Review request: AUS-8 blades from Knifekits.com

Barry H

Barry H

Joined
Nov 3, 1999
Messages
1,685
Curious if anyone has any experience with the AUS-8 blades coming from Darrel Ralph's Knifekits.com. How does the heat treat stack up to other aus-8 blades?

Thanks,

Barry H
 
I have only really used one of the DDR kit blades myself. I was pretty dissapointed with the edge holding. I have given two away as gifts, and both people were very impressed with the edge holding ability. My sample seemed much softer than any of my cold steel knives in aus-8, and my crkt knives in aus-6 appear to hold an edge longer.
Kyle Fuglesten
 
Kile,
The blades on the kits are 56-58 RC cryo treated.
They hold an edge well.

Barry,
I dont understand what is going on with your knives.
You may want to send me one for inspection.
 
Thanks for the note, Darrell. I actually have never owned any knives with aus-8. I have been buying customs primarily out of s30v the last couple of years. I have been drooling over some of the kits on your site and have wondered how the aus-8 holds up for an "around the house" pocket knife. I use a flat ground s30v folder on my carpentry job and love the fact that the edge holds up very well. I don't think I would use an aus-8 blade at work, but I was just wondering about the general characteristics of your blades.

Just thopught I would add, that I recently acquired one of your Gemini balis out of s30v:eek: :cool:

Barry H
 
I know two people who have these kit knives. They both like the steel, says it takes a good edge and holds it fairly well. AUS8 in general is a good knife steel. It is a good steel for a "work" knife and is used as a higher grade steel for a lot of "work" knives such as Cold Steel, AlMar, SOG, Spyderco, etc.
 
Any plans for a framelock kit Darrel? You could design it so someone could choose different inlays or overlays ect...or they could polish or stipple ect......

I just have a thing for frame locks lately....:D
 
We have plans laid out for more kits down the road. A frame lock is possibly one of the choices.
Right now if you go for the DDR3 that is coming out the lock on this knife is extra thick. I designed it this way . Both styles are excellent and the lock up is the best I have seen. The liners are to my specs. I designed them to be VERY strong.
The DDR3 was designed to be tough, yet it can be an art knife style if you choose. This knife can be built in 4 different style from one knife. The DDR3 has two different blade styles, and two different bolster styles. The blades and bolsters are interchangable. Take a look at them on the Knifekits.com site.
We are also running a contest for the DDR3. We have a 400.00 plus value package for the winner. The folks who preorder and post in the contest thread are the only folks who can win. The contest is in the ckd kit forum.
 
Shameless "Old Post Resurection Endorsement":

Nearly a year and a half after this post, I won a DDR3-BL kit in a contest!

The kit looks like a lot of fun. I'll but it together just as soon as I figure out what my 4 yr old did with my #6 Torx driver. He likes to use it to disassemble and re-assemble his knife collection.
 
I've bought 2 fixed blades, checked them and found 51 and 52 RC (-/+5%, checked on the guard area).
 
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