Who likes stainless steel knives?

[Mistwalker]

Primarily I prefer hi-carbon. As stated a patina will help with the rust and any I get that are "raw" hi-carbon I start the forced patina very quickly. However what I want on me is usually area specific. I carry hi-carbon knives here where I live even though the humidity is always high in this temperate rain forest but in Florida I carried Bucks and a couple of stainless diving knives because the salt water and salt air just make hi-carbon a chore to maintain...to me anyway. I never had any complaints about the Buck except the one time I let it get really dull before sharpening. Lately I am warming up to some of the stainless more and more. I am starting to like the AUS-8 that my newer SOGs are made from. It is amazingly light for the amount of strength it has. Also I recently had a chance to check out a custom knife made of 154CM. I did a good bit of whittling and chopping with it and, like the SOGs I have, it was razor sharp when I started and was razor sharp when I gave it back. I did notice that it cleaned up easily and showed a lot of strength. I guess what I'm trying to say is that while for the most part whether or not I want stainless depends on the area I am in and what I am doing...I am learning to judge knives based on how they perform more so than what they are made from.

 

[udtjim]

Darn good point . I don't much care about the looks of a knife when it comes to rust but if it gets out of hand, it can sure ruin the edge.

 

[angle iron]

+1 on the D2. While I recently found out for the first time what folks are talking about re D2 being brittle (entirely my own fault) I have more than once soaked a D2 blade in the Gulf for several hours and then ignored it until I got home hours or a day later. The max I have ever had from that was a couple of tiny rust spots on the flats which were easily removed with a regular pencil eraser. As for stainless, S30V has never shown any ill effects from the same treatment.

 

[kamkazmoto]

I like 440C and 154CM. I find that I sometimes neglect my knives, especially my pocket knives and that my "patina" is more often than not rust.

 

[Mistwalker]

Darn good point . I don't much care about the looks of a knife when it comes to rust but if it gets out of hand, it can sure ruin the edge.

That is what happened to my German made hi-carbon knife in the gulf years ago...the salt water and salt air did a number on the keen edge of the knife.

However, from what I have seen the 1095 CV that Ka-bar uses is more rust resistant than regular 1095...luckily for the Marines. It is definitely one of my favorite steels now.

 

[pitdog]

+1 on the D2. While I recently found out for the first time what folks are talking about re D2 being brittle (entirely my own fault) I have more than once soaked a D2 blade in the Gulf for several hours and then ignored it until I got home hours or a day later. The max I have ever had from that was a couple of tiny rust spots on the flats which were easily removed with a regular pencil eraser. As for stainless, S30V has never shown any ill effects from the same treatment.

I think that a lot of the D2 being brittle notion is often down to poor heat treat. I had a Ka-Bar D2 Impact point that I accidently dropped down some rocks at least 6ft high, other than a small scuff in the coating the blade was perfect, zero chips or dings !
I also saw years back where Swamprat knives tested one of their blades made from D2 and were beating on it with hammers and all kinds of crazy stuff and once again it came through with flying colours.
Speaking of my Ka-Bar, I gave that knife away on a give-away here, can't remember who won but not once did he post anything about it, no pics, no comments nothing....kinda puts ya off doing give-aways !:grumpy:

 

[Mistwalker]

When my nephew deployed to the middle east with his unit 1st Chem. I bought him a Ka-Bar D2 Extreme as a "going away present". it's still dusty from the sand from over there and has a few scuffs on the coating but the knife itself is just fine.

 

[Mr.Blade]

As others have said, Fällkniven, F1, A1, A2, S1, H1 in zytel sheath. They are very resistant against water and humidity, and keep sharpness very well.

 

[angle iron]

I'm not downing D2 at all, the incident was due entirely to poor knife handling on my part. I was slicing open the wrapping on a hoe wrapped in plastic and did not control the knife which resulted in the point impacting the flat of the hoe at an almost perfect 90 angle. A small portion of the point bent but in such a way as if from metal fatigue so it was in essence broken but still attached and could not be straightened. A reprofiling of the tip fixed it easily and the knife is still a favorite. It was no fault of the steel or heat tx in my opinion (well known maker) it was just my mistake. I don't expect any of my knives to be run point on into a flat piece of good steel without suffering some degree of damage.

 

[pitdog]

I just realised that another knife I use almost daily ( but only kitchen use ) is my Spyderco Temperance in VG10 stainless, this steel has been great both in keeping a sharp edge and also being quite easy to resharpen !

 

[Toucan Oasis]

I have a Buck alpha in God knows what stainless. Basically crap., an ATS34 by Jim Wharton, my best knife, and an Odon from Fallkniven.
I live in the jungle so it is an absolute must.
A pop bottle can deteriorate here !

 

[TheGame]

I don't mind stainless, but I am not the biggest fan of it either. I prefer good ol' carbon steel anyday. That said, the Buck I use hunting is stainless, so I guess I would need to take a carbon blade everyday to see the difference in a hunting scenario.

 

[Gossman Knives]

I like both, carbon and stainless. Most of my EDC knives are stainless. I like 154CM, CPM154 and 440C. The older Buck knives from the 70's are my all time favorites. That was when they used 440C.
Scott

 

[chickenplucker]

440C is awesome. Eddie White is a master with it!!!!

 

[fujita yuji]

For me, wet condition matters more to the sheath than the blade itself.
In my experience, wet leather easily corrodes so-called "stainless" steel.
To be added, the leather gets soft and weak when wet soaked.

I take my M2 blade to stream climbing (sawa-nobori in Japanese) with no problem
as the sheath is linered with plastic.

 

[PayetteRucker]

I really like the Fallkniven knives with blades of laminated VG-10 stainless.

I used a 5 inch Kabar as a dive knife for SCUBA and freediving in Florida where you are constantly sandy, sweaty or wet. that 1095 cro van is extremely rust resistant. Take a look at the beckers maybe, I have yet to find a spot of rust on any of my 1095 kabars. Otherwise I agree with this-VG10 holds up extremely well to the abuses of bushcraft.

 

[shunsui]

If you want a small knife pick up the Spyderco AquaSalt in H1 steel. Here's the specs.

Category End Use: Fishing/Diving/Hunting/Rescue
Blade Steel: H-1
Handle Material: Black FRN
Length Overall: 9 1/4" (235mm)
Blade Length: 4 11/16" (120mm)
Blade Thickness: 1/8" (3mm)
Weight: 4.2 oz. (119g)
They're going for ~$65 on line if you look around.

If you want a big knife for chopping and batoning, get a satin finished Infi knife. The Busse SAR8 models are a lot of satin Infi for the price these days. But it ain't cheap.

If you want something in between, the Fallkniven knives are built for nasty weather.

 

[Marion David Poff]

I like Stainless Steel knives.

I like Tool Steel knives.

I like Carbon Steel knives.

I like Exotic Alloy knives.....

I think I see a trend here....

I used to be really on about corrosion, and I still don't like it.

But, I have found that I can corrode 'stainless' steel blades too.

I have an S30V Swick neck knife by Spyderco that I have had to clean the corrosion off a couple times....

The rust eraser of choice for me is a brass brush and Kaboom for Tub and Tile, works like a charm.

I think that if I needed a knife for use in a truly corrosive environment, I would choose one of Spyderco knives made of the exotic alloy H1. They make a couple.

 

[desmobob]

What are your favorite stainless steels? what do you think of stainless blades in general?

I've had no problems and great performance from all the modern stainless super-steel knives I have: 154CM (Benchmade, Joel Bolden custom), ATS34 (Benchmade), 440C (Microtech), S30V (Zero Tolerance and Spyderco), VG10 (Fallkniven and Spyderco)...

In the past, you had to trade carbon content for chromium content; you could have high-carbon or you could have stainless, but not both. That's not the case today. You can have your cake and eat it to, so to speak.

And there are two fantastic carbon steels that I think are almost as corrosion resistant as stainless: D2 and INFI.

Stay sharp,
desmobob

 

[matthewdanger]

I am not a huge fan of stainless steels. I simply don't like sharpening all that much any more and stainless steels are typically more of a pain to sharpen compared to my favored carbon steels. However I have found that I like VG-10 quite a bit, especially from Fallkniven and Spyderco. I also don't mind AUS8 due to how easy it is to sharpen.