What is the deal with N690 steel?

rifon2 said:
Kevin Wilkins likes it, that means a lot to me. I think his stuff is amazing.

He uses it & it's one of the few stainless steels that he uses.

http://www.wilkins-knives.com/materials_e.html
Click to expand...

I am not dissing the steel but Kevin probably uses it because it originates in Europe where he is also located,I believe. I think that country of origin has a lot to do with what companies use because of import taxes, shipping costs and the value of the dollar compared to the euro. When I finally get the Extrema Ratio MPC I have been wanting I will be able to comment on the steels performance but it's not at the top of my wish list right now. Man, I never realized how old this thread is.
 
I don't have Mike Stewart's exact quote, but essentially what he said is that some of the inexpensive N690 knives like the original Benchmade Rants were real bargains. I don't know if he'd choose to make Bark River knives out of N690. But based on his quote, he didn't seem to be dissing the steel either. ;)
 
This post seems to bear repeating . . .

knarfeng said:
I'll add to this 2-year old thread because I do not see a composition listed. And two years ago I did not own a monochrome. Now I do:D

____________440C___________N690
C%_______0.95 - 1.20________1.05
Cr________16.00-18.00_______17
Mo__________0.75___________1.1
V____________—____________0.1
Co___________—____________1.5

I really like the performance of N690 in my Monochrome (59HRC in mine). To me, it seems to take a finer edge than 440C, which is what you would expect with a trace of Vanadium to refine the grain structure. When I did side by side edge retention testing on manila rope, I found edge retention of N690 to be on the order of VG10, 154CM et. al. Really lovely stuff.

I wish it were available on more offerings.
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Perhaps now it will be. :thumbup:
 
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It... Won't... Die!!!

I love me some N690. takes an edge like VG-10, holds it like... better than 440C? Don't know any other comparable steel for edge retention. Definitely not S30V, I'm sure some weirdo would be tempted to say that.
 
I do believe Todd Begg uses N690 in his Bodegas, so there you go, if it's god for him to use, that should answer your questions about the steel
 
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