Who makes the toughest and most useful knife?

Well my point was they can handle water.They won't be pretty and shiney but 1095 has been handling water for many years and these old ontario kitchen knives that have been around 10,20,30 years are the proof.

I watched the knife test on the sog seal elite which he performed under water and I watched the esee-4 test and it performed better then the sog but he gave the sog a better grade which I thought was BS I think mainly because it was under water.Theres no dout in my mind the esee-4 test could have been done under water and the results would have been the same.
 
xDogsoldierx said:
Well my point was they can handle water.They won't be pretty and shiney but 1095 has been handling water for many years and these old ontario kitchen knives that have been around 10,20,30 years are the proof.....
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And I happen to agree! I'm a carbon steel fan (5160, 1095, O1, Case's CV, etc etc etc) myself, and despite what people seem to believe they don't just disintegrate into orange dust the moment they get wet. They don't need to be babied....never have needed to be babied.

They do oxidize though.

And if I was in a consistently wet environment...I would probably lean stainless. There are more than enough stainless steels out there that are moderately priced, hold an edge, and are easy to sharpen. Heck...I love (gasp!) AUS-8. It works.

Or the Fallkniven's VG-10 laminate.

And another argument for the Fallkniven F1....that it has a full but not exposed tang is a plus in a cold, wet environment...which I think was what the OP was talking about.
 
marcinek said:
And I happen to agree! I'm a carbon steel fan (5160, 1095, O1, Case's CV, etc etc etc) myself, and despite what people seem to believe they don't just disintegrate into orange dust the moment they get wet. They don't need to be babied....never have needed to be babied.

They do oxidize though.

And if I was in a consistently wet environment...I would probably lean stainless. There are more than enough stainless steels out there that are moderately priced, hold an edge, and are easy to sharpen. Heck...I love (gasp!) AUS-8. It works.

Or the Fallkniven's VG-10 laminate.

And another argument for the Fallkniven F1....that it has a full but not exposed tang is a plus in a cold, wet environment...which I think was what the OP was talking about.
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My Recon 1 is my garage knife, I use it a lot out there cutting up and opening stuff ect.

I just touch it up every once in awhile on my ceramic rod, it just works.....
 
Well what did you decide?

After badmouthing the stainless steels I went and bought a new knife. I got a Benchmade Emissary with a S30V blade. I like the knife so as fit and finish and knife size, weight, how it sits in my pocket (pocket clip) and styling are concerned. The final decision, though will be in how well the blade holds an edge and stands up to my type of usage. So far so good though, but I have yet to give it any hard use and cutting tasks.

Jeff
 
The Mark II Fighting-Utility Knife (AKA "Ka-Bar") has a known, significant design defect. And it's not the "stick" tang as such. Battle swords were made that way for centuries and held up well. It's the square shoulders at the tang/blade junction. They create a stress-riser that significantly weakens the knife.

The steel itself is an upgrade of a steel designed for farm disks and harrows. You know, the things that encounter rocks and tree roots with great force. It can be made into a very tough knife that takes a fine edge - and rusts.

Fallkniven has called their F-1 the official knife of the Swedish Air Force for years - publicly and in Sweden. They are a Swedish company. I suppose they could be lying, but it seems rather unlikely.

A full-tang knife the length and thickness of the F-1 would be hard to break, I think. However, I have never broken a knife, so I am likely a poor source. Talk to the guys who systematically break knives by insane abuse. They are the self-proclaimed experts. (Former sperts anyhow)
 
i love that guy on knife tests,its called knifetest.com,but the tests themselves are called destruction tests if i`m not mistaken,beats paper cutting for sure
 
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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Whoa... you're "question" and the rest of what you wrote raises a LOT of red flags, bro.

First: toughest and most useful for what? I wouldn't choose a Ka-Bar fighting knife with the leather washer handle for anything. Yes it's tough, but it's a fighting knife. Are you planning on fighting someone with it on a battlefield? Then that's a great choice. Otherwise, that back finger guard, weak tip, and rat-tail tang might come back to haunt you.

Second: a straight blade is not "just as good" as a serrated blade or tanto. It's superior. Most people who've tried serrated blades have found that they can't do anything a good straight edge can't do, but they can't do a few things. A tanto point is for combat, period. It's hard to maintain, harder to use for anything practical. It's a very strong tip used to make thrusting attacks against other people. Again, are you going to be fighting someone with it on a battlefield, potentially wearing some sort of armor? If not, then don't go with a tanto point.

Third: "1095 cro-van is the strongest knife steel made." Dude, what in the hell is that statement that based on?

I already addressed your comment on tanto points above. Yes, it is the strongest tip... IF you are going to stab someone wearing armor. Otherwise, it's a bad choice for anything else.
 
12C27 or12C27M, stainless and three times tougher than D2 by Sandvik's testing. Low wear resistance, but not a problem if you were looking at 1095crovan, A2, O1, etc which also has low wear resistance. If you want tough, a hypoeutectoid stel with no primary carbides will get you there.
 
There are many variables in play, Heat treat, the steel itself, geometry, tang, and mostly the user. There's no way to assess what another person's idea is use, hard use, or abuse is.
The force applied to a blade during prying or chopping is very subjective. Blade length, the material being pryed, temperature, the strength and weight of the user, and the tang are all factors, all of them change.
I'm just saying, I've never broken a knife when using it properly, once you cross the line into abuse, well anything can break. If toughness is the primary concern, get an axe and a prybar. If you want to cut things, plenty of knives will do just fine under normal knife uses.
 
Winner (I am taking a shot here all right) ESEE with their ESEE-5. There, it really is just that simple. This is mine. I had stripped the coating off the blade at this point. Today, I have completely stripped the whole thing, epoxied the handle scales in place, and sanded everything to fit.

If this thing were say, 250 yards from a nuclear explosion...if it didn't melt...it would be flung 3 or 4 or 5 miles and land in one piece and be just as good as it is now...I think it's probably that tough.

P1050262.jpg
 
I may be preaching to an empty choir loft - the op hasn't been around in a bit!

Still, an ESEE-5 or a KaBar/Becker BK2, at half the cost of the ESEE-5 with a plastic-like stock grip, is a hard act to follow. Below is, top, my recent BK2 shown with aftermarket Micarta grips (another $30-$40) with my ESEE-5, actually an RC-5 with the old sheath (They now come with a Kydex - similar to the Becker's - sheath.).

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Now, about the KaBar 'Utility Knife'.... let's recall it's heritage. It was a bid answer in WWII to the call for a utility knife - and was to be made of non-strategic materials, thus the leather and carbon steel; ie, no rubber or SS. It had to be mass produced for a reasonable cost. It was intended to cut straps on supply pallets, as well as aiding the digging of a fox hole, etc. 'Fighting' employment was a plus. Not knowing any better, as a teen and into my twenties - with a new small family - my Dad's old WWII KaBar was my camping knife of choice. Other better choices, supposedly, replaced it over the years. Still, it was quite useful in camp furniture making, etc - not so much in making a small item, like a flute or spoon! Interestingly, the 'KaBar' is still made - in Olean, NY. KaBar also offers the same 1095 steel in their BK2 knife - like the ESEE-5 - both a healthy .25" thick, too. The BK2 is smooth coated, unlike the powder coat on the RC-5/ESEE-5 - it does slice & split wood a bit moren easily. One site even has it for ~$64 shipped, if you hunt a bit. Here is the only picture I have with a KaBar and an ESEE-5/RC-5 or Becker BK2 for size comparison:

IMG_3518.jpg


Also included is my least favorite fb - but a gift from #1 son - a Gerber LMFII. The Buck 650 Nighthawk is a sleeper - coated just to make it dark, as it is made of a quite decent SS, 420HC.

Stainz
 
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