Winkler and Carothers

marchone

marchone

Gold Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2013
Messages
4,215
I won’t have the opportunity for hard use outdoors till the fall but I now have a Winkler Operator and have incoming a CPK DEK1 in AEB-L: a collab between Nathan and Lorien.

With kitchen use the Operator dulls quickly. It is 80CrV2. What will field use bring?

Per Nathan Carothers, "The AEBL is aimed at jarheads, not knife nuts. The Elmax is equally tough and has better wear resistance, but in rough use (clacking it against hard stuff) it goes dull just as fast as AEBL and the average enlisted man can't sharpen it. It's a matter of edge stability vs wear resistance. The AEBL performs better in edge stability and is easy to sharpen and makes a better choice for someone who wants a tough low-maintenance knife."

This is a good user review of the Operator. Bit doesn’t get hard field use.

Winkler Operator- initial impressions

I have a Belt Knife that has become one of my favorite knives and I keep looking at other Winkler designs. Finally got the Operator after much hemming and hawing. Being in the Army Guard (and a knife nut), I keep thinking about a small fixed blade in case of deployment. My go to knives...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

Anyone else here have hard field experience with either or both?
 
Last edited:
I have lots field use experience with both 80crv2 and AEB-L run under Larrin's protocol at 61.5 hrc. Neither are by the makers you mentioned.

For my taste those steels are my ideal for woods/field use. What exactly does your kitchen use entail? Cutting board, connecting with bone? I'm genuinely curious.
 
I've had multiple Winklers in 80crV2. And I agree with SwissHeritageCo SwissHeritageCo . I find it a great all around steel for field use. I prefer it to 1095 just for the ease of sharpening.

Contrary to some others, I found my Winklers 80crV2 edge retention to be on par with my 1095 from ESEE, Tops, and Becker.
 
AEB-L seems like a stainless carbon in performance. I’ve done some unintentional bad things to AEB-L ( slashing through a curtain and hitting a solid brass window hinge. The brass was cut, the edge of the knife didn’t even roll ).

Winklers 80crv2 seems to get a lot better after a sharpening or two. Any new winkler I got had a fairly obtuse edge, after a thinning they stayed sharp with a crock stick and strop.

With a decent heat treatment , both of those steels are great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top