Your Thoughts on TRC Knives

[jstn]

I don't have one and did condsider it but don't want Elmax in a larger hard use knife, but they do look nice. My personal favourite steels for such being 14c28n and Aeb-L for SS and Cpm3v and sleipner TS and 5160, W2 and 80crv2 CS.

With postage here in the UK you are looking at $400-500+.

I’d suggest the Mille Cuori. It is in Vanadis 4, which is basically 4V. I’m similar to you in my taste in steels. I prefer tougher steels, especially for fixed blades. Vanadis 4E will not be as tough as 3V but it has better edge retention and is still very tough; I’d say around 14c28n level. It’s not stainless but is coated so that helps. I sold mine and it is one of by biggest regrets in terms of selling a knife. Truly fantastic blade.

 

[jeepin]

I’ve only got one, but like everybody else said they are great.

Mine is the neck knife in Elmax which they haven’t made in years.

Even the sheath is great!

 

[LostCause]

It really comes down to what you want. They are top class knives, but they are still in category of luxury, let's be honest - nobody needs a knife like that, but I see why someone would want one.

 

[Wasty]

I also have an quite old one, the TRC12S in M390. A very handy little knife and I use it quite often.

 

[BunsOfSteel]

I'm strongly considering this knife as I love the finish and Elmax. My only concern is the flat grind. I wan't to use it as an all around outdoor knife but i'm leaning towards a bit more bushcraft. Can anyone tell me if it would be unwise to go with flat grind?

 

[Olumin]

Ive only ever had the south pole. I returned it because it was over 0.7mm behind the edge. Not acceptable IMO, especially with Elmax steel & also simply not necessary. Whether the geometry is this bad on the other models I cant say. Ergonomically it was fine, the handle was quite comfortable. But to be honest, at those price points, im simply missing the attention to detail. Things like a bit of distal taper in the blade or a tapered tang would've been nice at over €300. As far as fit/finsh is concerned, I had nothing to complain about.

 

[BunsOfSteel]

Ive only ever had the south pole. I returned it because it was over 0.7mm behind the edge. Not acceptable IMO, especially with Elmax steel & also simply not necessary. Whether the geometry is this bad on the other models I cant say. Ergonomically it was fine, the handle was quite comfortable. But to be honest, at those price points, im simply missing the attention to detail. Things like a bit of distal taper in the blade or a tapered tang would've been nice at over €300. As far as fit/finsh is concerned, I had nothing to complain about.

What similar style knife would you recommend ?

 

[Olumin]

This really entirely depends on your use case & personal preferences. Myself I like to use more traditional fixed blades, with stag or horn handles, but the steels these knives use is often much simpler. In my experience even more important then the geometry or steel is the handle. if your knife isn't comfortable to use, you probably wont use it much. Find something that feels good in your hand.

 

[BunsOfSteel]

This really entirely depends on your use case & personal preferences. Myself I like to use more traditional fixed blades, with stag or horn handles, but the steels these knives use is often much simpler. In my experience even more important then the geometry or steel is the handle. if your knife isn't comfortable to use, you probably wont use it much. Find something that feels good in your hand.

Thanks. I'm looking for an all arounder but leaning towards a bit of bushcraft. I'd like something in a "super steel" like Elmax or CPM3V but am not too familiar with anything else. The bushcraft usage has me questioning the Flat grin on this knife.

 

[LostCause]

I'm strongly considering this knife as I love the finish and Elmax. My only concern is the flat grind. I wan't to use it as an all around outdoor knife but i'm leaning towards a bit more bushcraft. Can anyone tell me if it would be unwise to go with flat grind?

My mom put full flat grind ESEE3 (very thin stock) through some serious abuse. I've also seen people baton their ESEE4 or 6 knives through some gnarly stuff, never any issues despite full flat grind.

 

[Twindog]

Ive only ever had the south pole. I returned it because it was over 0.7mm behind the edge. Not acceptable IMO, especially with Elmax steel & also simply not necessary. Whether the geometry is this bad on the other models I cant say. Ergonomically it was fine, the handle was quite comfortable. But to be honest, at those price points, im simply missing the attention to detail. Things like a bit of distal taper in the blade or a tapered tang would've been nice at over €300. As far as fit/finsh is concerned, I had nothing to complain about.

The South Pole is designed as a heavy-duty knife for survival in harsh conditions. The BTE of 0.028 inches (0.71 mm) is not that bad. Lots of EDC folders come in thicker than that.

 

[Olumin]

The industry norm seems to be 0.5, which is already too thick for most knives, certainly most folders (which historically often come in at about 0.2-0.35mm). With a steel like Elmax there is no need for such a thick grind. 0.4 would have been a decent compromise, 0.5 max. The rule of thumb according to traditional wisdom is that the BTE should be roughly 1/10 of the spine thickness. With our modern super steels you can comfortably go thinner then that in most cases. With geometry like this I feel like the potential of such a great steel is wasted, as it will never cut very well or very long no matter how sharp you make it. Its kinda like putting a Bugatti engine into an SUV. Really just my personal view, what ultimately matters is if it works for you & whether youre happy with it.

 

[Twindog]

The industry norm seems to be 0.5, which is already too thick for most knives, certainly most folders (which historically often come in at about 0.2-0.35mm). With a steel like Elmax there is no need for such a thick grind. 0.4 would have been a decent compromise, 0.5 max. The rule of thumb according to traditional wisdom is that the BTE should be roughly 1/10 of the spine thickness. With our modern super steels you can comfortably go thinner then that in most cases. With geometry like this I feel like the potential of such a great steel is wasted, as it will never cut very well or very long no matter how sharp you make it. Its kinda like putting a Bugatti engine into an SUV. Really just my personal view, what ultimately matters is if it works for you & whether youre happy with it.

I"m not disagreeing that thin edges can give much better performance, especially if you have a high-performance steel.

But if you buy a knife that the maker advertises as a thick-spined, hard-use knife designed for survival in harsh conditions, you shouldn't expect a thin slicer.

A BTE of 0.2 mm is 0.008 inches -- eight thousandths -- which you're really going to get only on a custom knife or a speciality knife. An edge with that kind of acute geometry is not going to match the use of a hard-use survival knife.

My heavy-duty EDC has a BTE of 15 thousandths (0.38 mm). The steel is Vanax SuperClean, which has a toughness a bit better than Elmax. It works great. The steel and heat treat are well matched for the edge geometry -- given my uses.

I have a Spyderco Military with a factory BTE of 0.025 inches (0.635 mm), that that's for a thin slicer, and it's not that much thinner than your South Pole.

I can see why you were disappointed with the South Pole, but you shouldn't have been surprised, given the knife's advertised purpose.

 

[Olumin]

Of cause I concur that something like 0.2 or 0.3 is unsuitable for this knife, I gave those numbers in reference to blades on traditional folders. Still, Its my opinion that 0.7 is too thick, even given the advertised purpose/nature of the knife, especially considering the steel. If I would've found that kind of geometry on the Apocalypse I would've been happy enough with it, since its more of a chopper (though even then its still on the thick side). 0.4 would have probably been ideal. Given the right heat treat, and without abusing the knife as a prying tool, you would be hard pressed to chip out Elmax with such a grind.

At the time I thought that maybe they increased the thickness so that the edge would stand up against chipping in very cold temperatures, considering the marketing material. Obviously not a situation most customers will find themselves in. Who knows ultimately.

 

[LostCause]

Of cause I concur that something like 0.2 or 0.3 is unsuitable for this knife, I gave those numbers in reference to blades on traditional folders. Still, Its my opinion that 0.7 is too thick, even given the advertised purpose/nature of the knife, especially considering the steel. If I would've found that kind of geometry on the Apocalypse I would've been happy enough with it, since its more of a chopper (though even then its still on the thick side). 0.4 would have probably been ideal. Given the right heat treat, and without abusing the knife as a prying tool, you would be hard pressed to chip out Elmax with such a grind.

At the time I thought that maybe they increased the thickness so that the edge would stand up against chipping in very cold temperatures, considering the marketing material. Obviously not a situation most customers will find themselves in. Who knows ultimately.

Elmax is not the toughest steel out there... just saying tho. Maybe that's why?