Who makes the toughest and most useful knife?

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Kepha Gershom

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Jul 25, 2011
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I have done a fair amount of knife research online for a strong, good handlegrip knife. The decision that I have come to is the Ka-Bar, 1095 cro-van steel with leather handle. the blade styles are not as important as the general composition of the knife. A straight blade is just as good as a serrated blade or tanto. The 1095 cro-van is the strongest knife steel made. After researching, I have discovered that the tanto style blade has the strongest tip. There a lot of people who think that the tanto is just a gimmick blade, but in essence; the tip is a triangle.
 
Wow. Where to begin. I'm no novice, but no pro either. Allow me to share a bit of wisdom I've gained from here:

Asking who makes the toughest and most useful knife is very subjective. It's like asking which steel is the best. Some like D2, 1095, INFI, O-1, 440C, S30v, etc.
1095 cro-van steel is not the strongest steel made. You should also look up properties of stainless and carbon steels. That's a good place to start.
Blade geometry matters (grinds, bevels, shapes, etc).
Tanto is not a gimmick, however it's a matter of preference based on intended use.
Straight blades can be preferred for easier maintenance, but serrations no doubt have their own merits.

"Most useful" knife is subjective as well, especially to you. What are you going to use it for? The categories are diverse - chopping, slicing, stabbing, fine detail, batoning, gutting / skinning, food prep. A knife that strives to do all will perform poorly at each.

The info above doesn't help you much, but I swear it's closer to the truth.
 
well, 1095 cro-van isn't even close to the strongest knife steel made, as to blade shape. well just depends on what your doing with it. but there are a ton of knives tougher by huge amounts than a kabar with a leather handle.

cricket
 
Kepha Gershom said:
I have done a fair amount of knife research online for a strong, good handlegrip knife. The decision that I have come to is the Ka-Bar, 1095 cro-van steel with leather handle. the blade styles are not as important as the general composition of the knife. A straight blade is just as good as a serrated blade or tanto. The 1095 cro-van is the strongest knife steel made. After researching, I have discovered that the tanto style blade has the strongest tip. There a lot of people who think that the tanto is just a gimmick blade, but in essence; the tip is a triangle.
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That part I almost agree with. Except that a plain edge, to me, is, in fact, better. The rest? Do I agree with? Not so much.

By the way...."strength" and "toughness" mean two entirely different things as far as materials science goes.
 
If your talking a factory fixed blade, check out...
Busse, Fehrmam, and Fallkiniven.

If you don't want to spend that much check out...
Becker
Esee

All make very tough knives. There are many others, but I just named a few that came to me first.
 
You might want to go back and seriously update whatever research you have been taking as fact.
 
toughest knife steel made would be INFI, a runner up is sr-77 then sr-101 imo all tho O-1 and others are very good

so pretty much busse and kin win way before ka-bar, sorry becker/kabar you make good knives but you arent busse's
 
Thank you for your reply, iam seriously looking for the best knife, and the Busse INFI (after looking at their website) seems to be amazingly resiliant.
 
First of all, allow me to welcome you to bladeforums.

This is an incredibly resourceful place. The people here have vast amounts of knowledge. There are more knives out there that might fit your criteria than you know what to do with if you take the time to learn as much as you can while you are here. You are in the right place, you just need to ask the right questions. For the record, I highly recommend Becker Knife and tool products, as well as ESEE knives, who no longer have a forum here. But there are many others, including customs, that might fit your needs and price range better. What are you looking to do with your knife? What attributes do you look for in a knife?

A wise man once said that "it's what you learn when you think you know it all that counts the most"...

Again, Welcome....

JGON
 
Kepha Gershom said:
OK there are harder steels, D2 for instance cracks in negative temperatures, so is it really that tough.
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"Hardness" and "toughness" are also different.

And since when does D2 crack in negative temperatures? Where are you getting this stuff?
 
that depends on the heat treat, d2 isnt going to just randomly crack in negative temps. look at things like s30v or sr77 or sr101 or any number of higher end steels.

cricket
 
Kepha Gershom said:
Thank you for your reply, iam seriously looking for the best knife, and the Busse INFI (after looking at their website) seems to be amazingly resiliant.
Click to expand...

"Best" for what? People love Busses and INFI. Are they the best sushi knives? Many would say no. Best bushcraft knives? Many would say no.

They are excellent at what they are designed to do. If you want to do what Busses are designed to do....you are golden.

What do you want to do?
 
marcinek said:
"Hardness" and "toughness" are also different.

And since when does D2 crack in negative temperatures? Where are you getting this stuff?
Click to expand...

Other forum reviews, several hands on field tests reviews have quoted this saying D2 has cracked in -degree temps.
 
The toughest knife is forged over coals from Hades from ancient meteorites and quenched in virgin's blood. Properly heat treated, it will slice through an anvil with no edge damage (a characteristic which, unfortunately, makes it difficult to carry safely as it keeps cutting through any sheath). Alas, these blades are difficult to find, due to the lack of virgins willing to be blood donors (or virgins, period), so most of us have to do with lesser steels.
 
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