San Mai III?

H

Hadji Flip Me Over

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Mar 1, 2010
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I know Cold Steel uses San Mai III in many of their 'higher performance' knives, citing "outstanding edge-holding as well as incredible toughness", but is the price jump really worth it compared to other steels out there?
 
Poez said:
No. It is for looks. But if you want looks, it is OK.
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Exactly -- the VG-1 they use as the core of their San Mai III is exactly the same -- same hardness, etc. -- as what they use in their regular (non-laminated) VG-1 knives.

San mai does serve a functional purpose when it consists of a hard, relatively brittle steel as the core and a softer, tougher steel as the outside layers -- think of the Spyderco Caly with ZDP-189 core or Kershaw JYD II Ti with SG2 core. But there's no need for it with VG-1, so as Poez said, in this case it's just for looks/marketing purposes.
 
Poez said:
No. It is for looks. But if you want looks, it is OK.
Click to expand...

Nonsense.

Hadji Flip Me Over said:
I know Cold Steel uses San Mai III in many of their 'higher performance' knives, citing "outstanding edge-holding as well as incredible toughness", but is the price jump really worth it compared to other steels out there?
Click to expand...

That depends on what you want. The point of San Mai III is to add toughness to the blade, so if you want a tough stainless blade with good edge retention, it might be worth your while in a large fixed blade. I can't see it making any difference in a folder or a small fixed blade, in which you do not need a tough alloy.

Personally, in a large fixed blade, I'd opt for their SK5 alloy instead, though the San Mai will likely have improved edge retention compared to the SK5.
 
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