Steels you never (or never again) intend to buy. And why?

What ever the newer Schrade Old timer steel happens to be 9cr18 mov or 440c if that’s what they stated it was. They did a terrible heat treatment on it. The advertisement was not accurate and very misleading me to think they were USA made. I should have known that the low price was an indicator of quality. My bad it will never happen again through that manufacture.

Maybe through another maker with good heat treatment the steel might be very good but definitely not on the ones I received. Part of the main blade was hard and chippy and other areas were soft and rolled over. Same as the secondary blades. The sheeps foot blade appeared to be bent with a hair line crack. I just wonder if it’s some fender pot metal alloy or high contamination. They are crap and I don’t like admitting that I fell for their junk.
 
Not interested in 1095, definitely not for a folder. I dislike patina and the amount of maintenance needed.
Don't like M390, too hard to sharpen, or other such "super steels".
Instead give me 14c28n, aebl, infi, delta 3v.
 
S30V. There must be warehouses of that stuff lying around that were given to knife companies, for them to have been using it as long and as extensively as they have been even when S35VN and some others have been available at what-would-seem-to-my-ignorant-ass similar pricing.
 
Cold Steel's AUS10

I received a Counter Point for my birthday a few months ago. It's a good knife. The lock is certainly strong, but the edge is butter knife garbage. Nicks and and rolls with even the slightest glance against anything remotely hard.

It's ok, but you can keep your Cult of the Tri-Lock if it means I am going to hog off a ton of metal to repair a damaged edge.

Cruwear has kinda captured my heart currently. Very solid goldilocks for me needs.
 
please don't take this as snobby ... but it's my $ right?

1095, ...no longer, I still respect it, but 52100 is so much better in every way & still patina full carbon steel ... its what 1095 should be.
would be amazing if kabar & gec would switch to it imho

s30v & d2 for same reasons as others mentioned (chippy (which I know can be improved a lot with smart ht))
of course, all the low end stuff - 3cr13, 4cr13, 4034 and 4116... technically even avoid 8cr13 but its more on the cusp, depends on the maker... spydy & kershaw manage good ht with it
 
Steely_Gunz said:
Cold Steel's AUS10

I received a Counter Point for my birthday a few months ago. It's a good knife. The lock is certainly strong, but the edge is butter knife garbage. Nicks and and rolls with even the slightest glance against anything remotely hard.

It's ok, but you can keep your Cult of the Tri-Lock if it means I am going to hog off a ton of metal to repair a damaged edge.

Cruwear has kinda captured my heart currently. Very solid goldilocks for me needs.
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Seeing Sold Steel being increasingly mentioned on threads like this, and seeing loads of complaints popping up in "Cold Steel Nation" group on facebook... it's sadly bringing us to conclusion that they really went downhill.

In age where other manufacturers switch from AUS8 and 440 to S30V or S35VN, while budget knives use Sandvik 12C27 and 14C28N and steels like 3V are becoming increasingly more common on fixed blades, while 80CrV2 is on the rise when itcomes to budget fixed blades - they introduce Kukri in 4034 and also small folders in 4034 too 🤣🤣🤣

So, using the same steel for a kukri and small folder while claiming they both perform great.... riiight.

For small folder that you want to keep cheap - D2 would be a way better option.
And for large fixed blades - just use that 52100 you already use for entire line of drop forged knives.

Truth is, they are getting that 4034 for dirt cheap and it's also incredibly easy to machine as it's so soft, and they have brand name too, so people pay a lot for that garbage...
 
Steely_Gunz said:
Cold Steel's AUS10

I received a Counter Point for my birthday a few months ago. It's a good knife. The lock is certainly strong, but the edge is butter knife garbage. Nicks and and rolls with even the slightest glance against anything remotely hard.

It's ok, but you can keep your Cult of the Tri-Lock if it means I am going to hog off a ton of metal to repair a damaged edge.

Cruwear has kinda captured my heart currently. Very solid goldilocks for me needs.
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Weird. I use a couple XL Voyagers and Mini Recon 1's in AUS10 as beaters/harder use and have nothing but good things to say. Maybe QC has begun slipping.
 
jux t said:
Weird. I use a couple XL Voyagers and Mini Recon 1's in AUS10 as beaters/harder use and have nothing but good things to say. Maybe QC has begun slipping.
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That was my first thoughts as well. I (so far) have had good results with a couple of Voyagers.

Saying that... I need more time with the knife.
 
I generally avoid non-stainless for EDC. That includes D2. Aside from specific issues with the performance of Chinese D2, the lack of corrosion resistance can be an issue during summer.

I'm also pretty much done with 8Cr13Mov or lower members of that series. Seriously, it's 2022. You can get decent budget folders in 9Cr18Mov, 12C27, 14C28N, 440C, Acuto 440, or Chinese D2 for less than a lot of the new releases I've been seeing in 8Cr13Mov.

The new Kershaw and CRKT knives in 8Cr13Mov are a face-palm at the asking price. Seeing 7Cr17Mov in the new Kershaw slip joints is just disappointing. Buck has been doing the same thing. Some of their recent budget folders actually had interesting designs but 7Cr17Mov in a $35+ knife is just plain stupid.
 
jux t said:
Weird. I use a couple XL Voyagers and Mini Recon 1's in AUS10 as beaters/harder use and have nothing but good things to say. Maybe QC has begun slipping.
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I am not ruling out that I just got a bad one...or maybe I'm snobbier than I thought, but I dinged the edge just opening up a bit of shrink wrap on a backage of beer bottles. The edge barely grazed the edge if a cap and pushed in a small flat.

This is after I free hand sharpened it and stropped it to a good convex edge.

For the price I don't mind trying another. I like that it is a cheap, stainless beater.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
Cold Steel's AUS10

I received a Counter Point for my birthday a few months ago. It's a good knife. The lock is certainly strong, but the edge is butter knife garbage. Nicks and and rolls with even the slightest glance against anything remotely hard.

It's ok, but you can keep your Cult of the Tri-Lock if it means I am going to hog off a ton of metal to repair a damaged edge.

Cruwear has kinda captured my heart currently. Very solid goldilocks for me needs.
Click to expand...
It always seemed to me Cold Steel would benefit greatly from a steel like Cruwear or 3V in some of their folding knife offerings, since they are marketed as extreme hard use with the Triad Lock, etc. I've been underwhelmed by their Aus10 as well, and really Aus10 in general. I do have a few Demko AD20s in 3V, and those are awesome. Cruwear might be even better though with the added edge retention.
 
AEB-L. Thoroughly unremarkable to me. The ultimate “meh.” I’ve tried it from 3 different makers, and don’t care to ever again.
 
I am not a huge fan of S30V. I own several of these from different manufacturers and they are hard to sharpen. I prefer something a little softer or easier to grind, not saying I won’t buy anymore but definitely not my steel of choice
 
Ron Sabbagh said:
All this steel snobbery is ridiculous. I’ll cut with anything, including plastic at a BBQ picnic
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Well my EDC is plain old 1095.

That being said, I wouldn't use 1060 for EDC knife.
Or 4034...

Steel snobbery is a lot different than having standard.

It doesn't have to be 300€ knife, but gas station knife won't really make me happy.
 
I haven’t touched any of the “alphabet steels” in many years now. Sandvik steels are wonderful though, and I won’t say no.

I tend to stay away from D2, Sleipner, AEB-L and any of the Aus 6/8/10 stuff as well.

I’m in construction and use M390/D3V/S35V/Elmax all day long. They work wonderfully for staying sharp for a long time. The trade off is spending more time in one sitting to sharpen, but waaay less frequently. 3V is relatively easy to sharpen.
 
D2. Very good for it's intended application, just a bit too brittle for my heavy hands.
 
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