San-mai steel vs single blank

B

bubblewhip

Joined
Dec 18, 2009
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I was wondering on peoples opinions on San-mai steel or laminated steel, specifically Cold Steel or Fallkniven or SOG's higher end knives. I think San-mai is a little oversold. If given a choice, I would prefer a single hunk of VG-10 or 154CM rather than have a thinner piece of quality steel sandwiched between cheap 420J. I dunno, the perception of that it seems like it dilutes the steel almost and it was made to lessen the costs of using a large thick piece of quality steel. I also don't know how laminated steels are any tougher than their single blank counterparts. The edge will still chip just as readily as any super hard steel, and the center piece will still have the same lateral stress tolerances as a full single blank. It's sort of in my mind that I feel it's a better value to end up with 1-2 pounds of 154CM rather than 1.5 pounds of 420J accompanied by 0.5 pounds of VG-10.

I also dislike Cold Steel marketing San-Mai 3 as an equal to the higher grade super steels like 154cm or S30V, for the reasons being that I feel that laminated steels are just about the same as their single blank counterparts. So I just imagine it as a big piece of VG-1 preformance wise.

But maybe I'm wrong. Anyone have any experiences with laminated steels, and do you feel that they enhance the properties of the steel from their original counterparts, or they just one and the same and maybe aiding in a bit of rust resistance from the 420j.
 
Look, if Lynn says its true, then it must be true, OK? :D

FWIW the sword makers of Japan also use laminated steels to make their fabled samurai swords.

I know this is true because I watched a Nat Geo doccie on it. So it must be true!
 
bubble I agree with you... the edge is the most fragile part of the blade and the most highly stressed, so why would we worry about the rest of the blade?

There is a place for laminated blades: during failure the soft, weak, nougat-like sides will hold the rest together. Noss showed some really neat stuff with a laminated blade he cracked by bouncing on, yet it survived lots more extreme abuse.
 
Laminated steels make sense when the core steel tends to be an exceptional quality and when it tends to be otherwise brittle or hardened to accentuate the edge or cutting ability. With Cold Steel's San Mai steel, the layered steels are protecting VG-1 (which CS hypes as a premium steel). Well, it's not bad steel -- it's quite good, actually, but not premium. Before that, they layered AUS-8 steel, which was a joke.

Last year, I bought two of CS's Konjo Is that were on sale for a hundred dollars apiece. They are beautiful knives with polished blades that made them bargains, though somewhat impractical. They had highly polished blades, quality leather sheaths and the layering line was attractive.

Still, San Mai is hype. The core steel is plenty tough and, as far as I know, is not treated any differently than the steel in its 6-inch blades.


Konjo1_2.jpg



Konjo1_1a.jpg
 
I have William Henry Tom Brown Quest "survival" folder. The core of the bade is ZDP 189, and the side slabs are 420 SS. Both these materials will corrode in certain adverse environments. The rust is slighting spotting and wipes right off. The thing that surprised me was that the bread corroded more than the bologna. I would have guessed that half of the reason for the layer constuction was to reduce overall corrosion. The original flap was that ZDP 189 was so expensive that you had sandwich it in a cheaper material. Spyderco put that theory to rest when they brought out an Endura with a solid ZDP 189 blade for less than $100. My edge hasn't chipped in spite of EDC use, so I probably have not stressed the bonds that hold the blade together.
 
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