Stainless for a chopper?

[yugo308guy]

How does stainless stack up for a large chopper? Something for survival, shelter making, end of the world kind of stuff? Is a high carbon a better choice? Which stainlesses would come out on top? And what would be the best grind ? Convex edge?

 

[PrimitiveMan]

But I am a Novice.

 

[Ankerson]

I know the San Mai III Trail Masters and the Strider S30V blades do extremely well.

But for me it's INFI (Busse) for the large choppers.

 

[theonew]

Sandvik 12C27 perhaps at a 55-57 HRC. The grind shouldn't matter too much, if the edge deforms too easily, just thicken it up till it performs well.

 

[Bigfattyt]

I know the San Mai III Trail Masters and the Strider S30V blades do extremely well.

But for me it's INFI (Busse) for the large choppers.

indeed, I think the steel in the Trailmaster in San Mai III does very well. It is the handle that I did not like as much. I used it for years. It does tend to roll more in the hand than other knives (like the FBMLE, or many other choppers with a different handle shape)

The steel it's self performed great. Great edge retention. Never had problems with chips etc. It stayed sharp for a long long time. In that price range I would probably recommend something else. Fallkniven Thor I think has the option of stacked lether handles. I would prefer Micarta though.

nothing wrong with a good stainless. Especially if you don't intend to do any maintenance or care for the blade.

Tool steels, and high carbon steels typically give a performance edge in edge retention and strength, but not by lightyears.

As to the grind, I believe that convex is the way to go for chopper edge all the way.
Super easy to keep sharp!

 

[Ankerson]

indeed, I think the steel in the Trailmaster in San Mai III does very well. It is the handle that I did not like as much. I used it for years. It does tend to roll more in the hand than other knives (like the FBMLE, or many other choppers with a different handle shape)

The steel it's self performed great. Great edge retention. Never had problems with chips etc. It stayed sharp for a long long time. In that price range I would probably recommend something else. Fallkniven Thor I think has the option of stacked lether handles. I would prefer Micarta though.



nothing wrong with a good stainless. Especially if you don't intend to do any maintenance or care for the blade.

Tool steels, and high carbon steels typically give a performance edge in edge retention and strength, but not by lightyears.

Yeah I hear you there, I love the feel of my CGFBM and it's a chopping machine.

I really wish CS would go with a different handle for the reason you stated.

NIce photos though.

 

[Sevorius]

Fallkniven's laminated stainless knives do quite well in my experience, I got to chop a few limbs with a convex edged Fallkniven A2 and was very impressed. It has a core of VG10 sandwiched between 2 outer layers of 420j2. In my experience stainless steels seem to lose a lot of toughness at high hardness compared to carbon steels which maintain their toughness better. this is where laminates come into play, sandwiching a hardened core between two softer/tougher stainless sides. Personally I prefer a carbon knife with a good coating, I'm looking forward to the new 10 inch chopper from RAT cutlery.

 

[cutter17]

The OKC Ranger RD-9, in 5160 carbon steel, is a good chopper from my limited experience. I think the convex grind is the most popular and said to be the best.