Real Steel?

V

Vulpix

Joined
Nov 28, 2015
Messages
19
Hi everyone, was just wondering about the kind of rep that the chinese company Real Steel has?

I recently got an E77 model from this company with 8Cr14Mov steel, and I was pretty satisfied with it other than the fact that its edge retention (do they have good heat treatment?) did not seem that good, and there was blade play after I dropped it.

Despite that, I was debating if I should get either their E771, E571 or T101 models, all with 14C28N steel.

Firstly, how does that steel hold up? Is it a good steel?

Secondly, if I shouldn't get these Real Steel blades, what are some good alternatives that I can try out?

Thanks everyone, I've only recently begun to take an interest in knives and this community has been freaking awesome!

Vulpix
 
14C28N is used by Kershaw on some of their current and discontinued US-made knives. If I'm not mistaken, Mora's stainless models also use it. I'm not sure who else uses 14C28N, but while it's not a "super steel" by today's standards, it would be a step up from 8Cr14MoV assuming it has a decent heat treat. Kershaw is definitely a brand you should check out if you haven't already. Cold Steel has a "love `em or hate `em" reputation here on BFC, but they offer some pretty well-built knives with AUS8 steel on previous-generation models and CTS-XHP on most current versions. SOG has mostly started churning out junk along the same lines as Gerber's imports, but their Japan-built knives are very nice.
 
The older RealSteel models (like your E77, the E963 and some T series) are copies of existing SanRenMu designs with slight tweaks. As a result, they're barely OK knives and for a few dollars less, you can get the SRM version. I'm not a huge fan of SRM and there are typically better options for cheap knives out there.

Starting with the H6 Blue Sheep, RSK began making some original designs. These knives seem to be a definite step up from previous offerings. I have both an H6 and an H6-S1 and each are a better RAT than the Ontario RAT 1, lol. If you're a RAT fan, you'll really love the H6 family of knives. I also got a smoking deal on a Stinger, and it's a really well made knife, but in the $140 price range there are lots of options from Kizer to consider.

I've yet to pick any up, but I've heard good things about the Sea Eagle, the Thor and the Takin. All appear to be great value, well built knives. For the price, I don't think you can go wrong. I'm real tempted to pick up their fixed blade bushcraft knife to check out.
 
Inazone said:
14C28N is used by Kershaw on some of their current and discontinued US-made knives. If I'm not mistaken, Mora's stainless models also use it. I'm not sure who else uses 14C28N, but while it's not a "super steel" by today's standards, it would be a step up from 8Cr14MoV assuming it has a decent heat treat. Kershaw is definitely a brand you should check out if you haven't already. Cold Steel has a "love `em or hate `em" reputation here on BFC, but they offer some pretty well-built knives with AUS8 steel on previous-generation models and CTS-XHP on most current versions. SOG has mostly started churning out junk along the same lines as Gerber's imports, but their Japan-built knives are very nice.
Click to expand...
My stainless mora is 12c27 sandvik, which has held up great.
 
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