Stainless only on knife.....

Depends on the price, quality, and blade steel. For $10 440a is perfectly fine on my Rough Riders and I find 440a is an underrated steel. Though if I am spending $50+ on a case knife for example I want the option to spring for their carbon blade over their stainless as I think it will fit my preferences better (I don't own a case knife, this is speculative).

Beyond that I am fine with most other companies stainless options for the most part off the top of my head. If I am paying a good amount of money for a knife though I want a decent steel, carbon or stainless that is one of my preferences. I may find that 440a works for majority of my uses but it doesn't mean I don't want something superior to it if given the option.
 
I cry at all the beautiful GECs I see here that are only offered in 1095. Does that tell you? :)
I have 3 carbon Opies, 2 in the kitchen and one in my desk. However, for regular trads, I want 'em stainless.
 
I like stainless in slipjoints. One of the minor wonders of the world is why more knife companies do not use higher quality stainless steel in their routine offerings. Schatt and Morgan used to have their ATS34 line but I can't figure out much about what S&M is doing nowadays.
 
I think most people prefer stainless steel over carbon steel. I say this because in real life I've never met anyone that preferred carbon steel over stainless steel. The knife forums are the only place where I've seen people preferring carbon steel. Knife aficionados are a different breed, for sure :), and I think an all stainless knife would do well.
 
Cisco is definitely correct about the general public. I always carry a stainless knife if I intend to use it around food in a public setting. Patina on carbon steel looks "dirty" to the uneducated. I have and use both, enjoying different properties about each different kind of steel. In general, I enjoy sharpening carbon steel more, as it feels better on the stones and is less likely to leave a smudgy wire edge. Once properly sharpened, both carbon and stainless cut every bit as well as needed. I would hate to choose, as I have tried and liked dozens of alloys, but if I could only have one for everything, it would be a high quality stainless.
 
Cisco Kid said:
I think most people prefer stainless steel over carbon steel. I say this because in real life I've never met anyone that preferred carbon steel over stainless steel. The knife forums are the only place where I've seen people preferring carbon steel. Knife aficionados are a different breed, for sure :), and I think an all stainless knife would do well.
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I meet them all the time, and I'm reasonably sure that it has to do with the fact that the early stainless steels didn't hold an edge very well. The average serious knife user (if you'll grant that there is such a thing) doesn't know anything about fancy new stainless steels, but they do know what worked for their fathers and grandfathers. Of course, those probably aren't the folks who buy custom knives, with very limited exceptions.

I might prefer stainless if I bought custom knives to display, but I use all my knives and want non-stainless steels. I think there's room for both in a custom maker's repertoire.

Peregrin said:
In all honesty I steer clear of carbon steel on folding knives. I'm glad there is a choice and that many knife makers use stainless on their traditional patterned slip joints. I'll take a good stainless everyday. ATS-34, 154-CM, CPM-154 are a few that excel. There are many others too.

That being said, most of my fixed blades are high carbon steel.
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Do you know of any custom slip joint makers who only use carbon steels, Gary? I can't think of any, but I'm not keeping track like I once did. I believe the closest was John Lloyd, who used to only offer 52100 but he's now building knives with 154CM(?), too. I seem to recall that Brett Dowell only used stainless for a long time, but I recently saw a knife from him in A2.
 
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I prefer carbon for nostalgia more than anything. It works and is easy to shatpen in the field. I actually am not a big fan of the super steels. I'll own one though.
 
I wasn't aware that traditionals had so many different steel options. Gonna start looking at them more often.
 
JAlexander said:
......Do you know of any custom slip joint makers who only use carbon steels, Gary? I can't think of any, but I'm not keeping track like I once did. I believe the closest was John Lloyd, who used to only offer 52100 but he's now building knives with 154CM(?), too. I seem to recall that Brett Dowell only used stainless for a long time, but I recently saw a knife from him in A2.
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I can't think of any that use only carbon steel. I do think that most of the custom slip joint makers out there can provide either carbon or stainless, to meet their customers wishes.
 
Peregrin said:
I can't think of any that use only carbon steel. I do think that most of the custom slip joint makers out there can provide either carbon or stainless, to meet their customers wishes.
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That's one of the biggest draws of custom knives, getting it the way you want. Whether it's the cover material or the blade steel, I want what I want when I'm paying custom prices.

- Christian
 
I don't recall ever seeing this much support for stainless steels on this subforum. I have been corrected, admonished and PM'd when I have expressed my liking for stainless, even by a couple of posters on this thread!

Stainless works best for me, although I carry some of my carbon knives in cold weather because I like the individual knife and I don't sweat through my pants on the job and have to worry about rust or corrosion. I won't ever go back to the days of getting off work, pulling of my pants at the end of a long day and needing to find something oily, a chap stick, vaseline, grease or anything else to keep the blades from rusting with my acidic/salty sweat they have had on them all day. I get home now, hang the pants to dry and just put the knife/change/keys in a bowl for the next morning.

I don't miss opening up my knife the next day if I forgot to do the nightly maintenance on it to find it already with some good rust on it. Especially if I had been working with concrete or sheetrock, and the sweat had dust from those mixed in. Instant rust.

Since I got my first stainless traditional about 7 or 8 years ago and had great success with it on the job site I have never purchased another carbon blade. Today's stainless knives are solid performers that work better under harsher conditions for me. Since I am not a collector and use my knives primarily for work, I won't go back to carbon.

Robert
 
In the recently concluded 2014 Traditional Forum knife polling two identical knives were offered by CSC, the only difference was the choice of blade steel.
Those that voted for that knife voted almost 2 to 1 for the stainless.
Not the most scientific, but I think it says something.
 
I just like the way carbon steel develops a patina. I like the way it looks. Sometimes I like a nice polished stainless blade too, but I'm more inclined to buy a carbon steel pocket knife because of the patina which I like the look of :)
 
midnight flyer said:
I don't miss opening up my knife the next day if I forgot to do the nightly maintenance on it to find it already with some good rust on it. Especially if I had been working with concrete or sheetrock, and the sweat had dust from those mixed in. Instant rust.

Since I got my first stainless traditional about 7 or 8 years ago and had great success with it on the job site I have never purchased another carbon blade. Today's stainless knives are solid performers that work better under harsher conditions for me. Since I am not a collector and use my knives primarily for work, I won't go back to carbon.

Robert
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Robert - you made a very valid point.

When I was a young man, I used to have a job that was physically demanding, beating the beads down of large truck and tractor tires with a sledge hammer, for a good portion of a day. In the heat of summer, we worked outside, in the shade of the building, but, sweating was a problem. Many days my clothes were wet by the end of a day - and so was my carbon steel XX stockman, which was kept very sharp and used frequently for cutting tire valve stems off. As Case began to introduce more and more stainless offerings, I picked one up and used it as my work knife.

That was around the year 1970 and I only stayed there a couple years, until I found a job that did not require such physical effort. I never returned to carbon steel blades until I had retired, no sweat, and had time to "keep an eye on em". ;)

So what a person does every day would and should be a deciding factor on one's choice of steel. :)
 
midnight flyer said:
I don't recall ever seeing this much support for stainless steels on this subforum. I have been corrected, admonished and PM'd when I have expressed my liking for stainless, even by a couple of posters on this thread!

Stainless works best for me, although I carry some of my carbon knives in cold weather because I like the individual knife and I don't sweat through my pants on the job and have to worry about rust or corrosion. I won't ever go back to the days of getting off work, pulling of my pants at the end of a long day and needing to find something oily, a chap stick, vaseline, grease or anything else to keep the blades from rusting with my acidic/salty sweat they have had on them all day. I get home now, hang the pants to dry and just put the knife/change/keys in a bowl for the next morning.

I don't miss opening up my knife the next day if I forgot to do the nightly maintenance on it to find it already with some good rust on it. Especially if I had been working with concrete or sheetrock, and the sweat had dust from those mixed in. Instant rust.

Since I got my first stainless traditional about 7 or 8 years ago and had great success with it on the job site I have never purchased another carbon blade. Today's stainless knives are solid performers that work better under harsher conditions for me. Since I am not a collector and use my knives primarily for work, I won't go back to carbon.

Robert
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It depends on the steel really. I won't ever bother with 420HC, 440A, or no name stainless. Others may find it adequate, but I'm on a knife forum. I'm an enthusiast, I don't want adequate I want the good stuff.

The best steel I've ever used on a slipjoint is stainless, specifically BG42. I wish the production houses would use steel of its caliber more often.

But...I have a thing for carbon steel when it comes to slipjoints. I know it has disadvantages compared to a good stainless steel in a pocketknife, but I like old timey steel in an old timey blade.

- Christian
 
"I don't recall ever seeing this much support for stainless steels on this subforum." That's 'cause the patina lovers are a loud bunch and the overall bent of this forum is old ways=best way :) That concept doesn't work with materials. Modern stainless is as good as any carbon steel w/o the problem of rust and G10, micarta and carbon fiber does not chip or crack like bone, stag or wood.
 
Yes, it really is a balancing act between performance, aesthetics and price. But being that we are in the traditional arena, aesthetics often win out. I've recently said that if I could only carry one pocket knife forever, I'd be stupid not to carry my alox Electrician, but . . . in fact I rarely do. The allure of sexy blade grinds and gorgeous stag, bone and wood more often than not carry the day.
 
I prefer carbon steel on a traditional knife. I think the patina is unique and beautiful. Sort of a history of use documented on the blade. :D
 
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