Why would you use a knife made of 440 SS?

Well, some folks don't like to admit it, but many people buy the knife for the handle. Me, I bought a Cold Steel Recon One with 440A and it's worked out quite well. Not a great blade, but I love the handle. Lots of folks here carry Sebenzas, not because the blade is so special, but because the frame of the knife is so well made.

Now Cold Steel has improved the blade in the Recon One, but I don't like the handle nearly as much; consequently, I'm staying with what I have.

You know, if I'm going to get up and go out and kill a buck or something, I'll make sure I have a knife with a better blade, but since I've never kilt a buck, it's not likely I'm going to in the near future. Meanwhile the 440A blade works quite well. Look at all those folks who buy Gerbers and Chinese no-names who are perfectly happy with them. A good 440A is going to beat those by a long shot and it's not a bad working blade knife. Mine is very sharp and I tend to keep it like that—and it's not difficult.

So though it's not my number one choice, neither do I think it's a horrible knife steel. (I had one Cold Steel technical guy tell me he didn't like 440A at all and frankly, he couldn't wait til they ran out of it. The only reason they used it for a bunch of runs, he said, was because they got a great price on it. Still, having used their Recon One, I think he was being a bit tough on it.)
 
Speak for yourself about being a steel snob. I'm too new to even worry about it. I like knives that hold an edge, and ones that I can get sharp enough to shave the hair off of my arm. I have been able to do that with quite a few knives made from 440. Even with some of the no-name Chinese imports. I am sure that there are better steels out there, and I don't mind picking up something new and interesting. But I go by what a knife can do in the field, instead of what it is made out of. And I do occasionally kill and clean critters, and I like a knife that can do a whole deer/pig/goat/sheep with only a minor touch up, maybe. One that can do the whole critter without the touch up is even better. And some of the knived that have passed the test were simple 440 knives.

-Mb


Like I said before, I am too new to know as much about that as some folks on here. Many of my less expensive knives just say 440 Stainless. Those Dawsons that I have that are marked at all say 440C. Some have no marking as to what they are made out of. That said, I would not turn my nose up at a regular 440 knife if I was offered one, assuming that I liked the shape, and it could hold an edge.
 
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Gents, would you PLEASE specifiy which frickin 440 alloy you are talking about!

As has been pointed out a dozen times in this thread, there are about 4 or 5 variants to the 440 series and they all have significantly different properties.
 
I find that none of them have a high enough attainable hardness for my liking, 440V requiring the lowest Rc value to resist chipping while still being immensely wear resistant. Not a combo I care for at all. For the edge holding, I could do with a lot less chrome than what 440A has, to help with toughness.
 
Confederate said:
Well, some folks don't like to admit it, but many people buy the knife for the handle. Me, I bought a Cold Steel Recon One with 440A and it's worked out quite well. Not a great blade, but I love the handle. Lots of folks here carry Sebenzas, not because the blade is so special, but because the frame of the knife is so well made.

Now Cold Steel has improved the blade in the Recon One, but I don't like the handle nearly as much; consequently, I'm staying with what I have.

You know, if I'm going to get up and go out and kill a buck or something, I'll make sure I have a knife with a better blade, but since I've never kilt a buck, it's not likely I'm going to in the near future. Meanwhile the 440A blade works quite well. Look at all those folks who buy Gerbers and Chinese no-names who are perfectly happy with them. A good 440A is going to beat those by a long shot and it's not a bad working blade knife. Mine is very sharp and I tend to keep it like that—and it's not difficult.

So though it's not my number one choice, neither do I think it's a horrible knife steel. (I had one Cold Steel technical guy tell me he didn't like 440A at all and frankly, he couldn't wait til they ran out of it. The only reason they used it for a bunch of runs, he said, was because they got a great price on it. Still, having used their Recon One, I think he was being a bit tough on it.)
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The original Recon1 was the AUS8A steel, made in Japan knife. It had an MSRP of ~$140.00 at the time. The second one is the one you have in 440A when they dropped the price to something like $60-70. The third went back to AUS8A but different thickness, different grips. Both 2nd and 3rd, made in Taiwan. Finish of the Taiwan made ones were not quite on par with the Japanese one, although cheaper in price as well.
 
i have some customs (FB & folders) with 440C blades. excellent knives. i cannot see any significant difference between their performance and that of my custom knives with ATS34.
i would take properly done 440C over S30V as my experience with S30V is easy edge chipping.
440C is a really good all round knife steel: good edge holding, relatively easy sharpening and excellent corrosion resistance. what more do you really NEED ? roland
 
Isn't it nice that we all have the time and energy to debate this kind of stuff?

Seriously, 2/3 of the world's population is busy worrying about trying to eat today, and we sit around discussing which of 50 different steels is the tiniest bit better than the others.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but that we should take a step back every once in awhile and thank our lucky stars.
 
relevant to this thread?:confused:

Buhbuhbonky said:
Isn't it nice that we all have the time and energy to debate this kind of stuff?

Seriously, 2/3 of the world's population is busy worrying about trying to eat today, and we sit around discussing which of 50 different steels is the tiniest bit better than the others.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but that we should take a step back every once in awhile and thank our lucky stars.
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This http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=702 is where you should be posting this kind of stuff.

3G
 
just giving y'all a little zen moment. Snapping you out of your reality for a second.

We'll see how many people freak out about it.

Very few folks like to be snapped out of their reality, even for a little while.

:rolleyes:
 
Don't be so quick to tell the rest of us how to deal with reality.
This is BladeForums, not KumbayaForums.com.
you understand zen
going about your business
without meaning to​
 
Buhbuhbonky said:
just giving y'all a little zen moment. Snapping you out of your reality for a second.

We'll see how many people freak out about it.

Very few folks like to be snapped out of their reality, even for a little while.

:rolleyes:
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Apparently, judging from how hard it's been to get exactly WHAT 440 variant steel people are talking about out of them!
 
Buhbuhbonky said:
just giving y'all a little zen moment. Snapping you out of your reality for a second.

We'll see how many people freak out about it.

Very few folks like to be snapped out of their reality, even for a little while.

:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Reality?

Who's reality?
what do you know?
Only yours.
So we need to snap in to your reality?

Talking about steel is as Zen as you can get.
Ask a Japanese sword maker; not that they own steel or Zen

Most folk here get lots of Zen moments
Ask them about sharpening a knife
 
Buhbuhbonky said:
Isn't it nice that we all have the time and energy to debate this kind of stuff?

Seriously, 2/3 of the world's population is busy worrying about trying to eat today, and we sit around discussing which of 50 different steels is the tiniest bit better than the others.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but that we should take a step back every once in awhile and thank our lucky stars.
Click to expand...


Uh, do you realize that you are posting in a forum dedicated to knives. :rolleyes:
 
Buhbuhbonky said:
just giving y'all a little zen moment. Snapping you out of your reality for a second.

We'll see how many people freak out about it.

Very few folks like to be snapped out of their reality, even for a little while.

:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

We need very little to exist on this earth. People that don't have basic needs met do tend to worry about surviving, before they do things like how certain steels hold an edge.
But, since we buy more than we need (or can use) we tend to analyze everything in great detail. A person cutting up the families meager food supply for the day is not going to worry too much about what they use for the job. But, I have that luxury. So, I do so and I consider myself blessed to be able to.
 
charlesbjr said:
Does anyone here like 440 stainless steel? If so, what would you use it for?
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440 is not a bad steel at all. I't not one of the new "super steels" but it also does not have a "super steel" price tag. It's been a good steel for many, many years. Just because there is now something better, doesn't mean it's not still as good as it used to be.

What would I use it for? Cutting.
 
made4blade said:
440 is not a bad steel at all. I't not one of the new "super steels" but it also does not have a "super steel" price tag. It's been a good steel for many, many years. Just because there is now something better, doesn't mean it's not still as good as it used to be.

What would I use it for? Cutting.
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Again, it would be very informative if people would state what variant of "440" they were talking about when they posted! Simply saying "440" when speaking of knife steels is like simply saying "polymer" when trying to have an in-depth conversation about different handle materials!

3G
 
I think some of the perception among real knife enthusiasts that the 440 series isn't a "super steel" works in the favor of the average buyer/used. I picked up a Benchmade Pardue Rant fixed blade hunter for $35 bucks at a show a few months ago. It's 440C--and I feel confident that if the blade said ATS34 or 154CM that it would have either already been sold or would have sold for more.

The steel snobs passed up a pretty good working knife. 440c has a pretty good using profile in that it balances different factors like edge retention, toughness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance. Like most things that are good but well-balanced and not 'extreme' in some way, it doesn't get the press that the more glamorous steels do.

Think of a good, talented actresses who is also very pretty yet is working in relative obscurity while Angelina Jolie is on the cover of every magazine --Angie gets the press not because she's much better, but because she's so outrageous. It's the same thing with steels--just because you're not on the cover of 'Tactical Knives' doesn't mean you're not a good steel.
 
Hello STR,

I am not a knife builder, but I work with metals on a daily basis. I had to join to ask if you had performed a cryogenic treatment on the D2 and S30V metals you were trying for your knife material? The reason why it is hard to create and maintain a good edge with these types of metals is because with their very high carbon content they will exhibit a lot of retained austenite grain structure. You can transform the remaining austenite to a martensitic structure with a cryo treatment. This will enable a much superior, longer lasting edge. Both of these metals are prime steels for such a treatment.
 
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