will even surpass INFI in this area (which betters D2).

I am still trying to find something close to it in performance and have two blades coming now that may give it a run, one in Talonite and one in 52100.

-Cliff
 
Brian, if it were for sale I'd love to do that. As far as I know only Al Pendray makes it here and he has a patent on his process. There is a guy in Russia who has made some (it's called Bulat there), but it's not available commercially. Historically it is the steel of legends, able to cut a falling silk scarf in two. Not sure what I'm supposed to stand by, but that's the history of it.

I do know that Pendray has done some pretty remarkable things with his, and gets a whole lot of money for some pretty ordinary looking blades. You might want to ask him.

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Jerry Hossom
knifemaker
www.hossom.com

ps: For the record I only use ATS-34, A2, CPM-3V and Stainless Pattern Damamscus, so I'm not selling anything here.


[This message has been edited by GaKnife (edited 02-07-2000).]
 
I have always been partial to tool steel so I am not sure which my vote goes to,

Probally I would say either the D2 or the M2, probally D2 though.......
 
How about nitinol?

From what I've read, this alloy is "thermosettable", meaning that once it is set to a desired shape (by temperature), it can be used to the point of deformity, it can then be heated and literally spring back to the solid in its original shape. I believe that this is what Knight Rider's car was made of!!!

If you don't believe me, do a search for nitinol.

pojim
 
There are steels or other materials out there that will slice wonderfully, hold an edge dang near forever but they're too brittle for "heavy duty utility". And extreme example is the Mad Dog ceramics, which can shatter if dropped on concrete.

If I'm buying a fighter or a wilderness survival knife, I'll give up some edgeholding for toughness. Plain ol' ATS34 with a good heat-treat isn't bad at all, in fact I think it's "balance" between edgeholding and toughness is excellent for fighters and both my street-carry defense pieces are in this steel.

For "ultimate slicing", the MD Ceramics are in the running, maybe the Boye Dendric stuff, probably Talonite if it's an edgeholding contest. Reeves seems to know what he's doing with BG42.

It's not something I personally spend much time worrying about.

Jim
 
GaKnife and Brian, Al Pendray and the Russian guy aren't the only ones doing Wootz. Roselli in Finland has been doing Wootz puukkos for some time now. There has been threads about his puukkos on BF earlier - you might want to try searching the BF year 1 archive.

Hugo
 
There is a steel for every type of knife.
Unless you have used every steel how can you answer?
Some steel perform better on one knife style than another.

This might mean that there is many best steels for many applications?
The biggest leap in folders I feel IMHO is the leap from ats34 type steels (440c,bg42,154 cm) to Cpm 440 and 420v.

Just my 2 cents worth..



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Hugo,

You're right. I apologize for omitting him. And there are actually two groups in Russia doing it as well. One is making true Wootz(Bulat) steel, the other is producing a Wootz/Damascus composite.

Whoever makes it, it is remarkable steel nonetheless.

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Jerry Hossom
knifemaker
www.hossom.com


 
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