Question about steels

slipstickLibby brings up a good point.

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that says the laminated steels can reproduce the properties of 1095 in a stainless blade. I've read posts by users of Cold Steel San Mai III and Fallkniven laminated blades that suggest that the laminated blades, although pricey, do deliver those properties. It is, after all, why laminated steel is used for blades in the first place, to give a combination of edge retention and toughness that other stainless blades cannot.
 
knarfeng said:
slipstickLibby brings up a good point.

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that says the laminated steels can reproduce the properties of 1095 in a stainless blade. I've read posts by users of Cold Steel San Mai III and Fallkniven laminated blades that suggest that the laminated blades, although pricey, do deliver those properties. It is, after all, why laminated steel is used for blades in the first place, to give a combination of edge retention and toughness that other stainless blades cannot.
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I am a new Fallkniven owner ( S1 and A1 ) , and am very impressed with their stainless VG 10. Cold Steel's San Mai 111 has me curious as well. I have a Pendleton hunter in VG-1 , and it's performed admirably as well , and the SM111 has a VG-1 core , so I'm guessing it's just as good , if not better than VG-! itself .
 
But Noss tested the laminated model. His testing being what you cited as evidence of toughness.
 
13c26 to me is very close to 1095 in edge holding and sharpening. IMO
 
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I mostly carry folders in one of the stainless steels or another, S30v, VG-10, ZDP-189, also M-4 tool steel. Most of daily cutting task are mundane and do not call for hard use. All of my fixed blades are 1095. This past week, my fiance' and I went on vacation to the log cabin in nowhere Mississippi. I brought an RTAK-II and Rat Izula. The RTAK-II looked like a noodle when batoning through a few logs to process firewood. No problems whatsoever. The Izula was used to make shavings and kindling to start the fire. It performed unbelievably. After getting home from the cabin, I started sharpening both. I forgot how much I like 1095. The Izula took a hair shaving edge easily. It's difficult to beat 1095. If something exist that can compare, I haven't found it yet.
 
winbag338 said:
Have you seen the abuse the a-1 has been put through by the mighty NOSS? Can you tell me how much more of a difference in toughness 1095 has over vg-10 that would be noticeable in a knife?
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knarfeng said:
But Noss tested the laminated model. His testing being what you cited as evidence of toughness.
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winbag338 said:
I am aware of that also.
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Then your argument that VG10 must be as tough as 1095 because of the Noss A1 results does not hold up, since he did not test an A1 with a blade of VG10.

It is likely possible to make a chopping blade out of straight VG10. You'd have to shape the blade for that purpose and that alloy. But if you are just comparing alloys, 1095 is tougher.
 
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