stainless or carbon steel?
- Thread starter leon-b
- Start date
Leon,
I think in the end, barring all the wonderful advice that's been posted in this thread, YOU need to make the decision. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but it might also be fun to buy both steel types and have a bit of fun with them. Myself, I have the stainless steel Mora Clipper, and I chose it over the carbon because of where I live, it rains a lot here and when I was younger, I ended up having to do too much maintenance on a carbon blade.
Anyway, like I always say....that's just my two cents!
Adam
I think in the end, barring all the wonderful advice that's been posted in this thread, YOU need to make the decision. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but it might also be fun to buy both steel types and have a bit of fun with them. Myself, I have the stainless steel Mora Clipper, and I chose it over the carbon because of where I live, it rains a lot here and when I was younger, I ended up having to do too much maintenance on a carbon blade.
Anyway, like I always say....that's just my two cents!
Adam
No sweat, it's what we're here for!
Enjoy your Mora Clipper and may it serve you well for years!
Adam
Enjoy your Mora Clipper and may it serve you well for years!
Adam
I'd say look at what you expect to be doing with the knife if your going to use it around salt water or live by the sea maybe the stainless.If you wish to just carve and don't mind a bit of tarnish go for the carbon.
I use blades of both kind at work. I have found the following
Carbon steel, that is a good quality carbon steel, holds an edge a lot longer than one made of stainless. However stainless steel knives tend to sharpen a lot quicker and also tend not to chip has easily. This entire process of course is confused by people producing layered steel, a method favoured by the Japanese in their traditional swords. What it does boil down to in the end is a very good quality sharpening stone, and a very good and appropriate cutting profile of the blade. Irrespective of the steel quality, as long as it basically not mild steel, if the cutting profile is too slender on the carbon steel blade it will chip. On the stainless steel you need a slightly thicker profile. As long as you are prepared to sharpen them both of them will work as well as each other. If you think you are going to get wet a lot of the time stainless is probably the better option.
A tip about sharpening stones is try to get hold of a lapping stone, a lapping stone is a very small fine sharpening stone used sharpening milling heads, the cutting tools used on lathes and engraver's tools. They are slightly brittle so required delicate handling but they are small and produce a razor's edge.
Happy cutting.... have you invested in a first aid kit yet?
Sandsnakes
Carbon steel, that is a good quality carbon steel, holds an edge a lot longer than one made of stainless. However stainless steel knives tend to sharpen a lot quicker and also tend not to chip has easily. This entire process of course is confused by people producing layered steel, a method favoured by the Japanese in their traditional swords. What it does boil down to in the end is a very good quality sharpening stone, and a very good and appropriate cutting profile of the blade. Irrespective of the steel quality, as long as it basically not mild steel, if the cutting profile is too slender on the carbon steel blade it will chip. On the stainless steel you need a slightly thicker profile. As long as you are prepared to sharpen them both of them will work as well as each other. If you think you are going to get wet a lot of the time stainless is probably the better option.
A tip about sharpening stones is try to get hold of a lapping stone, a lapping stone is a very small fine sharpening stone used sharpening milling heads, the cutting tools used on lathes and engraver's tools. They are slightly brittle so required delicate handling but they are small and produce a razor's edge.
Happy cutting.... have you invested in a first aid kit yet?
Sandsnakes
As I think that this thread is getting into another carbon vs. stainless steel debate, and while I think that both teams strongly believe in their victory, I hope no-one minds if I offer my silly Canadian input. 
Anyway, although this topic is consistently brought up, what I think is really neat is how new information is posted each time, and how we all learn just a little bit more!
Personally, I don't mind stainless steel blades. I've had carbon knives in the past, and I haven't really found them to be hold much better of an edge than stainless. I think part of the reason for this is due to modern metallurgy techniques, companies producing modern steels are able to work with, and produce stainless blades that were quite unheard of in the past. Sandvik 12c27 comes to mind as I write this, it contains silicon and if my memory serves me correctly, forty years ago that was completely un-heard of in steels. (But I could be dead wrong. I'm only human)
Of course, there are many many many more factors involved in a blade than just the grade of steel used or the approximate Rockwell Hardness. Blade shape, blade grind, etc etc...all need to be factored into the equation. That said, I think that generally, one might only really notice a drastic difference between carbon and stainless blades in very high end knives. (Again, only my simple opinion)
I've also noticed a bit of "old-school/new-school" amongst outdoorsman. In my experience, the old-school hunter tracker types seem to prefer carbon steel, because in their prime years, stainless steel had yet to become what it is today. My next door neighbour fits this category perfectly well. New school outdoorsman I find, seem to prefer stainless steel. Now maybe this is pure ignorance because we're all so young and naiive, or maybe we've just had different experiences?
The biggest truth in this never-solved question is that honestly, I don't think one is truly better than the other. Carbon's a bit easier to sharpen, stainless is a little bit more wear resistant. I like stainless because I live in BC, and it rains A LOT here, and honestly, I don't like constantly having to oil, clean, and shine up my carbon blades to prevent rust. I don't mind carbon steel at all, it sharpens up to a razor in just a few passes on a stone. Let's see stainless do that! On the other hand, sometimes it's tiresome for the amount of work it takes to sharpen a modern stainless blade to that so called scary sharp stage.
Anyway, that's my horrifically long, drawn out post on this often talked about but never settled topic. I hope no-one passed out reading it.
Cheers,
Adam
Anyway, although this topic is consistently brought up, what I think is really neat is how new information is posted each time, and how we all learn just a little bit more!Personally, I don't mind stainless steel blades. I've had carbon knives in the past, and I haven't really found them to be hold much better of an edge than stainless. I think part of the reason for this is due to modern metallurgy techniques, companies producing modern steels are able to work with, and produce stainless blades that were quite unheard of in the past. Sandvik 12c27 comes to mind as I write this, it contains silicon and if my memory serves me correctly, forty years ago that was completely un-heard of in steels. (But I could be dead wrong. I'm only human)
Of course, there are many many many more factors involved in a blade than just the grade of steel used or the approximate Rockwell Hardness. Blade shape, blade grind, etc etc...all need to be factored into the equation. That said, I think that generally, one might only really notice a drastic difference between carbon and stainless blades in very high end knives. (Again, only my simple opinion)
I've also noticed a bit of "old-school/new-school" amongst outdoorsman. In my experience, the old-school hunter tracker types seem to prefer carbon steel, because in their prime years, stainless steel had yet to become what it is today. My next door neighbour fits this category perfectly well. New school outdoorsman I find, seem to prefer stainless steel. Now maybe this is pure ignorance because we're all so young and naiive, or maybe we've just had different experiences?
The biggest truth in this never-solved question is that honestly, I don't think one is truly better than the other. Carbon's a bit easier to sharpen, stainless is a little bit more wear resistant. I like stainless because I live in BC, and it rains A LOT here, and honestly, I don't like constantly having to oil, clean, and shine up my carbon blades to prevent rust. I don't mind carbon steel at all, it sharpens up to a razor in just a few passes on a stone. Let's see stainless do that! On the other hand, sometimes it's tiresome for the amount of work it takes to sharpen a modern stainless blade to that so called scary sharp stage.
Anyway, that's my horrifically long, drawn out post on this often talked about but never settled topic. I hope no-one passed out reading it.
Cheers,
Adam
Ouch - but I guess closer to the truth than many of us would like to admit! Where did those years go..
I can really only think of one example in which a stainless Mora is demonstrably inferior to a carbon steel blade and that's with scraping axe handles. Stainless lacks the toughness for that sideways pressure on the edge. Otherwise, differences have really come down to improper initial sharpening.
A person might want to strike a spark from natural stone, and there the carbon steel will work - but that's not something everyone will do. With other things like a couple more minutes stropping at the end of the day - that's trivial stuff, and stainless has advantages to make up for it.
In the end, I'm pretty darned impressed with the Sandvik steel used in Moras. I have seen exactly one blade sold under the Normark label (but which appeared to be a Mora) that was substandard in edge holding. That's probably a rare collector's item and I have to trade it back from my grand-daughter.
I've found my stainless helle edge to role from scraping down a spoon(similar to scraping an axe handle i bet).My syderco uk pen however which is s30v stainless held up fine,maybe i was just lucky.
Jimbo,
I couldn't agree more....and I especially liked your post on the other forums about Sandvik Moras. As you said, it's very important to really work the bevel on them and to remove a fair amount of metal in order to bring out the best in it's edge retention. But hey, that's what that buffing compound is for! (I still owe ya one!)
Cheers,
Adam
I couldn't agree more....and I especially liked your post on the other forums about Sandvik Moras. As you said, it's very important to really work the bevel on them and to remove a fair amount of metal in order to bring out the best in it's edge retention. But hey, that's what that buffing compound is for! (I still owe ya one!)
Cheers,
Adam
as has been mentioned by a few people, stainless is harder to sharpen.
however
the method for sharpening is the same, it just takes a little more patience on a stainless blade.
however
the method for sharpening is the same, it just takes a little more patience on a stainless blade.
Hi Leon your clipper will already be very sharp when you first buy it. The secret is to look after it be careful what you cut with it and don't allow it to get too blunt before sharpening. Read through Reds thread "The £5 sharpening kit" tells you all the who,what where in there to sharpening. One thing DON'T RUSH IT thats how accidents and ruined blades happen. Once you've gained a little experience with the knife you'll develop a feel for when its loosing the edge and know that thats the time for a touch up rather than leaving it untill it needs a full resharpen.
Dave.
Dave.
It's a good thread! A cheap, easy, and VERY effective sharpening method. Just beware your fingers!
Adam
Adam
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