Pick a metal and defend it!

JTR357,

S7 is one of my favorite steels. If every knife I ever use would be S7 hardened in the RC56-58 range or M2 hardened in the RC62-65 range, my smile would be creepier than that Bob from those Enzyte commercials.

Justin Gingrich made an S7 RD-9 style knife for me and its idiot-resistance has been nothing short of amazing. His 5160 is quite awesome, too; as is the 5160-mod of our Himalayan Imports pals.


edited to add

And if it be stainless, I'm cuckoo for 13C26 as heat-treated by Kershaw, AEB-L as heat-treated by Aoki Hamono and Larrin Thomas, and SG-2 and ZDP-189 as heat-treated by Kershaw and Spyderco. Too many are the times when I'm enjoying a folding pocketknife and find myself saying "and if it were 13C26 with a Kershaw heat-treat, it'd be even better."
 
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thombrogan said:
JTR357,

S7 is one of my favorite steels. If every knife I ever use would be S7 hardened in the RC56-58 range or M2 hardened in the RC62-65 range, my smile would be creepier than that Bob from those Enzyte commercials.

Justin Gingrich made an S7 RD-9 style knife for me and its idiot-resistance has been nothing short of amazing. His 5160 is quite awesome, too; as is the 5160-mod of our Himalayan Imports pals.


edited to add

And if it be stainless, I'm cuckoo for 13C26 as heat-treated by Kershaw, AEB-L as heat-treated by Aoki Hamono and Larrin Thomas, and SG-2 and ZDP-189 as heat-treated by Kershaw and Spyderco. Too many are the times when I'm enjoying a folding pocketknife and find myself saying "and if it were 13C26 with a Kershaw heat-treat, it'd be even better."
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+1 Me too.Justin's a great guy.I got a qoute from him about a S7 RD-6,turns out it was almost 3X as much,so I got the 5160 for just under $100.Which I don't regret,but I can't help thinking what it would be like with the S7.That's amazing stuff:thumbup:
 
I love how sharp carbon steel like 1095 and CV can get. They also sharpen up very easily and can hold it. I've had some great experiences with Benchmade's D2 as well. A2 is also a favorite of mine. My favorite stainless is probably VG-10, that stuff has impressed me more than anything. I guess I'm not too particular! :D
 
For me old 440c as in old Buck steel. Tough as hell, good corrosion resistance
and holds a great working edge forever. Picked up another 110 from the seventies
that was NIB. Thing still was shaving sharp. Not many would be after 33 years.
 
s30v because of its great corrosion resistance and its edgeholding abilities. It also gets very sharp and it's easy enough to sharpen on a sharpmaker.
 
The ideal blade steel and knife geometry depend entirely on the intended use of the knife.
 
SekiCity421 said:
But unfortunately Carbon V is a discontinued steel. If you have noticed Cold Steel used to use carbon V on their SRK,all of the throwers and a few others I cant really remember off the top of the dome, but now they are AUS-8A for the SRK and 1055 for the throwers..
The company that used to ship them their Carbon V is now gone unfortunately..
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They are now using SK-5 carbon steel for a lot of their knives. Does anyone have any experience with it? I was going to get a Recon Scout, until I was made aware that they are now made in China. Chinese knives just aren't something I want to buy. But I would like to know about the new SK-5, I have heard it is comparable to the old Carbon V, but coming from China, I don't know.
 
420 Stainless - Low cost, durable and easy to sharpen. Nothing fancy about it it is just a darn good knife steel. I note your premise for the thread was not to necessarily pick the "best" steel for a knife just pick a metal and defend it!
 
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made4blade said:
They are now using SK-5 carbon steel for a lot of their knives. Does anyone have any experience with it? I was going to get a Recon Scout, until I was made aware that they are now made in China. Chinese knives just aren't something I want to buy. But I would like to know about the new SK-5, I have heard it is comparable to the old Carbon V, but coming from China, I don't know.
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I have read several positive posts on the SK-5 blades. I do not remember anyone who actually tried one being unhappy with its performance.

SK-5 is essentially 1085 with some ruffles and fluorishes (extra elements).
 
My 0.02$.
For all around, survival, chopping, prying, good edge holding etc, INFI hands down.

Purely for light cutting, so far CPM-10V at 64HRC with Phil Wilson's HT is an absolute favorite. That edge just keeps going and going. Not that easy to sharpen, but not hard either. Edgeholding clearly outweighs the sharpening.

I have to see how ZDP-189 will perform. And later Cowry-X once I get it.
 
I will say A2, but A2 as heat treated by Mike Stewart of Bark River Knife and Tool. Takes a beautiful edge with not much work and retains it extremely well in both soft abrasive materials, like cardboard, and harder materials like wood. The edge stability is excellent even with very acute primary and secondary bevels. Just an all around winner in my book.

I have an A2 knife from Chris Reeve who runs it a bit softer on the Rockwell scale and while it sharpens up beautifully and more easily, it loses its edge much more quickly, but more importantly, at least for me, is that the edge stability declines rapidly the more you thin the bevels.
 
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