Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a new pocket knife. I currently have an Arthur Wright lambsfoot. To be honest it's served me well, but sometimes I feel it doesn't hold its edge. So I'm looking for something a bit better quality. I've become confused though with all the different steels. I've seen the Enzo pk70 with s30v steel which looks good and is UK legal. But I've also seen good reviews for vg 10. D2 steel although old still seems to perform well.
Any thoughts or suggestions welcome!
Thanks Jim
You're going to hear that the best steels are whatever ZT, Spyderco, or Benchmade have in their lineup. The reason? That's all most people have experience with, me included. I can't offer what the best steel is for a folder. That's likely some obscure steel in some obscure knife by some obscure maker in some obscure country and we won't hear about this steel for another 10 years.
So, ask what the most popular steels are in the lineups of ZT, Benchmade, and Spyderco. Then you'll get questioned as to what you want your knife to do. Then you'll get a bunch of talk about geometry and heat treat.
Basically, go to a well known company that offers a good warranty, find a knife that piques your interest in your price range, and buy it. Chances are you will enjoy the knife. If you don't, then they'll replace it if something is wrong with it. If you don't like it and something isn't wrong with the knife, then sell it and buy something else. You'll eventually find what you want.
Or, of course, you can start down the rabbit hole and find the specific steel that matches your own specific needs and won't need to ask other people what the best steels are. It'll take a couple of months of reading and familiarizing yourself with what's out there and to get a basic grasp of what the hell people are talking about. At that point you'll stop asking what the best steels are and you'll start asking why this company uses this specific steel with this specific heat treat and this specific geometry. At which point you'll be in the same place as most of the rest of us. You'll have several bad knives, several good knives, and at least one knife you keep finding yourself picking up when you need a knife. Whatever steel that is, that's the best steel for you at that time because it's in the knife you like the most at that time. And that's what matters.
When you can start, on your own, identifying your own specific needs in varying types of knives, then you'll be in a position to learn what you need to address those needs, but then you won't need us because you'll know basically where to look on your own.
For me, corrosion resistance and edge retention in a 3.5 inch long blade ground to be a slicer in a folder with a reliable but not necessarily strong locking mechanism and grippy handles is what I need in a folder. In a fixed blade, something around 4.25 inches in about a .200 inch thick blade where impact and lateral toughness is the priority and edge retention is secondary where corrosion resistance doesn't matter too much is what I need. Now that I'm able to identify what I need for both general purpose knives that I'll have with me most of the time, I can narrow my search based on my priorities. If I need a long, very thin fixed blade with high corrosion and wear resistance, I can find something. And that's the process.
