Steel & Bushcraft

I really like A2, tough enough to take the rigors of chopping and baton work, good edge retention and relatively easy to sharpen.

But I also like other alloyed carbon steels, and simple high carbon steels like 1095.

It’s some of the stainless steels that scare me, but some like S30V and Mike Stewart’s 12C27 have impressed me.
 
I don't know....

I'm a big fan of 1095, A2, and 01, they are the steels most of my knives are in. However I have a few Koyote's in 15N20 that are excellent performers, and the Bushcraft I have by Landar 15 in 1085 has been my go to knife for a few weeks now and is yet to need sharpening. It has actually held an edge longer than many blades I have in 01 and A2.

I also have a Koster bushcraft in CPM3V which can cut wood with amazing precision and easily holds an edge better than any other knife I have used.

So all that said, I think the geometry of the edge and heat treat really make the difference in what makes a great Bushcraft knife. Ofcourse ease of sharpening come into play, but they make diamond sharpeners in pretty small packages to help touching up in the field easy for those harder steals.
 
tonym said:
...I thing the geometry of the edge and heat treat really make the difference in what makes a great Bushcraft knife...
Click to expand...



Good point Tony, :thumbup:

…I always say the heat treatment and edge geometry is just as important as metallurgy.




"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike
 
My favorite steel overall is 1095. I've used 01 and like it as well.

I have two folders which use s30v which is the first stainless alloy that I've been impressed with. If these knives were available in 1095 I wopuld have still opted for it.

1095 takes such a crisp clean edge over the others with all things being equal that it has earned my number one preference in use.
 
There are so many good steels and a2 is one of them as well. However I have four knives in 154CM that just take a incredible edge and is very easy to sharpen. It does not hold a edge like D2 or maybe even s30V but I will take it over either one for all around carefree. JMO 1095 is darn hard to beat if I could only have one.
 
Are we counting SR101 as a "super steel"? I guess it's just 52100, but either way, it's a really good outdoors-steel.
 
One of the best wood-carving knives I've ever had was made from ATS-34....*shrug*

It glided through wood like butter...I was surprised and impressed.

But I'm pretty sure it was mostly edge geometry and sharpening technique....not necessarily just the steel.

It's easy to say one particular steel has certain advantages over another, and so on....but we can't forget about edge geometry and sharpening.




I used to be a huge advocate of polished edges....as I did a lot of wood-cutting chores..and simple, easy-to-sharpen steels really fit the bill. (In fact, my EDC is 5160 right now...I'm still a big fan) :D

But when it comes to tearing through tough materials....a "polished toothy" edge is so much better. I grew weary of attempting draw-cuts with a polished edge...and moved to something a little more practical.

In my mind, "polished toothy" matters more than steel type. Yes, steel type matters...and can influence cutting results...but the blade grind and sharpening job seems to make a bigger difference to me...since I end up doing both pushcuts and drawcuts nowadays (both for EDC and when outdoors).


0.02
YMMV

Dan
 
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It's funny when people say this steel is sharper than that steel. Obviously it comes down to geometry, except perhaps with S90V I've read that it's just impossible to put a hair whittling edge on it.
*edit* I stand corrected! Vasilli finally achieved a hair whittling edge on s90v http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6279713&postcount=1 It seemed odd that he couldnt until now, because he always said the carbides themselves could be sharpened/polished with diamond paste.

A lot of times these discussions come down to "heat treatment is more important than steel selection" but how many makers (that people actually buy from :D) don't do a good HT? In my experience its a non issue, I dont think I've ever bought a knife with poorly tempered steel, except maybe a cheap steak knife at the dollar store. I just think it's kind of a moot point seeing as any maker with a reputation or repeat customers didnt get that by being incompetent at heat treating their wares.

Siguy makes a good point, with whittling wood it's a matter of edge stability. I've seen some microscopic pictures of D2 and 440C, they both have very large carbides (anyone know how many microns wide a razor edge is? just curious) and sometimes distributed in bands/strips, I imagine if one of these bands of carbides ran parallel to the edge it would make it much more fragile being that there's very little steel in between them. Though I suspect this isnt so much an issue with steels that have very fine and evenly distributed carbides, such as powdered steels and Sandvik steels such as 12c27.

Don't get me wrong guys, I have nothing against designer steels, and their "pros" really shine though in certain applications, but in my opinion due to the nature of bushcraft, the type of edge you want to maintain, the way our primary medium affects the edge in cutting, and of course maintenance that the Pros are out weighed by the Cons.

That being said I still use my Kosters in 3V a lot, I just dread having to fix the edge if I ding it up. Even on diamond stones it's tedious, took forever just to polish out the original coarse grind lines, and those are a lot shallower than a chip or dent typically is.
 
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