Thoughts about my knife life

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paulwesley

Joined
Sep 5, 2005
Messages
655
This may sound kinda stupid but what the heck i'm on a rant. I just bought a $12 ceramic rod Lansky sharpener and have begun to sharpen my knives and vwala....a couple of my AUS8 and 440A knives are now as sharp as my new Nomad and my Mini Skirmish. They're pretty sharp too but that AUS8 has really sharpened up nicely. Now theres been a few knives i've wanted to buy but wont because i've turned in to a $100-$200 knife steel snob. I guess that is all going to change now that I know I can run my low end knives thru the sharpener real quick and have them as sharp as my Al Mar or my Benchmade, not to mention my Caly ZDP sharpens up real nice with just a few passes and I paid $60 each for two of them. I've wanted a Kershaw Blackout tanto, Mini Mojo, Baby Boa, Leek, Buck 889 and a few other 420hc or 440A knives and I'm going to get them now because I know I can keep them sharp. There are some decent low end knives out there.....many of them...Since you can get them for $40 I have Natived myself to death. For $60-$70 you can get a CRKT VooDoo with 154CM steel. I've handled one and it was very tight with quality F&F. I want to buy some $40-$60 knives now and not feel bad about it. I dont do spine whack test with a 2x4 or cram my knives as far as I can in to a phone book to see if something breaks because I dont normally treat my knives that way. I wouldn't buy a new Volvo and drive it in to a wall at 30 mph to see if the air bags work either. Sorry yall its been a rough day and i'm just on a rant. I'll shut up now and start looking at knife sites again.....thanks for listening/paul
 
I've given up on all the "newest" steel BS. I now buy knives that I like and I have no problem with AUS-6 or 420HC or 440A or anything else for that matter.

People make too big of a deal about the "super steels".
 
Oh yea forgot to mention 2 of my favorite knives are my Timberline med Wortac and Envoy super tight and excellent finish, AUS8. $35 ea!!!
 
I have become a real believer in blade design and edge geometry over blade-steel.
Some knives cut very well even though they has a lesser blade-steel.

A good example is the venerable Buck 110.
The 110's blade is an excellent design.
 
paulwesley said:
Oh yea forgot to mention 2 of my favorite knives are my Timberline med Wortac and Envoy super tight and excellent finish, AUS8. $35 ea!!!
Click to expand...

The Timberline Wortac - both sizes - is one of the great tactical knife values. I have no idea why it's not mentioned/recommended more often.
 
It's really not a sharpness issue, it's a retention issue.

I've noticed that heat-treat on the more economical knives is more erratic (less consisitant, whatever) than the higher end steel, more expensive knives.

But then, I've dealt with some higher priced knives that displayed heat treat variation between specimens. It just seems less frequent.

Inexpensive steel can be given an exceptional heat treat and be great, but of late I haven't dealt with that occurance in production folders too much.
 
There are some good bargains out there:) I've been tending to buy more toward stuff I like and use and tending a bit away from the super steels, though lately it seems to be mostly Spydies:) It's reaching a point, where if I need more edge retention for something, I've got the blade to get it done:D I also have one of the Timberline Envoys - I think I got it on a clearout up here for $30 CDN or so, which makes it a fantastic buy, all things considered. For me this year, there just hasn't been all that much that has really caught my eye. Maybe it's just the spring blues or something:)

- gord
 
You've discovered the secret- "low-end" steels can cut as well as the higher-end ones, if you're willing to get the right geometry.

I'm a bit of a snob even there- Case CV over SS is about all- but geometry rules over all.
 
can't quite get my tanto sharpening technique down quite yet though....now I get it when I hear people talking about some knives being hard to sharpen..not having a problem with the recurves.........p
 
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