best knife metall for a full flat/scandi grind

[petrochemicals]

I am looking for a knife to use on wood primarily. According to various sources its either a full flat or scandi grind, in terms a one bevel shallow grind. Some have a full flat as two bevels, some the scandi, and some one bevel each at differing angles.

What knife or knife material is best.

I have found high carbon steel brittle which is annoying, stainless curls easily, flakes and is difficult to put a good edge on. Both these metals seem better suited to more broad grinds.

Any ideas

 

[JonathanD]

Try RWL-34, best of both worlds and tough as hell.

 

[bushwacker bob]

Back in the day, flint, copper, bronze and iron have all been tried but the consensus of opinion still points to high carbon or stainless steel.

 

[Nomad]

I have found high carbon steel brittle which is annoying, stainless curls easily, flakes and is difficult to put a good edge on. Both these metals seem better suited to more broad grinds.

What are you doing that causes you to find carbon steel brittle, and with which knife (or knives)?

I don't think I've ever seen stainless 'flake' (not sure what you mean), but have seen curling where a freshly honed edge has been forced onto something hardish (cutting through something softer onto a hard wood block, say). The Sandvik 12C27 stainless on my TBS Boar pocket knife takes an outstanding edge - I reckon I can get that a tad sharper than the carbon steel on my woody clone.

 

[ammo]

Scandi, is better for wood. Flat better for hunting, food prep. Why no-one uses a scandi in the kitchen. I prefer stainless on my flat, carbon on my woodworking. I like two knives to avoid cross contamination.

 

[petrochemicals]

What are you doing that causes you to find carbon steel brittle, and with which knife (or knives)?

I don't think I've ever seen stainless 'flake' (not sure what you mean), but have seen curling where a freshly honed edge has been forced onto something hardish (cutting through something softer onto a hard wood block, say). The Sandvik 12C27 stainless on my TBS Boar pocket knife takes an outstanding edge - I reckon I can get that a tad sharper than the carbon steel on my woody clone.

Well, most stainless never seems to be cohesive, as it is not a true alloy, more a mixture, so the edge is not as strong and can flake under pressure. chromium is hard but so is tungsten carbide. An edge is the width in atoms(like flint) you can achieve thinness of a flat surface, that sustains after a bit of use, thus increasing the surface pressure you can exact upon something else. Flint did achieve a one atom thickness initially due to the atomic structure it was broken from but wasn't a one atom edge shortley after. A pin does have a flat end, so you do not achieve a true sheer point. So stainless seems to crumble and curl quickly. If I wanted a non reactive knife, titanium would surely be a better choice due to its true metal matrix structure ?

Also the point of carbon steel, I have always learned carbon steel to be incredibly hard yet brittle stuff, but I now know it is a broad term encompassing any carbon containing steel between 2% and 0.25%. This gives it a broad spectrum of steel types ? I've had carbon steel knives with a tendancy to snap, hardening means larger crystals with a tendancy to be brittle, but like I said its a broad term these days.

 

[bushwacker bob]

Is an atom a measurement of thickness? I thought flint edges were measured in microns as the thickness of an atom varies dependant on its composition.

That said, Steel is your best choice even if you do manage to snap your carbon knives and flake apart stainless steel. You must have some very hard woods in your area as I have never managed to do that damage to any of my knives.

 

[Nomad]

Aye, but...

What are you doing that causes you to find carbon steel brittle, and with which knife (or knives)?

My point being that everyone else seems to be managing with high carbon and stainless blades okay. At least, I don't see lots of threads about carbon blades snapping, or stainless ones rolling and flaking, which leads me to wonder if there is something about the knives you've used, or the way you use them.

 

[petrochemicals]

Is an atom a measurement of thickness? I thought flint edges were measured in microns as the thickness of an atom varies dependant on its composition.

That said, Steel is your best choice even if you do manage to snap your carbon knives and flake apart stainless steel. You must have some very hard woods in your area as I have never managed to do that damage to any of my knives.

nah they where just saying about the sharpness ancient people achieved, and the way flint can be knapped to a singular atom.

And I'm just clumsey, take one knife, embed into wood, pressure sideways. Take one knife, catch on metal. Stainless I find blunts quickly unless sharpened at a broad angle

 

[ozzy1977]

Nothing wrong with 01 steel.

 

[bushwacker bob]

Nothing wrong with 01 steel.

Keeps snapping, apparently.

 

[ozzy1977]

I never knew that it wasn't any good for making knives.

 

[JonathanD]

Stainless I find blunts quickly unless sharpened at a broad angle

But a good stainless holds its edge better than most other steels, but the trade off is that it takes more effort to sharpen. I've been using RWL for over ten years now and never had it crumble or curl

 

[ozzy1977]

I guess any knife badly made or mistreated will perform badly.

 

[petrochemicals]

Keeps snapping, apparently.

harsh, considering people are naming different steel grades, carbon steel I think of as akin to HSS (high speed steel) due to its inflexibility and permanentness. have always wondered about tape measure steel or alike as its flexible yet incredibly hard. Last knife I snapped I could see the metal grain !

 

[ammo]

You obviously have a grasp of metals. In your first post you complain about stainless steel and carbon steel blades. Do you like the new powder "super steels" if not then maybe you can recommend what you have found performs best so far.

Well, most stainless never seems to be cohesive, as it is not a true alloy, more a mixture, so the edge is not as strong and can flake under pressure. chromium is hard but so is tungsten carbide. An edge is the width in atoms(like flint) you can achieve thinness of a flat surface, that sustains after a bit of use, thus increasing the surface pressure you can exact upon something else. Flint did achieve a one atom thickness initially due to the atomic structure it was broken from but wasn't a one atom edge shortley after. A pin does have a flat end, so you do not achieve a true sheer point. So stainless seems to crumble and curl quickly. If I wanted a non reactive knife, titanium would surely be a better choice due to its true metal matrix structure ?

Also the point of carbon steel, I have always learned carbon steel to be incredibly hard yet brittle stuff, but I now know it is a broad term encompassing any carbon containing steel between 2% and 0.25%. This gives it a broad spectrum of steel types ? I've had carbon steel knives with a tendancy to snap, hardening means larger crystals with a tendancy to be brittle, but like I said its a broad term these days.

 

[petrochemicals]

But a good stainless holds its edge better than most other steels, but the trade off is that it takes more effort to sharpen. I've been using RWL for over ten years now and never had it crumble or curl

looks good, a much lauded molybendium steel.

 

[petrochemicals]

You obviously have a grasp of metals. In your first post you complain about stainless steel and carbon steel blades. Do you like the new powder "super steels" if not then maybe you can recommend what you have found performs best so far.

to be honest I do not know about powder metals, other than I used to work at a place turning metal into powder !

Alot of advances in metal seem small in conparison to the leap that something like molybendium made, or crome vanadium, at least in my applications made.

 

[ammo]

I've found RWL 34 the best I've used. I do prefer stainless over carbon, but i live by the coast, carbon pits creating hygiene issues, it can stain your food. I do like carbon steel my edc is A2.
So what is your favourite steel so far.

to be honest I do not know about powder metals, other than I used to work at a place turning metal into powder !

Alot of advances in metal seem small in conparison to the leap that something like molybendium made, or crome vanadium, at least in my applications made.

 

[petrochemicals]

I've found RWL 34 the best I've used. I do prefer stainless over carbon, but i live by the coast, carbon pits creating hygiene issues, it can stain your food. I do like carbon steel my edc is A2.
So what is your favourite steel so far.

molybendium steel seems to be the best thing since sliced bread, tough flexible and hard.

01 toos steel has a good reputation and high price tag

and the well worked smithy steel with its layered carbon also seems to be well respected.

really I'm looking for a shallow grind that does not require alot of metal to stop it decaying. Re one of the earlier posts, its for wood so it does not need to be overly hard scandi or full flat, just shallow and thin without loosing its edge. Will try the molybendium, superb for hacksaw blades so it should do me easy.