What are the "super steels"? INFI, CPM3V ... what else?

singularity35 said:
Nope. 420HC with proper HT is no super steel by today's standards. ;)
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Perhaps, but it will perform just fine. Better, in fact, than any 'super steel' that is poorly heat treated. My point being, I think that the importance of steel is blown greatly out of proportion, and some people think that all they need in a knife is a legendary 'super steel', when in fact there are many far more important factors that make the knife good or bad.
 
Super Steels,

A steel who's alloy content is too high for normal steel production and requires Particle Metallurgy.
 
MunroClansman said:
Perhaps, but it will perform just fine. Better, in fact, than any 'super steel' that is poorly heat treated. My point being, I think that the importance of steel is blown greatly out of proportion, and some people think that all they need in a knife is a legendary 'super steel', when in fact there are many far more important factors that make the knife good or bad.
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Have you ever seen a production knife with super steel that had bad heat treat? Why do proponents of the good oldies always compare their favorites to something with a bad heat treat.

Sure 420HC may perform fine for you but it's still not a super steel by any stretch of the imagination.

When you compare two items, it's best to compare them at comparable levels or you'd just be comparing apples to oranges.

Try your 420HC against S90V both with good heat treats, and compare edge retention. You'll soon see which one is super. ;)
 
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MunroClansman said:
Perhaps, but it will perform just fine. Better, in fact, than any 'super steel' that is poorly heat treated. My point being, I think that the importance of steel is blown greatly out of proportion, and some people think that all they need in a knife is a legendary 'super steel', when in fact there are many far more important factors that make the knife good or bad.
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I think you're right, but there's no easy way of measuring the quality of a heat-treat.
You can measure the hardness, but that only tells you part of the story.

It's much easier to market the cold, hard fact that your company is using CPM-s30v instead of a "industry leading, highly precise heat-treat."
 
the 10XX series. Super cheap, easy to work with, and makes a better blade than most people will ever need, assuming proper HT.
 
Hard to beat CPM Rex 121. Anything that can attain and use a RC level of 70 is pretty super...
 
Infi is THE only super steel. so super no one has been able to decode its secret heat treat and exact formula.;)
 
Threads like this are funny, because like was said earlier in the thread, what is the definition of super steel. Is super steel judged by it's chemical components? if so, then all the stainless steels are super steels compared to the tougher carbon steels. Do you judge it on it's overall toughness and strength? if so then the simple carbon steels are more "super" than the stainless steels. Combination of all of these properties?

In my opinion a super steel is a steel that has excellent overall properties, not excellent in just one. 3V, INFI, properly heat treated are excellent. However 1084, W2, 52100 all forged by a custom maker provide super steel toughness and wear resistance and yet are simple steels. I believe in "super knife makers", not necessarily in "super steels."

A steel is nothing without the proper heat treat
 
No amount of forging or week long heat treatment by any smith will give W2, 1084, or 52100 the wear resistance of S30V.
 
mkjellgren said:
What exactly is a super steel? Its a made up term used by us knife nuts to describe the latest and greatest steels available, nothing more. If you're referring to steels made using modern powdered metal tech, well then there are a whole host of them, most performing quite well, but ranging greatly in attributes. There are many, many steels that fit that description, all of which could be called "super steel" for their intended use.
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It's the steel found in the knife that Superman carries. That was easy.
 
me2 said:
No amount of forging or week long heat treatment by any smith will give W2, 1084, or 52100 the wear resistance of S30V.
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That is true, but on the other side of the coin, I've had a Buck Vanguard in 420HC and several CS Voyagers in AUS 8A absolutely blow away a couple of knives in S30V when it first came out, and the S30V came from very famous makers who should have known better. S30V heat treated poorly is absolute crap, only a step above pot metal, IMO.

If all the knives have a proper heat treat, then I would agree to your statement. I've been burned too many times (read $$) to ever trust S30V again.
 
Nullity said:
I think you're right, but there's no easy way of measuring the quality of a heat-treat.
You can measure the hardness, but that only tells you part of the story.

It's much easier to market the cold, hard fact that your company is using CPM-s30v instead of a "industry leading, highly precise heat-treat."
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Entirely false my friend, as that is precisely what Busse has done with their INFI
 
SpartanSaint said:
Entirely false my friend, as that is precisely what Busse has done with their INFI
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I'm not sure if what I said is "entirely false", because Busse is the only company I know of that markets the heat-treat over the steel they use.
Most of what I see is the marketing of steels. Spyderco's Sprint runs are an example. Zero Tolerance also does special runs in more exotic steels.

I have never seen a company do a special run of heat-treats. (Unless you count botched heat-treats. :p)
 
singularity35 said:
Have you ever seen a production knife with super steel that had bad heat treat? Why do proponents of the good oldies always compare their favorites to something with a bad heat treat.

Sure 420HC may perform fine for you but it's still not a super steel by any stretch of the imagination.

When you compare two items, it's best to compare them at comparable levels or you'd just be comparing apples to oranges.

Try your 420HC against S90V both with good heat treats, and compare edge retention. You'll soon see which one is super. ;)
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And then you turn both into a BIG chopper and break the S90V in a 100 little pieces when you start using them.

Supersteel is a bull**** marketing term.
 
singularity35 said:
I think for most intents and purposes in the forums, super steels refer to the extreme wear resistance steels that can cut for a long time.
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LX_Emergency said:
And then you turn both into a BIG chopper and break the S90V in a 100 little pieces when you start using them.

Supersteel is a bull**** marketing term.
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If you'd bothered to read my previous posts...


You wouldn't be all up in arms. ;)
 
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