The Thread for the Steel that Doesn't Exist

I

IaccidentlyCutmyThumb

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Dec 11, 2020
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Hey I was just thinking about the perfect steel for survival knives. It doesn't exist. It sounds odd in a market replete with options that there wouldn't be an optimized, close to unified opinion on what steel is optimal for that application. I am thinking in this case the perfect steel would have all of the traits of CPM 3V, if 3V was easier to sharpen with natural sources (river stones). It's semi-stainless, holds a fantastic edge, is tough as can be, but it's a real jerk to maintain unless you have a strop and or diamond stones. I know that most of us take stuff like that with us while we're out, I certainly do. But sometimes one forgets those things and/or is constrained by weight and just doesn't want to carry a little DC3, or wants to know they can maintain their tool reasonably easily if they lost their stone. Plus it's just nice to have a steel that's easier to sharpen.

I figure the industry could do a lot better with a version of CPM 3V that holds an edge 80-90% as well in exchange for being like 50% easier to sharpen, with the semi-stainlessness and toughness of 3V. I have no idea if this is possible, it's just something I thought about and noticed was missing. Do any of you have a specific use case steel that you wished existed? Is it feasible? Or would the vanadium found in modern particle metallurgy make this more difficult to achieve?
 
Andy the Aussie said:
Yep all those poor people who have not survived because they lacked the perfect steel for "survival knives" does not exist.......
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Oh I definitely think that needing to have the latest and greatest steel in a survival knife, and perhaps a large portion of the survival knives mindset is silly, but it's a fun mental exercise. Plus if it was easier to sharpen maybe it would be easier to machine, and costs could come down.

The real question is do you have a steel you feel is missing that they could perfect?
 
ferider said:
Try AEB-L.

Btw, ceramic works fine with 3V. Might try to use a coffee mug instead of river stone ? :)
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That's a good call, I haven't tried that personally but I've heard that. I don't think I'll need to, given that I always have a DC4, and most of the time a sharp 3V blade should get me through my trips. I also considered trying the top of a car window. My GF and I have talked about doing some longer haul backpacking trips through the mountains, and it's good backup to have some alternate way of sharpening just in case you drop the old DC4 or lose a pack or something.
 
I'm still holding out for the micro electric machine chainsaw blades I was promised by the emergence of nano and mem technologies. Probably want a safety lock for that one...
 
The Grendels said:
I'm still holding out for the micro electric machine chainsaw blades I was promised by the emergence of nano and mem technologies. Probably want a safety lock for that one...
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Best I can do is this.
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Perfect steel for me would be something that has corrosion resistance of H1, toughness of 5160, edge holding of s110v, ease of sharpening of 1095, and price of 420hc. But unicorns, fairy’s, etc. For a “survival field knife”, I would personally be fine with plain old 1095 and or 420hc. As long as I had the means to sharpen it properly, then I would choose 3v.
 
The perfect survival knife could be an unobtanium steel specially designed to be sharpenable on river rocks while still being as tough as 3V.

Or it could just be 3V with a sheath pocket holding a small diamond hone.
 
IaccidentlyCutmyThumb said:
The real question is do you have a steel you feel is missing that they could perfect?
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.....no.... I think the vast majority of such discussions are mental masturbation undertaken by us (yes all to some degree) who take this hobby past the "practical" and into the hypothetical. Before I because a more informed "hobbyist" I could not tell you what steel was in my most used blades (and by used I mean years of hunting/fishing/camping) yet I know that I never "noticed" a failing that was a real issue in use. I have not actually looked at what those knives are made out of but I suspect 440 and yes they still get regular use despite the couple of hundred other knives I own now... it is really hard to ignore that what so many of us call "survival" so many call "life" and the steel and heat treat of their tool is not their first consideration.
 
Bob Denman said:
Whatever the perfect steel is: it should be tougher than your ex-wife's lawyer, more resistant to corrosion than Elliot Ness. Be harder than
Chinese Algebra, and hold an edge better than your your worst enemy can hold a grudge...
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My lawyer was tougher than my ex-wife's lawyer. :cool:

I would say CPK's D3V steel. When most people think of survival, they think of bushcraft it seems. But I think of when TSHTF and the normal thoughts of kindness and civility goes out the window. And "sharpens easier" means "sharpen more often". I have diamonds and don't need to look for river rocks...
 
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