Steel question

R

reaper185

Joined
Jan 23, 2023
Messages
138
Really keeping an eye out for an upgrade field knife....currently have a 440c 7incher made by s&w. Videos of torturing tops steel eagle 111a look compelling. Is there another knife steel in that <300$ pricepoint thats tougher to snap thAn 1095 tops knife? Maybe something in a2?
 
Lot of options in that price range and under for that matter. I have a smaller ESEE in 1095 that has been great. And those guys will replace the blade of you mess it up.

Tops are sharpened prybars. If ypu can break one under normal conditions then something is wrong with the knife. Normal conditions meaning you're not beating it with a sledge hammer or trying to snap it with a winch and chain.
 
Last edited:
Maybe my question is too disjointed..
Allow me to rephrase please.

Is there an analogous stainles steel type readily available that outclasses or matches well done 1095 in terms of toughness and edge retention? Dont really care about corrosion either way.

Also this is for large camp/survival chopper type use.
 
1095 is a basic steel and kind of eh in all aspects, you can pretty much pick any steel and they will have better general attributes to 1095.

420HC is usually the entry class steel. 420HC at 56-58HCR has about 50% more cutting and toughness of 1095, while being stainless. Making it as thick as some TOPS with Bos heat treatment and you can have your lifetime knife.
 
Deino said:
1095 is a basic steel and kind of eh in all aspects, you can pretty much pick any steel and they will have better general attributes to 1095.

420HC is usually the entry class steel. 420HC at 56-58HCR has about 50% more cutting and toughness of 1095, while being stainless. Making it as thick as some TOPS with Bos heat treatment and you can have your lifetime knife.
Click to expand...
I definitely agree that Buck makes some amazingly tough products, especially the 124. I do believe that tops makes the toughest production 1095 knives around in any thickness.
 
Honestly 1095 is a good steel but not great. Plenty of good stainless steels that are better. The few I own in it have proven to have has less than stellar edge retention really and mid range toughness at best.

The problem in my opinion is finding a fixed blade the size of your S&W in some higher end steel. I mean that thing has an 8 inch blade according to the specs. Im fairly certain it's going to be hard to find an 8 inch blade in your price range. It will be near impossible to find an 11 inch knife like the TOPs you mentioned in anything better than 1095.
 
Last edited:
reaper185 said:
Is there an analogous stainles steel type readily available that outclasses or matches well done 1095 in terms of toughness and edge retention? Dont really care about corrosion either way.
Click to expand...
If corrosion isn’t a concern then I’m not sure you can do better than my favorite, 5160, in terms of price to performance ratio.

In other words, it’s an inexpensive but EXTREMELY tough steel.

A comparable knife made of the tough stainless steels (AEB-L, 3V, etc.) will likely be much more expensive due to the steel price and trickier heat treatment.
 
RBB2 said:
For stainless, AEBL/13C26 is pretty much the king of toughness. It even compares favorably to many tool steels.

Credit to Larrin:
View attachment 2068426
Click to expand...

That chart is really weird, I'm a fan of Larrin's work but why is M390 at 64 HRC as tough as CruWear near 61? That chart seems a bit dated.

Also 1095 is a bit underwhelming IMO, people think its tough because it's only put in these super thick knives that are heat treated super soft when you get better all around performance from many other steels that would perform just as well if not better than a near quarter inch thick slab of 1095. Don't get me wrong, 1095 steel can make a great knife, but I wish it wasn't used as the standard for super tough indestructible steel when in reality it performs mediocre in most aspects compared to other modern and low alloy steels.
 
kafolarbear said:
That chart is really weird, I'm a fan of Larrin's work but why is M390 at 64 HRC as tough as CruWear near 61? That chart seems a bit dated.
Click to expand...
The cruwear listed is the old ingot style. If you want the results for powder steel Cruwear ( pretty much all Cruwear used now is powder version best I can tell) look at the results listed in that chart for Z wear. It is CPM Cruwear sold by Zapp steel . Ingot Cruwear goes way back all the way to Vasco Pacific "Vascowear" which is no longer made and the company is out of business. The Gerber Sportsman 2 had a version they called "V" steel which was Vasco Pacific's Vascowear. They folded ( Vasco Pacific) and Crucible began making it as Cruwear. Later I believe Sal from Spyderco brought us the powder steel version and it caught on so well that now several companies make knives with it.

Z wear
and
PD#1
are the same composition and are also powder steel

Spectrumwear is the same composition but made using the old ingot process I believe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top