Randall stainless steel - 440B or 440C?

[barnaby]

Whenever people talk about Randall's stainless steel blade, they always refer to it as 440B, Joe's steel FAQ included. According to Randall's catalogue (page 29, 31st printing), their stainless steel blade is made from "a special high carbon (1.00%) stainless steel". And from all the steel charts on the internet (A.G. Russell included), anything above 0.95% is classified as 440C.

So is it 440B or 440C? I like to know because I have one in stainless steel.

 

[Kirk D]

I've talked directly to Randall on the matter..., 'cause I, too, had seen the 440B claim on Joe's faq, but one of our local Randall dealers swore Randall used 440C.

Randall forges their knives from 440B. 440C is just to hard to forge.

However, several of their smallest knives are now being made from ATS34.

 

[bruce]

My last issue of the Randall Knife Society Newsletter indicated the shop was starting to use ATS-34 on some larger knives also (the #14 in particular) and 440C in some. 440C is harder to forge but not impossible. Sounds like they are moving their technology up a bit. BTW, you get no choice of which steel is used in your knife!

Bruce Woodbury

 

[barnaby]

OK I don't have a choice of which steel they use, but is there a way to find out what steel was being used for my knife? Like a production date or something? For historical reasons it will be interesting to know how and when their production material/method changes over time.

 

[DonL]

Bruce, I'm a bit confused about something you mentioned and I'm hoping you could clear this up. You mentioned

BTW, you get no choice of which steel is used in your knife!

An older catalog I had for a while, as well as the current Randall website (well, last time I was there anyway), offers stainless as an option for many of the knives offered, so there does seem to be some choice of steels when ordering a knife. Did you mean that if you order stainless, you get their current stainless of choice, ie., you can't request 440C or ATS-34 if their current stainless knives are being done in 440B, or am I just more confused than ever?

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Don LeHue

The pen is mightier than the sword...outside of arm's reach. Modify radius accordingly for rifle.

 

[bruce]

DonL, sorry for the confusion. I'm sure you always have the choice of 01 versus stainless with Randall (except some models that only come in one or the other like their model 16-7 Special Fighter which is only in stainless or their large Bowie's which are available only in 01). When you choose stainless though, I think they use the stainless de Jour. If I order another knife from Randall, I will want to know what stainless it is made of--at least I would like to know if it is ATS34 because of the slightly higher maintenance required over 440B or 440C with the slightly higher Chromium content.

 

[DonL]

Bruce, thanks, that's what I thought, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

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Don LeHue

The pen is mightier than the sword...outside of arm's reach. Modify radius accordingly for rifle.