What did we use before the “age of supersteels?”

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DangerZone98

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This thread is partly inspired by the large historical knives thread (highly recommend checking that out). Out of curiosity, what blade styles and steels did our grandfathers use before the dawn of high edge retention stainless steels? Please feel free to share your experiences and thoughts. We’re also using the term “age of supersteels” here loosely and non-academically; we can define that as pre-2000s or even pre-1950s, that’s up to you.

From my limited knowledge, I suppose examples would include 10XX steels and spring steels. They may not have the edge retention of the $150 pocket knife we take for granted today, but I also assume these steels were more than enough to get the job done with proper usage and maintenance.
 
I'll be 70 years old in a few months.
For as long as I can remember, there's always been some sort of "super steel" being touted.

After a while, they all just run together as meaningless numbers and letters. Right now, I believe there's a 30 something super steel right?
Here I am still stuck on the "old junk" like, AUS 8 and 14c28n (and even that I had to look up to make sure it was correct!).
 
420HC, 1095, etc. 440C was a big advance.
A lot of the Renaissance steels were iffy, because there weren't a lot of places that understood metallurgy enough. They made damascus steel to combine hard and brittle steel with soft but resilient steel rather than putting in less carbon into the harder steel and watching the heat treatment.
 
There has always been makers claiming to hold the secret of making superior edge weapons/tools. So there have always been “super steels”, whether in the form of Scagles magical heat treatment, or Bowie/Blacks meteorite steel, or wootz, folded steels and etc. 40 years ago it would have been 440C, Ats-34, Cm154, then Carbon V, Infi and so on. As a collector of antique knives, I find knives from 100-200 years ago to be just as serviceable as the stuff made today. There have no doubt been advances in metallurgy, but as long as you are not building sky scrapers or turbine engines those advances offer only minor fringe advantages to the average user.

Don‘t buy the marketing hype. When knives are made from reasonable cutlery grade steel and heat treat, the difference will come down to blade geometry and quality control.

n2s
 
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There were no "Supersteels" until Benchmade and Spyderco started stamping steel types on the blades, as a selling point. Stuff was cut, quite successfully, before ATS-34 became famous (much to Loveless' chagrin)..
 
01, 1095, 440C, 420hc, are a few of the oldies. Steel manufacturers are always trying to muster up a new and improved product to put out on the market. I own a few “super steel” knives, but my old traditional German Bull folder gets carried more than any knife I own and it still gets the job done. Super steels are more of a luxury than a need. If you need extreme edge retention to do a job, get a box cutter with disposable blades
 
not2sharp said:
There has always been makers claiming to hold the secret of making superior edge weapons/tools. So there have always been “super steels”, whether in the form of Scagles magical heat treatment, or Bowie/Blacks meteorite steel, or wootz, folded steels and etc. 40 years ago it would have been 440C, Ats-34, Cm154, then Carbon V, Infi and so on. As a collector of antique knives, I find knives from 100-200 years ago to be just as serviceable as the stuff made today. There have no doubt been advances in metallurgy, but as long as you are not building sky scrapers or turbine engines those advances offer only minor fringe advantages to the average user.

Don‘t buy the marketing hype. When knives are made from reasonable cutlery grade steel and heat treat, the difference will come down to blade geometry and quality control.

n2s
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Agreed! I read from someone's sig here before (can't remember from who), "Geometry cuts. Steel and heat treat determine for how long."
 
TheEdge01 said:
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TheEdge01 said:
01, 1095, 440C, 420hc, are a few of the oldies. Steel manufacturers are always trying to muster up a new and improved product to put out on the market. I own a few “super steel” knives, but my old traditional German Bull folder gets carried more than any knife I own and it still gets the job done. Super steels are more of a luxury than a need. If you need extreme edge retention to do a job, get a box cutter with disposable blades.
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What if you need more than 1.5”? (That’s what she said) What if the job requires lots of poking and puncturing and that lil box cutter won’t do? (That’s what she said again)

I’d love to hear the reasoning because I’ve had jobs where I tried a box cutter for a day or so then laughed as I pitched it in the trash.
 
AntDog said:
What if you need more than 1.5”? (That’s what she said) What if the job requires lots of poking and puncturing and that lil box cutter won’t do? (That’s what she said again)

I’d love to hear the reasoning because I’ve had jobs where I tried a box cutter for a day or so then laughed as I pitched it in the trash.
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Sounds like you could use something like this

850-AD571-7392-4-F81-A8-C7-5-C9315-DCA9-C9.jpg
 
AntDog said:
What if you need more than 1.5”? (That’s what she said) What if the job requires lots of poking and puncturing and that lil box cutter won’t do? (That’s what she said again)

I’d love to hear the reasoning because I’ve had jobs where I tried a box cutter for a day or so then laughed as I pitched it in the trash.
Click to expand...
I suppose if all you use the cutting tool for is the occasional box which may or may not have a new knife, you could get away with a box cutter. Also depends on the box cutter. The cheap plastic ones aren’t very fun to use. The slightly more durable rubber handled ones actually work great.

But for regular cutting tasks, a decent EDC knife is my preference.
 
Hal said:
I'll be 70 years old in a few months.
For as long as I can remember, there's always been some sort of "super steel" being touted.

After a while, they all just run together as meaningless numbers and letters. Right now, I believe there's a 30 something super steel right?
Here I am still stuck on the "old junk" like, AUS 8 and 14c28n (and even that I had to look up to make sure it was correct!).
Click to expand...
I like aus8 & 14c28n they are decent steels and have their place in fact I would like a Spyderco Shaman in 14c28n with red linen micarta scales- that being said my dad was born in1920 used a case large stockman or an old timer to process deer and other wildlife and for general use,I remember they were a carbon steel and would rust easily ,I would also wonder as a kid if they made a knife that didn't rust and why dad wasn't using it.
 
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