Randall Made 440B steel question

SkagSig40

SkagSig40

Joined
Feb 1, 2001
Messages
2,671
I have a model 14 made in 440B stainless steel I bought back in 1995 and received it in 1997. Now they have a 5 year wait! Anyway, how does the 440B Randall uses compare in edge retention, durability, flexibility, resisting chipping ect. to the latest steels? I hear since they forge it, it is superior to all other 440 A, B and C stainless steels? I never got around to using my Randall 14 but I think I will start to use it as my camp/bob knife. It just feels "magical" compared to any other knives I have used. Thanks!!!
 
SkagSig40 said:
I have a model 14 made in 440B stainless steel I bought back in 1995 and received it in 1997. Now they have a 5 year wait! Anyway, how does the 440B Randall uses compare in edge retention, durability, flexibility, resisting chipping ect. to the latest steels? I hear since they forge it, it is superior to all other 440 A, B and C stainless steels? I never got around to using my Randall 14 but I think I will start to use it as my camp/bob knife. It just feels "magical" compared to any other knives I have used. Thanks!!!
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Just because it's forged, as opposed to being laser cut, stamped out, or made by stock removal, doesn't make it any better in my experience. If the heat treat is good, which, knowing Randall it will be, it'll perform on par with other stainless steels of similar composition.

Regards,
3G
 
randall does forge 440b.;although 440c@ ats34 has had limited production. b'' has .8 to .9 % carbon; edge holding @ toughness should be decent.my brother has collected since the 70.s.i perfer other manf. for heavy use. randall has a super mystye, if you go almost any where in world they know the knives.
 
How do I tell if the heat treat was performed properly on my Randall? I slid a fine Nicholson file over the edge and is "skated" across for the most part......seems hard.
 
Sure. I've had close to 40 Randalls go through my hands and my favorite user has always been the 440B standard #14. The #14 was, and still is, my favorite fixed blade knife. I got "shunned" a few years back when I posted a little field test where I stuck my #14 in the crack of a tree stump and pushed on it laterally - I pushed a good bit and saw the blade come a good number of degrees off center and came back true. I think someone posted a photo here recently of a #14 chopping a cinder block without damage (good heat treat and axe like edge geometry, I believe, allowed it to perform so well). I'd never chop on a cinder block with any knife, but doing that little bending "test" of mine gave me a lot of reassurance in the Randall made knives and put a lot of the online bashing of the brand to sleep for me.

:thumbup:
 
It surprises me that a file would skate on a Randall blade, Randall normally makes their blades soft for increased toughness. Was that an old file? Randalls are optimized to withstand abuse rather than optimized to hold an edge. The 440B will be somewhat resistant to wear, but will not hold an edge like a modern S30V alloy blade. If you need a survival or combat knife you are better off with the softer Randall blades than most modern wonder steels. You could look at CPM3V for greater wear resistance with considerable toughness.
 
Jeff Clark said:
It surprises me that a file would skate on a Randall blade, Randall normally makes their blades soft for increased toughness. Was that an old file? Randalls are optimized to withstand abuse rather than optimized to hold an edge. The 440B will be somewhat resistant to wear, but will not hold an edge like a modern S30V alloy blade. If you need a survival or combat knife you are better off with the softer Randall blades than most modern wonder steels. You could look at CPM3V for greater wear resistance with considerable toughness.
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Myabe it because I'm use to testing HI Khukuri knives that are really sof allong most of the edge and the file really grips the blade. When I slid the file over the andall 14 is slid much easier then over the khukuri blade. It was a new file too.
 
Since you're a gold member, I'd suggest you do a search on Randalls. This subject comes up for discussion a lot around here, and some of us get tired of weighing in on the subject every month or two.

Long story short: Randalls are superb knives, and you'll have a hard time finding anything that out-performs them for what they're designed to do at any price.
 
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