Quality of Kabar 440A steel?

D

Deerinator

Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
9
The only experience i have had with 440a steel is with some china made knives and i wasn't impressed at all. I am hesitant to purchasing a Kabar Next Gen Fighter in the same steel. I realize that kabar is a very awesome company. I own 2 of there Kabar fighters in 1095 and love them both.

How does the Next Gen in 440a hold up? I realize its a stainless so corrosion resistance is improved and its heat treated softer at 55-57 which means the edge will be easier to sharpen but won't last as long. I just never had a good experience with the 440a. Wish they made it in 440c instead that stuff i love.

Thanks for the help.
 
If you aren't impressed with chinese 440A you won't be impressed with any other. A 440 B or AUS-8 would be better and 440C better yet.
 
Actually spyderco's byrd line is 'chinese 440C', which it turns out is not chemically the same thing as 440C in the rest of the world - which is why the byrd knives are listed as being made out of a tangle of numbers and element symbols.

You might consider whether the chinese knives you had before were actually the same as the 440A you'll get from Ka-Bar... not that 440A is all that impressive, though.
 
mete said:
If you aren't impressed with chinese 440A you won't be impressed with any other.
Click to expand...

There are custom makers who are running 440A at 59/60 HRC and claiming performance superior to 440C in several respects due to finer primary carbides, Roman Landes for one. A blade like that would be very different in performance from most production 440A blades which are typically on the extreme low end of performance, with horrible QC, underhardened blades, etc. .

-Cliff
 
Is 440A a low quality steel? I have the original next gen (Sandvik 12C27) and was thinking of picking up the plain blade version in 440A. Will I see a big difference between the steels? I'm pretty new on the forum, any help or insight is greatly appreciated.

Jansen
 
440A is a stainless steel that lacks the edge holding qualities of other steels. If you don't mind sharpening a blade more frequently they will work for most knife cutting applications, IMHO. 440C is tons times better if you can find it and the Kabar D2 steel is very very good.

Here is a techy analysis of various knife steels and their properties and characteristics for your info.

Page down a bit more than half way and you will see a section about 440 type steels.

http://www.ajh-knives.com/metals.html

The SOG Seal knife is 440A and the very expensive Randalls are 440B according to the information.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top