Under $50 - What is your favorite blade steel?

Chronovore said:
9Cr18Mov is a great choice under $50. It has excellent resistance to corrosion. The edge retention is good and rises to great with the heat treatment it sees in the Civivi and Sencut knives from WE. Those knives are my first recommendation to anyone looking for something good under $50. Those are knives that persist in my EDC rotation despite the presence of knives costing several times as much.
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Also found in the BTI Schrade Old Timer OTB series, with Genuine Bone (or if you prefer, Fake Delrin) covers, for under $30.
My Old Timer 858OTB lumberjack stockman has 9CR18MoV blades. Supposedly "equivalent" to 440C.
FWIW, BTI Schrade products have a good heat treat.
 
Hashishiin said:
I haven't seen the good 440c or heard of it, yet. Only 420HC I own and would re-own is on Leatherman and Buck 110! In tests, it really appears the Bos 420HC is a cut above. Anyone know anything about how the Leatherman knife holds up? I have not had extended experience, both are new, but I have confidence in them.

I like Ontario D2 and AUS-8, their D2 per testing I have seen, does really well to other random D2. Solingen, SK carbon, Blue Paper, what is in a Douk-Douk? VG-10, definitely findable for under $50.

Yeah, Spyderco has some knives in it. Like this Military! https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=297
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The size of the knives and their handle should always be factored in their price, not just the steel.
And that's a funny problem with the 440 steel series. If you have a knife in 420HC or AUS-8 at 50$, the 440s version will certainly be higher than that:
- Due to its ruined reputation, people believe that 440 knives should not be priced that high.
- They buy a cheap 440 knives instead, with the poor heat treated blades, they are not happy.
- They then blame the steel to be poor instead of themselves buying cheap knives. Therefore further ruining the 440C.
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My small collection, around 50$ is among my criteria.
The Leatherman is somewhere in my work bag hence the empty slot, a Wingman (got it for 40 CAD somehow) with combination blade. To be honest, the blade suck, chipped and gets dull fast, the serration works great on the other hand. The Case Caliber (above the Buck 110LT) stands up better than Leatherman.
 
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