Worst 3 Steels - Never Buy!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Not of fan of 3cr steels in my use.

Pretty much all other known steels have worked well enough for me depending on its application.

I also don’t share the sentiment that H1 is “trash”. I use this steel quite a bit and it works great as a boat/fishing knife as it was intended. Cuts 200 test mono, bait, opens up fish easy, even cuts the sleeve off your shirt when you gotta hang over the boat side to “unload”.
 
Tommy-Chi said:
Yea.... :D

And your Family Dr was born in 1905 and he graduated from Med School in 1930. I bet you think all of that knowledge is relevant too.

Knowledge is FREE for the taking and nobody should be speaking down to anyone b/c they have not been on a social media platform for X number of years. It's foolish. It's idiotic. It does not compute.

I'm 58 and know enough to spend my money where I see fit, and I began a logical conversation. Your personal attacks for whatever reason change nothing.
Click to expand...
Personal attacks? Please point out my personal attack.

With your vast knowledge, why are you here? To educate us? No thanks.

You know less than you think, you made that evident in your original post.
 
BeyondTheBox said:
Again, different strokes for different folks.

All I can tell you is that I've had my VG10 Spyderco submerged in a fresh water lake for about 2 hours straight, was too drunk to remember to take it out of my pants and wipe it down when I got back to camp. Fell asleep with it exposed to very cold conditions in a tent that didn't breath well at all and in wet clothing, overnight. Woke up next morning, still forgot to wipe down, put it in my other shorts, went white water rafting with it for 4 hours getting soaked, still didn't wipe it down, finally a week after getting back home I pulled all my knives out to play with a bit and look over and saw one tiny surface rust spot on the spine that I scraped off with my fingernail and a lick of my fingertip.

Now, might H1 still outperform that in corrosion resistance, I'm sure it will in fact, but I don't need any more than that. I've also had 420HC perform like this after 3 weeks straight rafting and swimming for 4 hours each day as well and it didn't get any rust spota at all. And when I say rafting I don't mean sitting in a dry raft, I mean completely submerged up to my stomach.

But, this is only fresh water, and I'm very sure that salt water would likely kill these things quickly! So I take your point, in that regard. But I stay as far from salt water as possible, I loathe it deeply. So for me, yes, I stand firm, H1 is trash. Besides I'd much rather have N680 by a million miles!!!
Click to expand...

Salt water adds a whole next level to corrosion. Vg10 is still quite rust resistant but there are people who need true rust proofness.
 
For most "users" super steels are overkill. I have owned 500 plus knives with "super steel" but when I gift a knife to a friend or relative I usually don't give them one with a "super steel". We have people complaining about S35VN! As some other wise and correct person stated...use a box cutter to cut cardboard...use an actual kitchen knife to cut meat/vegetables/etc. I am in the restaurant business and cheap steels are perfectly fine for almost every application. If you are on the first mission to Mars, take a "super steel" knife or knives, Otherwise, "super steels" are what you want...not what you actually need.
 
Chinese Alphebet Steels
Normal 420hc and variants
Plenty of other junk steels that are worse than those too.

440C is actually pretty good. I’m fine with mid range steels on my traditional knives but on modern folders the lowestest id go is 14c28n.

5160 is a pretty good carbon steel too
 
Last edited:
Tommy-Chi said:
I thought that I needed the membership to buy/sell/trade, which I am not doing.
Click to expand...
There are a lot of members that don't sell but they support the site with an upgraded membership.
As passionate as you seem to be about the hobby I would think you would want to.
Just something you might want to consider.
 
if ya put a "v" on the end of 420 and 440 does it take it from this "bad" list to the "good" list?:)

there is post on here about worst steels in the past and Frank ......Knarfeng the super mod said something that's stuck with me....so I looked it up for ya..........it kinda says it all. also made me realize a knife can be good without a super steel. so thanks Frank.

"In my book there is no such thing as a "worst steel". I never found a steel that was not good for something. It may not be good for the usage I have in mind, but it is good for some other usage that someone else has in his mind.

There are steels that do not work well for some uses. There are no "bad" steels.

Frank R"
 
Cast iron?

I have lots of cast iron, but, none of it is associated with knives. It's the perfect material in the correct application.
 
Glenn Goodlett said:
Cast iron?

I have lots of cast iron, but, none of it is associated with knives. It's the perfect material in the correct application.
Click to expand...

Some decorative wallhangers use cast iron parts if I am not mistaken but I wouldn't count it to begin with as "bad steel"
And bad steel just as good steel is relative and depends on the application.
 
What about this steel? What's it good for?

324802-b2d7c0bdf8f54148b16bcde23f1406fc.jpeg
 
4mer_FMF said:
View attachment 970485

That fella was dressed, caped, and butchered with 420hc before most of the folks on this forum were born. Seems pretty adequate to me.
Click to expand...
Done all that I believe 3 times with a Buck 110 before it needed sharpened might have even had to take off the head with it bc the hatchet broke can’t remember and it wasn’t even dull just needed a little touch up but theirs is good stuff. But cases 420hc is pretty bad to me I won’t buy their SS marked knives
 
1. 'made in Pakistan' stainless
2. 'surgical'
3. 3Cr13 (Schrade seems to use this on a lot of their bargain knives)

of course, 1 & 2 simply because you have no idea what it actually is...

as far as some of the ones other people have black listed... 420HC (esp when done by Buck / BOS HT = excellent value), AUS8 can also have a good HT from good makers like the original RAT1 etc, also a good value stainless.... 440B is still used by Randall, and still holds up well when a good HT is involved

so, those steels are perfectly acceptable as budget steels when done by an experienced maker with a dialed in HT...
I'd avoid those steels only when coming from unknown/generic/overseas manufacturers
 
I carried a Spyderco Persistence in 8cr13mov for two years. It served me very well in constant use. I ran that thing until the centering was completely jacked up, and the pivot got gritty. The steel was never a problem. I sharpen less frequently now that I’ve moved on to super steels, but that’s it.

I’m also considering picking up a CRKT Pilar.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top