What is the 1095

udtjim

udtjim

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Sep 4, 2007
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Of stainless steel. While everyone may not agree that 1095 is a great steel used by CS, Ontario, Kabar and most other Makers of field knives, it certainly seems to be a good old standard and I don't mean to have a debate on the other common Carbon steels, I wanted some input of which Stainless steel fills this same niche. IYO

BTW, do you think that D2 kinda is a good alternative to both. I know that application matters but this in in general for field/camping knives.

I also know that A2 and 01 are top steels.
 
1095 is a commonly used carbon steel as 440c is a commonly used stainless steel. Is that what you mean?
 
The 1095 of Stainless steels is 420HC.

With a good heat treat its a great steel with plenty of forgiveness. Check out http://www.knifetests.com/ and his test of the Buck Nighthawk.

After using Buck (Bos treated) and Gerber's version of 420HC, I've pretty much given up on 440C. It just ends up too brittle for my liking.
 
Yeah, thats what I mean. I have had some good knives in 420 HC and 440C.
 
I really like Buck's 420HC. My good old 119 special gets as sharp as any carbon knife I have. Doesn't hold that edge forever mind you, but I much prefer a knife that I can get sharp quick and easily than one that is hard to sharpen. I find 440C a bit on the hard to sharpen side. Never sharpened any of the 'super' steels.
 
I'd also go with Buck's 420HC. I really like that steel, easy to sharpen.
 
I'd say Aus 8 is the stainless equivalent of 1095, as in cheap-ish, reasonable all round performer, no frills, tried and tested !
 
I agree with the AUS8A :) Great steel that has been used on enough knives to make it a standard. I have a few that have held their own just fine. Most notably my Ontario RAT1 folder. I have full on abused this knife and it has taken it all. The steel is cheap enough to keep the cost of knives down and it still performs well so you get more than your monies worth of performance. 440C would be my call if true 440C was used more often in production knives. When it is heat treated to it's fullest 440C is hard to beat.
 
pitdog said:
I'd say Aus 8 is the stainless equivalent of 1095, as in cheap-ish, reasonable all round performer, no frills, tried and tested !
Click to expand...

Me too! AUS-8 is similar mostly because they have fine carbides and they are easy to sharpen but don't hold the edge as long as other steels.

Hands down the sharpest knives I have owned have been in AUS-8 and 1095. One in 52100 was sick too!
 
I agree that it's all in the heat treat, but I think that all things being equal, 12c27Mod takes and holds an edge as well as 1095 and is just as easy to sharpen.
 
If heat treated right, AUS-8. My Hunter revolver edgeholding wise is similar to my ka-bars for sure, sharpens just as good. But, I would think it would break before a 1095 knife would.

And yes, carbon is where its at. :D
 
I'd, say 12C27: inexpensive, good all round performance and few very good points like sharpness, ease of sharpening and stain resistance.
 
420HC (or AUS-8A -- which is really Asian 420HC) would be the 1095 of stainlesses. It's tough as stainless goes, and takes an edge quickly and easily.

440C is superior is sharpness and edge retention, but is a pain in the nuts to get there. Great steel for small blades though, IMO.

D2 is not analogous to 1095 at all. More like a carbon version of 440C It's kind of a pain to sharpen, but gets sharp as hell. It can be made very hard as well, but tends to also be brittle at high hardness like 440C. Again a good choice for small blades, but not your chopper/batoner sized knives.

A2 and O1, IMO are good alternatives to 1095. Both are pretty much interchangeable in knife applications, are easy to sharpen and maintain and don't rust quite as fast as 1095. They have superior edge retention to 1095.

All of the above assumes optimal heat treat for the application. Which brings another point to consider in any of the above steels: they are common, widely used and heat treat formula are well known. They are easy steels to properly tailor to your application.
 
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