Steels that pushed you to opposite direction?

E

EatingSarma

Joined
Jun 22, 2020
Messages
712
So, I was gifted Cold Steel folder in 4034 in a trade, and I bought Demko Armiger 2 also in 4034 a bit later... I didn't use any of them for a while, and when I finally did - I immediately made conclusion that I wanna get a K390 Spyderco.

Also, friend has warcraft tanto in that same steel, has paid around 200€ for it and absolutely hates it. What a rip-off.

This steel loses it edge when I look at it wrong...

Anyone had similar experiences? Steel so bad that you seek for something opposite of it?
 
Not really, but your post did remind me I was once gifted a Gerber paracord blade out of 5cr15mov. The edge retention on that thing was somewhere in between gingerbread and plywood. I remember cutting up a handful of peanuts on a wood cutting board and when I was done the edge would no longer catch my nail. That was a crazy experience. I'm confident it would make your 4034 look like ZDP-189.
 
I had a knife with M390, too hard to sharpen for me without diamonds etc.
I much prefer something tougher and easier to sharpen.
 
fielder said:
I had a knife with M390, too hard to sharpen for me without diamonds etc.
I much prefer something tougher and easier to sharpen.
Click to expand...
Why not just use a diamond stone? If you want ease and simplicity in sharpening Im not sure anything else compares.


As far as pushing in a new direction...I used to be a massive believer in softer (sub60hrc) for pocketknives thinking I would chip anything too hard in my daily dirty use. I remember a video BBB did years ago talking about how higher hardness steels actually had the strength to maintain thin edges in the mid 60's and to give them another shot. Now I pretty much use k390/15v/zdp189/cruware/etc which are all 63-67hrc with no problems. It sure beats the AUS 8 on my rat1...Im always shocked how hard I can use my zdp189 delica which I think it around 67, with absolutely no edge damage even cutting into zip ties, hitting staples, bumping rocks.
 
BoCen said:
Not really, but your post did remind me I was once gifted a Gerber paracord blade out of 5cr15mov. The edge retention on that thing was somewhere in between gingerbread and plywood. I remember cutting up a handful of peanuts on a wood cutting board and when I was done the edge would no longer catch my nail. That was a crazy experience. I'm confident it would make your 4034 look like ZDP-189.
Click to expand...
One cut through thicker cardboard and this junk no longer shaves. Just a single cut, not even a big cut.

It had reflections after I used it on just one box. It rolled on zip tie. It rolled on wood...

The word to describe the "performance" of 4034 is - miserable
 
Dagoth_Blur said:
Why not just use a diamond stone? If you want ease and simplicity in sharpening Im not sure anything else compares.


As far as pushing in a new direction...I used to be a massive believer in softer (sub60hrc) for pocketknives thinking I would chip anything too hard in my daily dirty use. I remember a video BBB did years ago talking about how higher hardness steels actually had the strength to maintain thin edges in the mid 60's and to give them another shot. Now I pretty much use k390/15v/zdp189/cruware/etc which are all 63-67hrc with no problems. It sure beats the AUS 8 on my rat1...Im always shocked how hard I can use my zdp189 delica which I think it around 67, with absolutely no edge damage even cutting into zip ties, hitting staples, bumping rocks.
Click to expand...
I still feel sorry I changed my mind at the store about getting ZDP189 Endura years ago...

I used S35VN Recon1 as my usual EDC, and I mostly use my 3V and 52100 fixed blades for well... camping, hiking, and tasks at home/garden that require a fixed blade.

But after experiencing miserable performance of 4034 - I just got strong urges for my folders to be really wear resistant.

As for fixed blades - 3V is my favorite by far.
 
All the old Gerber 420HC bladed knives I've had in my younger years. I don't know why I had it in my head they were any good. So many Gerber Gators. They don't keep and edge and they still rust. Why did I keep buying them. I claim temporary insanity.

They made me buy my first Spyderco Endura and while it was "only" AUS-6 even that held an edge better. And then I bought one in VG10. I've not bought a Gerber folder in over twenty years now. I broke down and bought a Strongarm a few years ago after being told how great they are and I don't know who likes that grip but they can keep them. I don't know that I'll ever use mine again.

Just looked and I see they now have a 154CM Gator. That should be the standard since the 420HC version wend dull on me cutting nylon line. Garbage steel. Thinking back it makes me wonder if it's even heat treated. Paraframe, Fastdraw, LST, E-Z Out, and probably the nicest one was the aluminum handled Air Ranger. And they all sucked. At least now they seem to offer some better steels but I still see a bunch of junk steels that I'd bet money still have poor heat treatment done on them. I know when I sharpened that Strongarm the belt ATE that steel.
 
Maximumbob54 said:
All the old Gerber 420HC bladed knives I've had in my younger years. I don't know why I had it in my head they were any good. So many Gerber Gators. They don't keep and edge and they still rust. Why did I keep buying them. I claim temporary insanity.

They made me buy my first Spyderco Endura and while it was "only" AUS-6 even that held an edge better. And then I bought one in VG10. I've not bought a Gerber folder in over twenty years now. I broke down and bought a Strongarm a few years ago after being told how great they are and I don't know who likes that grip but they can keep them. I don't know that I'll ever use mine again.

Just looked and I see they now have a 154CM Gator. That should be the standard since the 420HC version wend dull on me cutting nylon line. Garbage steel. Thinking back it makes me wonder if it's even heat treated. Paraframe, Fastdraw, LST, E-Z Out, and probably the nicest one was the aluminum handled Air Ranger. And they all sucked. At least now they seem to offer some better steels but I still see a bunch of junk steels that I'd bet money still have poor heat treatment done on them. I know when I sharpened that Strongarm the belt ATE that steel.
Click to expand...
You know, I also got a Strongarm because I was told how great it was, and while I really appreciate the handle, sheath and general shape of the knife, that 420HC is hot garbage in my opinion. Yes it's quick to sharpen up again, but that just means that I'll have less life in the knife.

Also, yeah, the Gerber 420HC in the Strongarm and the mystery steel in the Paraframe pushed me towards good steels :)
 
After using case surgical stainless steel, xx stuff and the newer cv stuff it was very disappointing. Only one of my large trappers in cv steel was decent and one in 154cm. The rest were sharp out of the box but soon dulled and could not cut anything. Yes they sharpened up quickly but again went dull before I could finish a short project. My Buck knives in 420hc and 425m I could sharpen to a fine edge and they would last several days on several projects so it isn’t my sharpening skills. I have been using knives for 60+ years and daily since I was about 11 years old. I’ve had some decent knives back in the 1970s but around the mid 1980s they seemed to get less than ideal. In the 2002 era I discovered some of the newer stainless steels and was very impressed. I also discovered that the heat treatment and geometry has a lot to do with how well they perform. Im glad that production knife makers started to pay attention to that aspect and now make some outstanding knives!
 
fielder said:
I had a knife with M390, too hard to sharpen for me without diamonds etc.
I much prefer something tougher and easier to sharpen.
Click to expand...

Haha that reminds me of a couple of years ago when I was carrying a Bradford Guardian 3 in M390 at work and a coworker asked for a knife. I handed it to him and when I came back a couple of minutes later, to my absolute horror, I saw he was cutting open old canvas sandbags with it. That edge was gone and in those days all I had for sharpening was a Spyderco Sharpmaker and the rods it originally came with. Not the diamond ones. Getting that thing to shave again nearly cost me my sanity ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top