Traditional japanese bladesmith vs production folders... is there even a comparison?

[Reignman]

Okay guys and gals... recently been considering a fixed blade for the first time in a long time and while I love what some people have produced, I can't help but wonder about a few things.

Recently, I watched a video on Carter cutlery (Murray Carter) and there is something magical about seeing a true bladesmith forging your knife that to me seriously warrants the price in comparison to cutting it from a sheet of steel. My ignorance has brought me to wonder, has anyone been able to compare steels from a hand forged knife to a production steel mill forged one? I'd REALLY be interested in knowing how the two stack up.

 

[Franciscomv]

This article by Kevin Cashen helped me a lot: http://cashenblades.com/images/articles/lowdown.html

I like forged blades mainly because I derive a particular pleasure from owning and using them (I like to watch the process, too). Pure performance has nothing to do with it. In most of my EDC knives, and even in my hunting and outdoors knives, forging or stock removal would produce more or less the same tool quality. I haven't done super scientific testing, but from years of use I'd say there's little difference in performance in most knife designs (there might be a couple of cases where one method is better than the other).

 

[evanPGH]

I have hand forged blades but I've never tested a production counterpart with the same steel.

That being said, I've had production knives that I felt missed the mark in regard to the steel. I've never been disappointed with the performance of a hand forged piece.

 

[Gator97]

... has anyone been able to compare steels from a hand forged knife to a production steel mill forged one?...

TO do a valid comparison you'd need two knives with identical blade material and geometry, one hand forged and another still mill forged, and then identically heat treated Tough feat to accomplish.
Other than that, factory forged knife is rather a stretch, 1-2 hammer drops are enogh to shape the knife and bolster if necessary, and it's still sold as a forged knife.
I doubt there is a real performance difference between the two given all else equal, however, simple fact is that factory made knives have more quality problems and their HT is not as optimized and consistent compared to master bladesmith's work, making individual knife.