So, Just How Good Does a Knife Have to Be and What Is Attainable?

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VorpelSword

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Lots of good kn ves out there today. A lot of really great ones too.

It is my opinion that one can find a knife made today that is the equal of or better than the best knives ever made in the past, recent past or distant. . . .by anybody.

And with my neck stuck way out there I now digress to the heart of the matter and the thread topic:

(1) How "good" does a knife have to be? Disregarding fit, finish and cost for the moment, just how tough, just how sharp, just how much f any performance characteristic do we need in a working belt knife or pocket EDC? Sure, a meat cutter's knife dedicated to portioning a $100,000 Tuna carcass might be optimized for sharpness and edge retention (I don't know this), but what do we, the work-a-day knife guy or gal really need in a good to great knife . . .and what makes that difference, good or great?

(2) What is attainable? I know the typical performance parameters of corrosion resistance, edge detention and toughness. I understand that in terms of materials science, optimizing one characteristic often degrades one or both of the others. The Magnicut fformulation of steel is said to have a balanced performance. But what would it take to move the whole triangle of performance characteristics up and to the right on the chart? Can it be done?

Would that be a blade as corrosion resistant as gold pr platinum, with the sharpness of monomolecular obsidian edge, the edge retention of Tungsten Carbide and the flexibility and toughness of the leaf springs on my 1950s (you pick a year) era pick up?
 
It has to be good enough for the task at hand.

You can skew to favoring toughness, edge retention and / or corrosion resistance as desired.

You'll find excellent charts from Larrin at knifesteelnerds. There is no perfect steel, and when knife steels push the envelope, you can pretty much bet you'll hear about it here.



The rest is speculation and conjecture.

Larrin Larrin , please opine at your leisure.
 
As to the question, what is attainable? Edge retention like maxamet, toughness like CPK Delta 3V, corrosion resistance like H1. There is no going off the charts because if you did it would be on the chart. Going off the charts is just research and testing, which is usually documented.
 
For many decades I carried old school traditional slip joints with 440A of indifferent heat treat. They did everything I needed them to do as a truck driver, construction worker, development engineer, bench chemist, et. al. That experience colors my perception of what is actually required for a knife to be acceptable,
So these days,
1)
>Decent blade steel. Buck 420HC qualifies. 3CrMoV does not. Case Tru-Sharp is a maybe if there are other redeeming features. I prefer stainless.
>Needs good blade geometry and I'm not real interested in having to reprofile, though I don't mind sharpening.
>I normally avoid tantos
>If it has a lock, then I want it to be secure. And I differentiate between "secure" and "strong". "Secure"= I do not want it to accidentally release. I am unlikely to break any lock, so "strong" does not impress me.

2) All of my wants are possible in any number of knives, so I will explore designs that interest me without breaking the bank.
 
For me personally, I like using the Spyderco Endura 4 or even the Tenacious as my benchmark. For folders, they’re great knives for not a whole lot of money. They’ll last you a lifetime if you use them properly and take care of them. I really like my Resilience, the Tenacious’ bigger brother.

Civivi knives are also pretty good in my experience. I have two of them and gave one to my Dad.

For fixed blades, you can’t go wrong with Morakniv.

It’s priced a little higher for what it offers, but I’m also an Esee Izula fan.
 
Interesting: No one has praised Buck, Boker, Gerber , Ontario, CRKT or many other well known makers of knives commonly sold at retail outlets.

Neither have some of the best-known premium makers of high end cutlery such ass Chris Reeve and Randall been named.
 
'How good does a knife have to be'?

It can never fail the user.

'Is it attainable?'

Yes. Budget is a personal choice and usually mutually exclusive of the level of success the user has in avoiding failure. Why? A user might have strong sentimental feelings for the knife. The bias could easily change the user's definition of failure.

I'm sure the many makers here on the Forum often find themselves in the middle of price vs successful craft and use.

Of course, as hobbyists, our opinions ebb and flow.
 
I think at a certain point a knife is only a knife and perfect OCD finish, exotic materials, fancy damascus patterns, Blinged hardware , even having the latest greatest wonder steel don't make it better in any real way that matters to a working tool. IME for example, a $40 Cold Steel Airlite is about as good a edc as any regardless of price, at least in my little collection.
 
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Many makers lean towards higher alloy steels (expensive) when thinking about time.....if you are dressing an elk, it's getting near dark. Bears are known in the area. A storm is predicted on the weather channel......

Yes, a set of outlier conditions, but how much time do You want to spend sharpening your knife???
On a mountain, near dark, with starved bears, and a snow storm?
*Its whatever people Want.


-me, I want my knives to be Sharp, until I'm done with whatever task I'm doing.
 
My old 1980s era Buck 110 wore out pretty quick, but that was in heavy abusive cutting.

Twenty five years later on, our son brought a stout Randall #16-1 to Iraq along with a CRK Green Beret. He as a Marine platoon leader and they participated in the fighting in Ramadi and Fallujah. His post deployment debrief was that the Randall had cache and brought admiration (envy?) when used to point out things on a wall map. The CRK was the tool he used to hack through 1/2 inch thick plexiglass . . .he didn't say why that had to happen.

When bought, I was merely trying to find quality tools tht would help our only son come home intact.

In 2002-2004, both knives cost me ~$250 if my recently anesthetized brain recalls it right.

Today: One is an heirloom keepsake in a display case. The other is a trusted tool kept in a go-box.
 
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How good does it have to be? That would of course vary depending on the user. I have heard the term repeated "your life may depend on it"
One day, while honestly thinking about it I could not think of a situation where me living or dying would depend on my pocket knife. Maybe cutting a seat belt to escape a burning vehicle? I could do that with almost any cheap knife if I need to. Individual mileage may vary, I certainly would not want to deploy in the Military into a combat zone with something from the dollar store in my pocket. 😏 Not much of a danger of that since I am beyond military eligibility these days 🤣

I view knife choices today as a highly personal thing, and it is really a balancing act between the big three properties you listed (toughness, corrosion resistance, edge retention) but I would say there is a 4th part to the equation as well, price.
Every individual has to ask themselves how much they are willing to pay. In the grand scheme of things I struggle to pay over $100 for a knife. For me to go over that it has to be something really special and I have to want it pretty bad. This is why I am sitting out the forum knife this year, because I cannot bring myself to drop $250 on a knife when I have dozens that are the functional equivalent of it now.
Again these are all personal decisions, but I can agree on the OP point about knives being so much better today. I grew up in the 70's and 80's, there were "good" knives available back then but I couldn't afford them. Everyone I knew carried cheap junk. Almost anything that is made today is better than that old Pakistani junk they brought in back in the 70's and 80's. Even the cheap Pakastani stuff now is better than that old junk 🤣 Some of that stuff seemed like chrome painted pot metal.
 
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