Laminated Blades

[TheViking]

I've found a good looking blade from Sweden that i'd like to make a bushcraft knife out of.

It's made in a so called 3 layer laminated steel... Is this steel good for bushcraft??? :?:

 

[philaw]

I think I'm right in saying that the mora knife I just got (and that everyone recomends for beginners) is laminated. It simply means that a harder layer of steel in the middle of the blade that holds an edge is 'laminated' with a layer of softer steel on each side. This way the knife has the benefit of a sharp blade, but most of the steel you remove when sharpening is the laminated, softer layer, which will grind away quicker than your patience. Someone else that knows more will explain it better, but I could do worse than recomend a mora, which for £10 would give you a knife to practice with, a trial with a laminated blade, and a cheap spare/ kitchen knife, if you get another soon after. If you're not used to sharpening and using knives, your first one (like mine) could get scratched-up.

 

[TheViking]

I think I'm right in saying that the mora knife I just got (and that everyone recomends for beginners) is laminated. It simply means that a harder layer of steel in the middle of the blade that holds an edge is 'laminated' with a layer of softer steel on each side. This way the knife has the benefit of a sharp blade, but most of the steel you remove when sharpening is the laminated, softer layer, which will grind away quicker than your patience. Someone else that knows more will explain it better, but I could do worse than recomend a mora, which for £10 would give you a knife to practice with, a trial with a laminated blade, and a cheap spare/ kitchen knife, if you get another soon after. If you're not used to sharpening and using knives, your first one (like mine) could get scratched-up.

I use knives everyday. Either for real use or just ruining my old table in my room. ): Sharpening is no problem either. I've tried a Mora laminated and was satisfied with it, so i think i'll buy this blade. Will take a photo when I get it, but will probably first be in week 4.

 

[Andy]

The mora knife people tend to recomend is like they sell at woodlore. That isn't laminated

 

[ChrisKavanaugh]

laminated blades have the happy compromise of a hard inner core sandwiched between two soft layers. What this does, aside from making sharpening easier is create a knife that can BEND before catastrophic failure. A knife made of the same inner layer alone may be mechanically stronger, but structurally more prone to breaking. Laminated knives tend to chip more with that thinner and harder core edge. An exellent example is the laminate Fallkniven. Testing shows an increase of @ 20 % breaking strength. I personally haven't found any increased chipping with that robust Moran edge. The Frost laminates with the thinner scandi grind do seem to chip more than solid carbon or stainless steel. But anything that chips up a tool designed for cutting implies abusing the tool parameters. We all do it, thats life, blaming one design for earlier failure is really foolish.

 

[TheViking]

Thanks everybody so far. :wave: Now I know what it consists of and performs so that knife is pretty much home. :biggthump

 

[alick]

I have a Frost woodworking knife with a long slim laminated blade. It's suberb for the price. The hard core holds and excellent edge and it's very strong despite it's slim profile.

I find it excellent for woodcarving and it happily handles the strongest "power" cuts I can apply without resorting to batons etc. Buy with confidence.

Cheers

 

[CanRanger]

I find out of the frosts line and the Erikssons the laminated blades hold the sharpest edges to the very point of being scarry sharp. I had a gentlemen show me his buck folder at a sharpening seminar I was giving. he exclaimed he had got it as sharp as my frosts laminated carver and that the frosts where not a well known quality brand such as case and buck. So he asked if I could do this with it (which was shave hair of my arm) he made repeated short strokes scraping at his arm only getting it down to stubble. I took mine and in one smooth motion shaved me arm clean and smooth and as I looked up to see his expression of surprise the knife caught a mole and shaved off a strip of flesh which I did not feel until I looked down and saw the blood. At that point he got to see the look of surprise on my face.

 

[MartiniDave]

I have found that on some laminated blades, Helle for example, the softer outer layers are not hard enough for the blade to work well with a firesteel, giving few or no sparks. Otherwise they are just fine.

Dave