What is alloy of Cold Steel "VG-1" & (% h Carbon V

gunmike1 said:
For some reason I don't think Cold Steels's sales pitch would go over quite as good as they would like if those other knives were on hand.
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Cougar was one of the first to note that citing the car door stab is something that can be done with a butter knife properly shaped. Of course you can't expect manufacturers to actually do such comparison work because there would likely be legal considerations when you are in competition with a product. This is why you look for unbiased work from independents. Cold Steel does make some fine utility knives in additon to the uber-tactical weapons that likely attract the majority of its customers.

-Cliff
 
I agree, I saw a lot of thier knives that looked like they were very good tools that I wouldn't mind owning, and I remember Sal Glesser saying Cold Steel uses the same geometry on their lockbacks as Spyderco (possibly the same manufacturer, too, but I don't remember), and STR has had tons of them apart and says they are very good, so I have no doubt they are pretty good locks. I just have a hard time with the marketing style, but hey, if they make money good for them. Good point about using competitor's knives in their own videos being a legal issue, but like you said you would want independent testing anyway for it to be meaningful.
 
The Cold Steel Sisu with VG-1 San Mai was razor sharp outta the box. It stayed sharp for a long time too. And re-sharpening it back to razor sharpness was easy as heck...just a few strokes on a strop. I would buy this steel again.

It's Seki made. Japanese, like American products, are first class.

And as someone once said, it's the heat treat not the steel.
 
I'm not an expert or anything on steel fatigue but the locks on my 2 CS knives are pretty damn strong looking. And that new Demko-designed lock looks to be a beast. I saw one of his you-tube vids where he hangs 300lbs from a grivory Rajah. Sure, i'd love to see the solid proof vids compare CS locks to other big names, but i'm not sure the competition would like the results.
 
I have sucessfully sold all my cold ste[a]l not given to me by my girlfriend. she would kill me if she found out i sold/traded christmas and b'day presents
 
Rat Finkenstein said:
VG-1 is, AFAIK, a step down from AUS-8.

Another way to cut costs.

I think it will be a cold day in hell when we see CS use any premium steels.
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In line from best to worst give me five steels you consider premium. I am just curious. I like quality but I know nothing much about steel quality.

Thanks in advance,
Daniel
 
Cold Steel's AUS8 in my Voyagers is excellent IMHO: takes and holds a very fine edge and is easy to sharpen (relative to VG-10, ATS-34); this may also be an attribute of the thin high grind, as well. As for Carbon V, it compares very favourably to 52100 (which is my all-time preferred high carbon steel); they're very similar in composition. I understand that the heat treat for Carbon V was developed by Lynn Thompson and that a lot of research was put into it. I hope CS does come up with an equivalent high carbon steel. In actual use, I suspect it would be difficult to tell the difference between AUS8 and VG-1.
 
i had one of the first san mai trailmasters and it broke like glass cutting wood. cs sent me a vg 1 to replace it. it looks good and is very sharp but is the vg 1 better quality ?
 
Paddy, welcome to Bladeforums!

Just for fun, check out the dates of the posts in this thread. They go back to 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009, and the posters include 3 banned members. A real trip down memory lane.

Knarfeng referenced the Steel FAQ. Good place to start. What does better quality mean, anyway? You need to rate a steel in relation to the tasks you want it to perform.
 
Paddy1970 said:
i had one of the first san mai trailmasters and it broke like glass cutting wood. cs sent me a vg 1 to replace it. it looks good and is very sharp but is the vg 1 better quality ?
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Welcome to BladeForums.

Your original blade would have been AUS8 sandwiched between layers of softer steel. Cold Steel no longer uses that combination.
Your current blade would be VG1 layered between layers of softer steel.

Your original failed in the toughness arena. It is the softer steel and sandwich configuration that provides the toughness, not the center alloy. If both were properly made, I'm not sure that you would see a difference in toughness between the two blades.

The new one should hold an edge better than the old, but edge holding was apparently not the issue. Exactly how tough the San Mai is in comparison to their standard 1085, I do not know. Perhaps the original had a manufacturing flaw.

http://www.coldsteel.com/faqs.html#san mai
A simple way to think of San Mai III® blade construction is to imagine a sandwich: The meat center is hard, high carbon steel and the pieces of bread on either side are the lower-carbon, tough side panels. The edge of the blade should be hard to maximize edge holding ability, but if the entire blade was hard it could be damaged during the rigors of battle. For ultimate toughness the body of the blade must be able to withstand impact and lateral stresses. Toughness is generally associated with "softness" and "flexibility" in steel, so that, surprisingly, if a blade is made "tough" the edge won't be hard enough to offer superior edge holding. San Mai III® blades provides a blade with hard (higher carbon) steel in the middle for a keen, long lasting edge and tougher (lower-carbon) steel along the sides for flexibility.
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heat treat is the big issue.imagine a triple temper costs as compared to one temper.swedish 2 wks ago said their lab showed aus8 to have a real small grain structure.this wk 1 member remarked ;aus8 @ 60 r. r. might surpasse vg10 ,ats34 & other higher performing alloys. vassili brother got 2 randall mili.classics fri.nickel mounts.nickel ecushtins on black micarta .back of blade sharpened about 21/2 inches.randalls are'nt my thing but those were great.
 
Rat Finkenstein said:
VG-1 is, AFAIK, a step down from AUS-8.

Another way to cut costs.

I think it will be a cold day in hell when we see CS use any premium steels.
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Of course it is. The VG 1 is just a standard nothing special high carbon stainless alloy used in the general manufacturing of cutting tools. Exactly as the Japanese site states (in Japanese), i.e. barbers scissors, kitchen knives etc. CS probably like many mass producers of knives secured a good deal with bulk quantities.

VG10 is good though a bit similar to N690 chemically.
 
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