Why does every one hate 440c stainless steel so much ?

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RBid said:
440c borrows money with no intention of paying people back, dines and dashes, has terrible breath, and hooked up with your mom and told everybody about it.

That's all I could think of, because it simply happens to be the case that knives I like aren't made in 440c, so I have no experience with it.
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What a jerk :mad:
 
again, 'hate' is a stupid word to use with regards to not liking 440C, or any other steel. I am certain there are better words to use, just as I am certain that there are better steels for knives.
 
RBid said:
440c borrows money with no intention of paying people back, dines and dashes, has terrible breath, and hooked up with your mom and told everybody about it.

That's all I could think of, because it simply happens to be the case that knives I like aren't made in 440c, so I have no experience with it.
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Sometimes it is best not to post anything at all when you don't know anything at all about the thread topic. :cool:
 
I don't mind it if it's heat treated right. I think it gets a bad name from some of the cheaper knives made with it but the Benchmade Mini-Presidio Ultra I had gave me no troubles. Also like C_Becker said most people see 440 and don't look beyond that. I also agree that it is old technology and there are newer and better steels in the same price range but that still doesn't make it a bad steel.
 
The 440C that Benchmade uses on their Presidio Ultra knives has been excellent. I picked up a mini quite a while ago and it takes a great edge and keeps it very well. Paired with the hollow grind it's an awesome slicer. If more companies used it the way BM does I would have no issue buying more.
 
22-rimfire said:
Sometimes it is best not to post anything at all when you don't know anything at all about the thread topic. :cool:
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Internet discussion boards serve two purposes. The first is information exchange, the second is entertainment. I think a certain amount of levity advances the second.

A secondary goal of that post was to contribute to a culture where it is understood to be OK to not know everything, rather than making statements that aren't grounded in personal understanding for the sake of trying to create the impression that a poster is in the know. Yes, I really do think about things like that. I suspect that many people respond to topics with opinions based on things they see in charts or other posts. That muddies the water with regard to information exchange. For example, the subject of ZT Elmax obviously leads to people who never used it posting about ZT's poor treatment of the steel.


Tl;dr: it's rarely a bad thing to make people smile, and "I don't know" is a better contribution than regurgitating info of questionable origin.
 
RBid said:
I think he was differentiating from 440A or others which may be mediocre at best with a good heat treatment.
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Ok, it just seems odd to me... Naturally any steel is better with a good heat treat that without. It sounded like he said its better when heat treaded well...
 
Smokinape said:
Ok, it just seems odd to me... Naturally any steel is better with a good heat treat that without. It sounded like he said its better when heat treaded well...
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May have also been implying that it's reputation stems from commonly poor HT? Not sure
 
RBid said:
Internet discussion boards serve two purposes. The first is information exchange, the second is entertainment. I think a certain amount of levity advances the second.

A secondary goal of that post was to contribute to a culture where it is understood to be OK to not know everything, rather than making statements that aren't grounded in personal understanding for the sake of trying to create the impression that a poster is in the know. Yes, I really do think about things like that. I suspect that many people respond to topics with opinions based on things they see in charts or other posts. That muddies the water with regard to information exchange. For example, the subject of ZT Elmax obviously leads to people who never used it posting about ZT's poor treatment of the steel.

Tl;dr: it's rarely a bad thing to make people smile, and "I don't know" is a better contribution than regurgitating info of questionable origin.
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A little levity is a good thing and I use it at times. I usually insert a smiley of some sort to give folks a hint that I am introducing what I think is some humor.

The OP's post does lend itself some levity in the sense that it assumes that "everybody" hates 440C and that simply is not true. Generalizations are seldom even close to being correct. I have cheap slip joints in 440A that I purchased to try out for reasons of my own. It sharpens up okay, just does not typically hold an edge very long when you use it.

Added: I guess the important thing is that I would prefer some of the newer steels like CPM-154 as James Terrio alludes to and his experience with some bad batches of 440C in his knife making activities. Elmax is still a big unknown to me since I only have one knife (a ZT) that uses that steel and have only sharpened it once. But it seems to work okay. It's very hard and diamond sharpeners seem to be a necessity with it. I have to admit that I generally shy away from any 440 steel if I am trying to buy a "good knife" and I haven't purchased a Randall in years. With GEC knives, I have generally stuck with 1095 vs 440C.
 
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Many people hate 440c because they often confuse 440c for 440 a or b however a good heat treat on 440c is amazing I have found.
 
My favorite knife is made out of 440c steel. Works for me. Different strokes for different folks. (At least I think that's how it goes)
 
I don't know where people come up with such incorrect information on knife steels. I really like 440C, it's a great cutlery steel. On par with S30V. Many custom makers have used it. Even Buck Knives used it for 20 yrs. with their models. DM
 
I honestly don't care for 440C. It's my least favorite steel in fact. It all started when I was young and still poor and tried thinning 440C on a soft Arkansas. It defied me. It laughed at me. :) So, I hold grudges.

Now I own almost every type of sharpening material in the world and have most common cutlery steels laying around to play with it sure enough doesn't defy me. I still remain unimpressed though. It's been surpassed in every way by stain resistant steels. It doesn't take a great edge. It's not as tough...in fact it's probably one of the least tough modern stainless. It does the rust resistance thing really well admittedly.

Still, I'll stay with my preferred tool steels & high speed steels. About the only stainless I really carry is my Endura in VG10. Now though I can carry a Super Blue Endura though so even VG10 , which I do respect, isn't really needed any more. :)

And no, 440C was never a "super" steel. That began with 154cm/ATS 34, then 440V/S60, ZDP, etc., .... I do prefer a clean 440A ( or aus 6) to 440C. Better grain, tougher edges, etc. BTW , most chinese knives aren't real 440A or C. They are what they are and some are fine but they sure aren't the 440's I know and used a large part of my life.
 
One of my favorite knives is 440c (Entrek Cobra). And this knife saw a lot of use during a warehouse/shipping job I once had. No complaints from me.

I'm not experienced with modern "super steels". The last "super steel" I bought was s30v. I'm sure the modern "super steels" will outperform 440c, but since I have never experienced them, I don't know what I'm missing. I could get by just fine the rest of my life with knives made of 440c, and I do a lot of cutting. Heck, my 30+ year old buck 110 is something like 420 and it's still going strong today (and it's seen a lot of use). I'm just not the type of person who always has to have the latest and greatest.
 
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