I quit worrying about it when I read on this board somewhere where a guy did a CV vs Tru Sharp test on two otherwise identical peanuts.
His results were something like all he could prove was he could cut 134 - 14 inch slices in cardboard with the CV vs 128 - 14 inch slices with the Tru Sharp. That told me Tru Sharp is good enough. All a personal preference.
Being this late at night and with a few toddies under my belt, I don't recall how much of a difference it was. But I do recall I had to work at it to find one. I cut alot of cardboard and hemp once in a while to just experiment with knives to see what they do. I have come to some conclusions, right or wrong, but in my experiance. I don't believe that half of the steel snobs over in the general forum, who are demanding the latest greatest steel since Conan's people stole the secret of steel, would notice the difference in what they carry in a day to day life. If you could by some sneaky means replace the blade on thier whiz bang tactical with an identical one made of the same stuff that Case true sharp or Buck's Paul Bos treated 420HC, or even the mystery steel that Victorinox uses, most of them would never notice.
And another thing I have a suspsion of; I wonder REALLY just how good and consistant was the heat treat in "the good old days?" I mean, now we have computer controled digital ovens, with to the degree accuracy over the heat treat, and I wonder just how good was the old stuff. Our knowledge of metalurgy is vastly better now than it was 50 years ago, thats for sure! I've taken some old knives from the pre-WW2 era, and they did not cut any better than my modern stainless stuff, and in a couple of cases, not as well. I wonder if I could take some of those old beauties that smiling-knife has from the heyday of Sheffield, how would they stack up against a modern Case, or even a Victorinox tinker?
Our grandfathers often bought that one pocket knife, and used it till it was used up. Sometimes that took many years. When they had to, they simple bought another one. A pocket knife was a tool to them, not an object of worship like it is to us knife knuts. If it got dull, they sharpened it. And in their lives they were more of an outdoor job type than alot of us. In the last 50 years America has moved from a mostly rural agrerrian society, to a mostly urban/suburban techno society. More of us sit in an office cubicle than ever before, and need a pocket knife less than our grandads ever did. It must say something that the most popular produced pocket knife in the world is the Victorinox classic. Alot of you problably know someone who carries one if you don't carry one yourself. I recall seing it on the cover of one of the knife rags, and it was billed as the most confiscated knife at airports.
Jeez, I must be a bit shot, I forgot where I was going with this runnig off. Oh yes, I think that with our modern knowledge of metals, and the pinpoint accuracy of modern heat treat equiptment, I think our modern stainless is for the most part just as good as the old carbon steels our grandads used in the pre-WW2 era. There are some carbons that are better than the stainless, but I think for the most part the difference is not something that will be noticed in normal use. In fact, I think in some ways a stainless blade may be a better choice. Since 1963, Buck has made lots of 110 folding hunters, and it converted a couple of whole generations of knife users to stainless. I know it did me.
There's an old British army saying "Never touch liquor before sundown, but never go to bed quite sober."
Goodnight gentlemen.
A well sharpened edge on my SAK gets very sharp. It isn't the longest lasting edge but it also is very easy to resharpen to a killer sharp edge. I don't have any of the Case TS but if it acts like the SAK steel it is good stuff.
