Tell me about the Koster WSS knife.

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Dec 19, 2005
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I don't know how I missed this knife when it came out but I am liking it.
wss051010-01.jpg

I have a thing for smaller fixed blades and this one is on my list. I would like to hear from anyone with one. How does it compare to the Izula or BK11/14
I could not find any reviews but I could have missed them.
Thanks.
 
Weird that you are asking this question because I just came across this exact knife yesterday in a for sale thread, and ended up placing an order on Dan's website a couple of hours ago. I had never seen it before, and I love the silver twill G-10. CPM 3V is also very attractive to me, so this was a no-brainer.

I have never owned one, but I will soon :)
 
Weird that you are asking this question because I just came across this exact knife yesterday in a for sale thread, and ended up placing an order on Dan's website a couple of hours ago. I had never seen it before, and I love the silver twill G-10. CPM 3V is also very attractive to me, so this was a no-brainer.

I have never owned one, but I will soon :)

See this thread: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1039392-Another-run-of-W-amp-SS-neck-knife

It probably won't be available for "3-6 months," and that may be conservative. But good things come to..., etc., etc.

IMHO, the 'biggest handling' small knife -- bigger blade and handle, contoured handle, and lighter than many smaller knives -- is the Bark River Ultra Light Bushcrafter (ULB). Very nice and very capable, good selection of handle materials to choose from, and in 3V to boot -- but pricey. I kinda wish the Koster WSS would user a thinner stock a la ULB, but it's a small complaint, if that!
 
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I was going to put it in the Koster forum but. It is the BF WSS knife so I went here. I will post their also.
CRKDmike, let us know when you get it.
Storyville. Thanks for the input.
 
CRKDmike, let us know when you get it

Will do, although I have zero experience with the Izula or the BK-11/14. Anything you want to know more specifically?

Also, There is some info on the KosterKnives website too.
 
I don't know how I missed this knife when it came out but I am liking it.
wss051010-01.jpg

I have a thing for smaller fixed blades and this one is on my list. I would like to hear from anyone with one. How does it compare to the Izula or BK11/14
I could not find any reviews but I could have missed them.
Thanks.

I had one in silver twill just like that. I lost in somewhere in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness Area in Michigan on it's first trip out. I was really bummed!
Great little blade. If you lay a Vic Farmer with the main blade open next to it, they are about the same overall size.

I found this thread with a good pic of it with a Izula and Becker.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-me-see-your-neck-knife?p=7804611#post7804611
 
X55 is actually X55CrMo14, which is very similar to 12c27. It's not as good a steel as the 3v used in the WSS knife, but it's by no means a dud-steel.
 
Not sure I would agree, X55 steel? I don't know much about it, but at that price-point, you'll likely be buying a replacement soon.

Not so far. X55 is the same thing as 12C27, same as is used in this knife:

http://kosterknives.com/2012/01/19/works-in-progress-shop-pics-of-the-bushcraft-12c27-handles/

Remember something there Mike, in the knife world price does not always correspond with durability, although as aarya points out I'd say 3v is a better steel but the Enzo has a better grind on it. Both the Scandi and the flat ground ones. That's a pretty steep secondary on that Koster.
 
I really like that Enzo - thank you for the tip! I'll get a few for Christmas presents this year.

Do some people really believe that cost equals replacement rate?
 
Thanks for the feed back, The Enzo looks a lot like a Izula. Can you be more specific as to why you would pick it? I thought the WSS would be a good knife to give 3v a try.
 
Remember something there Mike, in the knife world price does not always correspond with durability,

True, because you could pay $20 for a tiny sharpened piece of 3V, and it would be just as durable as a larger piece of 3V with handles. However, generally speaking, a cheap knife is cheap why? HollowDweller, because production costs are cheaper, and/or material costs are cheaper. Why would material costs be cheaper? Because they are less desirable, or of lesser quality. What does less desirable or of lesser quality mean in "the knife world", well to me it means a knife that won't keep an edge, or resist corrosion, or resist breaking/chipping etc, or any combination of those things. So in a sense, yes, cost does relate to durability, but what I actually said was that you'll likely be replacing it soon. I never said anything about it's durability. One could replace a knife for many reasons, all of which cheap steel, and/or bad construction could be the cause of.
 
I really like that Enzo - thank you for the tip! I'll get a few for Christmas presents this year.

Do some people really believe that cost equals replacement rate?

If you take good care of ANY knife, it will last for a long time. However, put the WSS and the Enzo through the same punishment, and it is far more likely that the Enzo will need replacing before the WSS does. Does cost equal replacement rate? Well your question doesn't make sense, and to answer your question that makes no sense, no. Cost and replacement rate (in my opinion) are inversely correlated, generally speaking. Otherwise, why would people invest in knives that employ premium steels?

If you are trying to convince me that this X55 steel will outlast CPM-3V, then I am clearly wasting my time here.
 
If you take good care of ANY knife, it will last for a long time. However, put the WSS and the Enzo through the same punishment, and it is far more likely that the Enzo will need replacing before the WSS does. Does cost equal replacement rate? Well your question doesn't make sense, and to answer your question that makes no sense, no. Cost and replacement rate (in my opinion) are inversely correlated, generally speaking. Otherwise, why would people invest in knives that employ premium steels?

If you are trying to convince me that this X55 steel will outlast CPM-3V, then I am clearly wasting my time here.

Sorry but this is a typical case of internet abstraction -- really only discussing the two steels in abstraction here. Many ‘people’ invest in knives that match design and materials to expected range of uses, for which ‘premium steels’ might or might not be optimal. For most ‘real world’ EDC purposes, the differences would not be significant between 3V and 12C27, and it’s quite possible that many if not most would prefer the more acute edge and blade profile of the Enzo, not to mention its pointier tip. Will a WSS really ‘outshine’ an Enzo in cutting open the daily mail or food-prepping fruits, veggies, and salami at the picnic? When it comes to resharpening -- something real-world users need to do after using knives for a while – wouldn't *everyone,* regardless of sharpening skill, find the X55 much easier and faster to restore to shaving sharp? Your references to caring for your knife in one sentence, then “punishment” in the next is interesting, too: might “punishment” include, for example, not routinely caring for your knife? If so, would a 3V knife really “outlast” a comparable X55/12C27 knife in a marine or tropical environment? My lowly 12C27 Victorinox filet knives and Mora have miraculously managed to survive through years of fishing and tropical day-hiking and backpacking. Might you be surprised that experienced users would, as a matter of common sense, choose a 12C27 Koster Bushcrafter over a 3V Koster WSS for “punishing” work? Many might well choose a Koster Bushcrafter in 3V over one in 12C27 -- but not all. But the interesting discussion and perspectives about the whys, whens, wherefores, etc., by experienced users would probably be a waste of your time.
 
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I could argue and continue to poke holes in peoples theories forever, it's just in my nature, so I am going to stop replying now in an attempt to stop hijacking this thread. Sorry Op, but I didn't start this craziness, it was the tongue-in-cheek and patronizing comments of others that ruined your thread ;)

That, and the fact that I had a coffee right before reading these replies...

Maybe I'll start a new thread, where people can try to prove that more affordable steels don't need to be replaced more often than CPM (premium) steels when put through the same tests, and that Crucibles Particle Metallurgy process is actually just a waste of money...
 
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I Am trying to figure out from the above posts if I should get the wss. Or if anyone who actually has one can tell me a little about it. I have never had a KNIFE in 3V . Not that I need it just want it. If I want low cost bang for my buck I have my BK11.
The derail is not a problem I just want some feed back about the wss.
 
Thread derail? I don't see it. I think what hollowdweller said has a direct bearing on the problem because it gives context.

If I have to favour an attribute, either the ability to cut well or the ability to retain shape, I will pick cutting well. If you can have both then better still, but if you can only pick one to load up on....

hollowdweller addresses that with an example. He points to a knife that appears to have better geometry. If the WSS knife had a geometry that was just as good or better, and was made from 3V, it would win. If the WSS knife has an inferior geometry, and because it is made of 3V is more determined to stay that way, well that's 3V working against you.

If the knives considered here were just for cutting rope then geometry would matter a lot less, and you could probably load up more on the attributes of 3V despite the shape. Given that these knives are more pitched at tasks that are heavily geometry dependent it would be loopy to give materials a priority over shape [once you've passed a pretty low threshold, that all half decent knife steels do very easily].

On that, hollowdweller offers a very valid point and a caveat out the implementation of 3V. The difference might not be as pronounced as putting that 3V knife against a basic 12C27 paring knife in a potato peeling context but the reasoning is the same. I know which one would be left in the draw. Making it from 3V alone cannot make it cut better.
 
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