SS Becker Knife??

[paperairplane]

The big problem is the standard 1095 versions are so damn good, there is just no need for better steel.

 

[BluesStringer]

440C with a good heat treat is perfectly good steel.

I reckon this is true because I've seen a lot of high-end custom makers using 440C in their creations. But unless I'm willing to pay several hundred dollars for a custom from a reputable custom maker, I know of no way to determine how well or poorly a 400 series steel is heat treated. And the price is really the only tip-off I have. It's almost always the cheapest when considering production knives, and that, along with a lot of early experience before I knew anything about the different steels, scares me away.

I am not really a fan of the super stainless routine. Too much effort to sharpen.

Either way it's a trade-off. Hard steels take time to sharpen, but so do softer ones because you have to stop in the middle of your work to re-sharpen them. Of course, there are in-between compromises, and that's what I usually buy, but I do really like my Bradley Alias I in S30V for an EDC, and for the kind of light duty my EDC's get, I can't imagine ever having to do more than dress it up using crock sticks and/or a strop, and even then, those sessions are few and far between.

I like carbon steel - 1095, D2, A2, O1, L6 - I don't really get the concern - people act like if you get a carbon knife wet for 10 minutes it will rust in half. I am pretty confident you could put a BK2 in a bucket of salt water for a decade, brush the rust off, oil it and be good to go.

I like carbon steel too, especially for fixed blades, which obviously, if we're talking Beckers, that's what we're talking about. I also like choices though. I also like variety. I certainly would not want either Ethan or Ka-Bar to ever decide to go all stainless, and would pitch a fit if they ever did, but I'd love to see some experimentation, sprint runs etc. just to do/try something different.

Blues

 

[Bladite]

i'm a big fan of sandvik steel, as in various mora/scandi type knives... awesome stuff, takes a great edge, slicey as helle

however, most of those are not what i would call high intensity brute effect choppers. you choose one end of the spectrum or the other.

one can put a shaving edge on an axe but honestly, that axe will not exactly be a good chopping axe anymore. might be great on facial hair, but chopping? not so much.

a BK2 can have an edge so fine as to weep, but well, field work? erm, not so great after a while. oh well

which reminds me, time to buy a sharp maker i'm lazy lately, and almost never sharpene knives but with sandpaper and glass, and that's boring. next!