The super steel rat race

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Thanks to the OP for starting this thread. I was going to start a similar thread, but I’m new here and I figured it might ruffle some feathers.

My first experience with a super steel was a buck pro 119 in S35-VN that I bought for my best friend as a gift. It was a pleasure to sharpen. The hollow grind and a good heat treatment helps, but that fine grain steel was razor sharp when I finished with the KME. My friend thinks $200 was an absurd amount to spend for his new elk hunting knife.

But it does seem, at least to me, that a lot of the super steel is an effective marketing tool to charge a lot for a knife. It’s hard to find a fixed blade super steel knife 4” or longer for less than $250, and many are far more expensive. That’s a lot of money. I know the benefits provided by such steel, but man….

I also wonder how many of those knives are properly heat treated to a higher Rockwell hardness so that the full potential of the steel is realized. And how does a consumer test that?!? Most of us can’t.

Now I’m looking for a new hunting knife for myself. I want something different than 420 HC, but I’m thinking that Bohler 690co or 14c28n might be just fine, unless I can find a good deal on a super steel, and that seems unlikely at this point in time.

Thanks for letting me vent. No offense intended from this new guy!
 
SkinnyElectrician said:
Thanks to the OP for starting this thread. I was going to start a similar thread, but I’m new here and I figured it might ruffle some feathers.

My first experience with a super steel was a buck pro 119 in S35-VN that I bought for my best friend as a gift. It was a pleasure to sharpen. The hollow grind and a good heat treatment helps, but that fine grain steel was razor sharp when I finished with the KME. My friend thinks $200 was an absurd amount to spend for his new elk hunting knife.

But it does seem, at least to me, that a lot of the super steel is an effective marketing tool to charge a lot for a knife. It’s hard to find a fixed blade super steel knife 4” or longer for less than $250, and many are far more expensive. That’s a lot of money. I know the benefits provided by such steel, but man….

I also wonder how many of those knives are properly heat treated to a higher Rockwell hardness so that the full potential of the steel is realized. And how does a consumer test that?!? Most of us can’t.

Now I’m looking for a new hunting knife for myself. I want something different than 420 HC, but I’m thinking that Bohler 690co or 14c28n might be just fine, unless I can find a good deal on a super steel, and that seems unlikely at this point in time.

Thanks for letting me vent. No offense intended from this new guy!
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Nothing offensive in That, whatsoever.... You just sound like you know what you like.
May I suggest looking in the sales area here on BF.
There are Many custom makers who will make what you Want in your price range..... :D


Welcome to the forums.....btw
 
SkinnyElectrician said:
Now I’m looking for a new hunting knife for myself. I want something different than 420 HC, but I’m thinking that Bohler 690co or 14c28n might be just fine, unless I can find a good deal on a super steel, and that seems unlikely at this point in time.
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For super steel, MagnaCut is all the rage for a reason. Some of the makers here use it at reasonable prices. Definitely follow Crag the Brewer Crag the Brewer 's advice and check out the exchange here, specifically KnifeMaker's Market: Knives & More for Sale, For Sale: Fixed Blades. (I've had good experiences with David Mary David Mary .)

For a "regular steel", 14C28N is great. It has excellent toughness for a stainless steel and it is very stainless. Edge retention is decent and it is friendly to sharpen. I've seen people call it a "Goldilocks steel" for being "just right" and plenty versatile. I agree! It also has a fun story.

N690 might not be magic but it's a good steel. I have a bunch of knives in it and no complaints.
 
I’m a hypocrite and weak and I admit it.

Sigh. Time to confess. This afternoon, I placed an order for a Cold Steel SRK in CPM 3V. Yes, I know. I was heavily influenced by the 3V steel. But I’m hoping it’ll be a good camp/mountain knife, and it was $87.00 shipped with taxes.

Yup, go ahead. I hope you find this confession humorous. Pile on, I deserve it. I’m weak. But honest. Dang knife vendors and their trickery with sales and super steel….
 
SkinnyElectrician said:
I’m a hypocrite and weak and I admit it.

Sigh. Time to confess. This afternoon, I placed an order for a Cold Steel SRK in CPM 3V. Yes, I know. I was heavily influenced by the 3V steel. But I’m hoping it’ll be a good camp/mountain knife, and it was $87.00 shipped with taxes.

Yup, go ahead. I hope you find this confession humorous. Pile on, I deserve it. I’m weak. But honest. Dang knife vendors and their trickery with sales and super steel….
Click to expand...

Wow, that's cheap. Idk how they do that? It's $60 in steel. Untreated
 
SkinnyElectrician said:
I’m a hypocrite and weak and I admit it.

Sigh. Time to confess. This afternoon, I placed an order for a Cold Steel SRK in CPM 3V. Yes, I know. I was heavily influenced by the 3V steel. But I’m hoping it’ll be a good camp/mountain knife, and it was $87.00 shipped with taxes.

Yup, go ahead. I hope you find this confession humorous. Pile on, I deserve it. I’m weak. But honest. Dang knife vendors and their trickery with sales and super steel….
Click to expand...
🤣 😂😅🤪🤪🤣😂🤣🤣

It’s ok, really … we’re all guilty. 😁
 
I quit chasing super steels after cutting over half a mile of cardboard with a cheap Chicago Cutlery kitchen knife. It would still slice notebook paper and cut a piece folded in half standing on a table. Resharpening was 5 minutes.
 
jnevill said:
Yeah, a 1980 Corvette with a 150hp 350 is nice, but gimme a Dodge Hellcat over it any day of the week!
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But you could buy a bad to the Bone stroked 350 from jegs cammed out HP to the max. And swap that 150 horsepower motor. And then give that hellcat a run for his money
 
There are steel fanatics who care about the difference and very scientific knife guys who actually know what the difference is. I'm not one of them.
I think O1 is my favorite woods steel. (My bench chisels are O1. They see more work and abuse than any knife I've ever used or seen someone use.) My skinner is 12c27. My work knife is either a Grip in 154cm or a Hogue in m390. No clue what my Lauri blades are. No clue what my fixed blade deer knife is. (I don't even remember who made that one.) Don't crucify me, but I was disappointed in CRK's s35v, it didn't seem to be better than anything else I have.

I am certain that, if all my knives had the same shape, handle, and weight, but kept the different steels, I would have no idea which steel I was using.
 
I was just thinking what it would be like if the goal of creating new steels was ease of sharpening? Where would we be?

Imagine a steel that could be sharpened with a couple strops on ya jeans after 50 cuts and be razor sharp? Just a hypothetical.
 
Ratatoskr said:
There are steel fanatics who care about the difference and very scientific knife guys who actually know what the difference is. I'm not one of them.
I think O1 is my favorite woods steel. (My bench chisels are O1. They see more work and abuse than any knife I've ever used or seen someone use.) My skinner is 12c27. My work knife is either a Grip in 154cm or a Hogue in m390. No clue what my Lauri blades are. No clue what my fixed blade deer knife is. (I don't even remember who made that one.) Don't crucify me, but I was disappointed in CRK's s35v, it didn't seem to be better than anything else I have.

I am certain that, if all my knives had the same shape, handle, and weight, but kept the different steels, I would have no idea which steel I was using.
Click to expand...

Your Lauri blades are 80CrV2 steel, Krupp manufactured I believe. It's among my favorites for a hard use tool where wood is the main cutting medium. As I've gotten older I find myself more concerned with things like grind, edge geometry, and a quality heat treat.... it's surprising how relevant they are to overall edge retention.

I recently purchased my first 3V blade which I hear excellent things about. My only other experience with super steels was very hard 4v which I didn't enjoy. Classic steels are comfortable for me and my uses, I doubt I'll ever graduate to fixed sharpening systems and diamond loaded strops. Being able to freehand carbon steel in a few minutes and strop it back to popping sharp in seconds (with a bar of regular compound that will last me a lifetime) hits me just right :)

Cutting cardboard is about the only time I wish I had a supersteel, but a nicely convexed hard D2 will do just fine.
 
Vlade said:
But you could buy a bad to the Bone stroked 350 from jegs cammed out HP to the max. And swap that 150 horsepower motor. And then give that hellcat a run for his money
Click to expand...
Yep, but it wouldn’t pass the California smog tests, so I could only drive it 2 years…
 
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