Ranger Knife Steel

Horn Dog

Horn Dog

Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
4,363
What is the steel Ranger knives are made from? They seem to really hold and edge well. How does it compare to 1095 or Carbon V?
 
Depending on the model it could be either 5160 or 1095. :thumbup: Good stuff no matter what.
 
Which steel, they use more than one, 5160 and S7 are two, both of which have pretty good track records.

Oops, forgot 1095 and I think there's another one I have seen "H-13"???
 
Justin/They/Ranger Knives uses 5160 on their RD series, 1095 on their smaller knives and some tomahawks, H13 for their thrower, titanium for some neck knives, and S7 on their Entry Tool. Some of their For custom work, you can get S7, CPM3V, 5160, 1095, ATS-34, D2, S30V, CPM154, O1, pretty much any steel or metal you can conceive and afford and then 20 others.
 
Thanks guys. I figured y'all would know. I own two Ranger knives, the RD-6 and RD-9. While the finish is a little rough, I have been very impressed with the edge-holding of the steel. Last weekend, I split a pile of fat ligher for kindling with the RD-9 and a little with my RTAK II. The RD was still quite sharp, even after splitting a lot of wood. A few strokes on a butchers steel, and it was back to near shaving sharp. I didn't split near as much with the RTAK II, not wanting to damage the pretty green coating, so I can't really compare the two. This 5160 seems to be an outstanding steel. BTW, I just ordered another RD-9 with the new clip point in satin finish. Without getting too heavy into metalurgy, what are the differences between 1095, 5160, and Carbon V?
 
1095 has about 0.95% Carbon, some manganese, and trace amounts of copper, and other goodies.

5160 has about 0.6% Carbon, 1% Chromium (I think; I'm stupid today), and trace amounts of other goodies.

Carbon V, dang, I forget, but think it has near 1% Carbon, some Chromium, and where's Mete when you need him? :(

Depending on their heat-treatment they can all be incredible steels with 1095 being anything from a bulletproof chopping steel to a brittle steel that puts scalpels to shame edgewise. 5160 can has less wear-resistance than 1095, so if used as a scalpel, you may need to resharpen it more; otherwise, it can be a bomb-proof chopping steel, nuke-proof chopping steel; or armageddon-resistant chopping steel*. I don't know jack about Carbon V/0170-06C/50100-B other than some folks have nigh-indestructable knives made with it and others have had easy-break knives made with it.

The bottom line is that all of those steels make great hard use knives which will get even better when coupled with your will and skill.

*= If you can find a swordmaker with saltpot heat-treating equipment with a modicum of spare time (good luck with that), he or she can take your standard, already nuke-proof 5160 RD and give it a mixed martensite/bainite heat treatment which will make the knife much tougher but ever so slightly tougher. The way Justin heat treats 5160, such a heat-treatment is overkill and unnecessary for even the most destructive tasks, but everyone likes a little overkill now and then. Seriously, though, my 5160 RD-9 is now tougher than even before, but it's of no practical benefit unless Mecha Godzilla attacks New England.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top