Ranking of Steels in Categories based on Edge Retention cutting 5/8" rope

jth250 said:
Hey, have you tested dozier's d2. I wonder how it would do
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No different than anyone else's D2 in reality and yes I have had one or 2 here.

Can't rank his knives because they are ground so thin behind the edge so they would compare to customs, not production knives because the way the blades are ground it gives a very high percentage of difference compared to other blades that are at typical thickness.

His knives perform because of the thin grinds and design along with coarse edges, there is nothing special or even different about D2 at 59-60 Rc.

Doziers D2 is one of the biggest Myths in the knife industry, his knives perform due to excellent design and blade geometry along with being very thin behind the edge, not because of some mythical D2...... ;)
 
I am not exactly sure how nitrogen works on making carbids but with the low carbon content of n680 does that make this steel extremely tough also? I see that it is on par with s30v but is it tougher then s30v?
 
chad2 said:
I am not exactly sure how nitrogen works on making carbids but with the low carbon content of n680 does that make this steel extremely tough also? I see that it is on par with s30v but is it tougher then s30v?
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I'm not familiar with n680. What knife comes with this type of steel?
 
chad2 said:
I am not exactly sure how nitrogen works on making carbids but with the low carbon content of n680 does that make this steel extremely tough also? I see that it is on par with s30v but is it tougher then s30v?
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generally, low carbon steels tend to be tougher than higher carbon steels. from my understanding: lower carbon = less carbides, this means that more chromium is free for corrosion resistance. but less carbon also means a lower overall hardness. this is where the nitrogen comes into play, the nitrogen can fill the roll that carbon plays in the crystalline structure when steel is hardened. this allows for a blade that is tough, very corrosion resistant and can attain a decent-good hardness.


cziv said:
I'm not familiar with n680. What knife comes with this type of steel?
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off the top of my head, lone wolf knives (benchmade).
 
Dear Mr. Ankerson,

Please forgive me if this is a ridiculous question but is 8Cr13MoV similar to anything you have tested?
 
jimnolimit said:
generally, low carbon steels tend to be tougher than higher carbon steels. from my understanding: lower carbon = less carbides, this means that more chromium is free for corrosion resistance. but less carbon also means a lower overall hardness. this is where the nitrogen comes into play, the nitrogen can fill the roll that carbon plays in the crystalline structure when steel is hardened. this allows for a blade that is tough, very corrosion resistant and can attain a decent-good hardness.




off the top of my head, lone wolf knives (benchmade).
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thankyou for the respones
 
I have a benchmade 111h20 that sports n680. I really like the steel, not the knife so much. Its a very aggressive cutter. It also seemed to be very tough to me. I put my blades through there paces at the pplant nursery i work out and it took it all in stride. I say buy the triage
 
Ive always thought of ZDP189 as being a very good steel , yet according the the
Category 4 , its just average.
Doesnt seem right , kind of depressing.
 
When I look at the list I see the "average" steels in Category 7, but that rather depends on your definition of average. I see things like S30V and VG10 in Category 7, and at this point in history those are often considered to be pretty good steels. So, considering that this table was derived mostly from testing high end productions knives, I think of Category 7 as "good", Category 4 as "excellent", and Category 1 as "it just doesn't get any better than this". When the next great steel comes along then perhaps all the categories are going to drop by one and today's Category 1 will be tomorrow's Category 2. That won't degrade the capabilities of any of the steel's, it just moves the bar up a notch.
If it makes you feel any better I've got a knife in M390 that doesn't hold an edge as well as another knife in ZDP-189, which would have a Category 2 being inferior to a Category 4, but since that M390 knife was sold as "hard use" I suspect that it is softer than I'd like it to be. Also, remember that this testing is optimized to discern fine differences in slicing wear resistance. I'm still reluctant to classify Category 4 as "average" when you look at the steels in that bracket. They are all mighty good steels with mighty good heat treats.
 
Thank you for your post. Ive been lookin at the AG-Russel Acie 2 , I have the Lg. but after seeing that ZDP aint as good as I thought , I was reconsidering.
Now maybe not so much ......... dj
 
I like xhp and zdp over m390. They both seem to hold a shaving edge longer then m390 to me. They miight not be able to keep a working edge as long but i never let my knives get too dull anyway
 
djdawg said:
Ive always thought of ZDP189 as being a very good steel , yet according the the
Category 4 , its just average.
Doesnt seem right , kind of depressing.
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djdawg said:
Thank you for your post. Ive been lookin at the AG-Russel Acie 2 , I have the Lg. but after seeing that ZDP aint as good as I thought , I was reconsidering.
Now maybe not so much ......... dj
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more importantly, look at the other steels grouped with ZDP (elmax, cpm-154, xhp, super blue). that tells you a lot more than just being listed in "category 4".

ZDP is a very good steel in my experience.
 
Thank you all for your responses ........... now Iam more apt to buy the Acie 2 .
Iam really lookin at it hard.
 
djdawg said:
Ive always thought of ZDP189 as being a very good steel , yet according the the
Category 4 , its just average.
Doesnt seem right , kind of depressing.
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Keep in mind the one tested is recorded at 65 hrc. Hitachi America's spec sheet on it lists that as the minimum hardness and even compares it in toughness to other steels at 67.5 rc, so that shows you where they think it excels. It would be interesting to see where the 'overbaked' ZDP189 Mule would land on the list...wish I had picked one of those up.
 
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