why 1095?

K

khameleonx1

Joined
Sep 28, 2010
Messages
9
Was'nt sure which category to post this so thought 'general' would be a good place.

I Am in the market for another 'survival' type knife. Everything about EESE knives sounds great....but one question....why 1095? I ask because on the site it specifically says this steel is prone to rust and stains. This applies to other brand name knives as well.

Is there something I'm missing about 1095? wouldn't s30v or 154cm, etc be a better choice for a 'survival' categorized knife? after all, in these situations, a knife could be exposed to a prolonged number of days in inclement weather etc. I am asking because i honestly do not know, I m not mocking any particular brand, just some 411 on why manufacturers are using this particular steel would be appreciated :)

Thank you
 
making a knife that size in s30v would cost much more money, 154 cm and s30v are harder steels to sharpen without larger sharpening equiptment (edgepro, waterstones ect), so trying to sharpen them with a pocket stone in the field would be a pain, and s30v and 154cm tend to chip and not roll like 1095. 1095 can also be used as the steel if flint and steel had to be used in a survival situation
 
I am going to go out on a limb here and and go with that it might take an edge better and be easier to sharpen in the field... I thought that myself because I use my Izula a lot but it got a TINY bit of rust on the ant logo in 1 day of splitting wood in crappy weather...(and i try to take as good of care of my knives as i can while in the field)...

any more factually conclusive answers would be greatly appreciated......
 
1095 is an excellent steel for hard-use tools, such as farm harrows and survival knives. It takes a fine edge.
 
I think s30v and the like are too brittle for a large blade, it is all about toughness. That is why really long blades like swords use steels like 5160.
 
I have to say that on the "survival knife" concern, you won't be stuck in the woods for long enough for rust to be a major issue.
If you go traipsing around enough you'll also see old, rusty knives laying around which would still work fine for any survival needs, including shelter building, cleaning animals, etc. So even if it does rust a bit, it'll still work.
I love stainless as much as anyone (more than most, truthfully), but we tend to get too hung up on worries over rust.:)
 
Think of all the farm equipment that sets out totally unprotected year after year. I know the blades on my disk harrow have to be 70 years old and they have never seen the inside of a barn. In fact they sit on the ground all winter but they haven't rusted away yet. Like stabman said, you won't be in a survival situation long enough for it to matter. Besides, 1095 and other simple carbon steels have good toughness, which is an important characteristic in a situation where if you snap the blade you die.
 
Thank you so much for your inputs...no one yet promoting the other steels either...I have a benchmade (doug ritter ) that is s30v and I see the new sk-5 by ontario(hedgehog design) is 154cm....makes wonder a bit about the toughness and durability of those now. However, those are both below 5.5" so Im figuring that's why. I see there is much to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of each steel as it relates to design and purpose of the blade!

thank you again :)
 
Try chopping and batoning - toughness matters a lot for these tasks. A lot of 1095 survival knives are hardened to 58-59 rockwell - if they were harder then they would be less tough, experienced knife makers like Rowen (who makes knives for ESEE) and KA-BAR (who make the Becker knives) know what they are doing with 1095 and heat treat for the best characteristics.

Check out this thread: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/839944-BK2-test-the-final-part-(LOTS-of-pictures
After reading through that, do you think that 1095 is tough enough to handle whatever?
 
khameleonx1 said:
Everything about EESE knives sounds great....but one question....why 1095?
Click to expand...

because properly heat treated 1095 is an awesome blade steel.

seriously, imho, 1095 is the 'standard' against which other blade steel should be judged.
 
Yup. it's all been said but basically it's very tough, can take a great edge using just about any sharpening medium. (Imagine trying to sharpen s30v on a river rock out in the wild...) And holds its edge more than well enough. The fact that it's cheap and has been around forever means the heat treat is easy to nail by the pros, and, well it's cheap :p

Also, rust isn't really a concern unless you are doing salt water diving. People put way too much worry about rust. The biggest thing it could do in a survival situation is dull your edge a bit. Don't put it away bloody or very wet, and if you are in crappy weather, take it out and strop it on your belt once or twice a day, and make sure it's wiped down before you go to sleep. Done.

Edit: Oh, and I believe old, navy issued dive knives actually were in 1095. They didn't have a very long shelf life, but they were still able to function for quite awhile in salt water. Seriously, carbon steel knives aren't made of paper machete, they don't just disintegrate if you hit them with water.
 
There were plans to make an ESEE-4 in 440C sometime soon. I guess I need to go over to Forum X and check up on all that.
 
:) because it sounds better than 1084. Truthfully, I believe that any of the high carbon steels will make great knives that in most cases (if taken care of) will outlast their owners.
 
I'm a big fan of 1095. The only thing I like better is SR-101, which I believe is 52100. I'm anxious to see how my custom fixed blade in a2 will compare. Not quite sure when I'm taking delivery of it, but I told the maker that I wouldn't mind a wait.
 
The best thing 1095 has going for it is its cheap. Its relatively tough, easy to sharpen, and takes a great edge.

But IMO with the exception of being cheap there are plenty of steels that have it beat. 3V makes a great hard use knife. M4 makes a great hard use tough knife too. Not to mention a dozen others.

But then again, there is a reason why there are so many blade steels. So many opinions, and so many different uses. But for the price 1095 is tough to beat.
 
Last edited:
An important qualification is how the 1095 is heat-treated and how durable the blade coating is. In both of these areas ESEE excels.
 
1095 is easy enough to sharpen in the field and im a novice. I just took my esee 4 out and yes it got a little bit of rust on it. If you are a regular user that stuff will fly off. Could not ask for a better made blade.
 
elkins45 said:
Think of all the farm equipment that sets out totally unprotected year after year. I know the blades on my disk harrow have to be 70 years old and they have never seen the inside of a barn. In fact they sit on the ground all winter but they haven't rusted away yet. Like stabman said, you won't be in a survival situation long enough for it to matter. Besides, 1095 and other simple carbon steels have good toughness, which is an important characteristic in a situation where if you snap the blade you die.
Click to expand...

Well said! ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top