Which knife would you remake in a better/different steel?

[WittyUsername]

I’m sure many of us have got an extremely comfortable knife where the proportions are just right, it’s great to use, well balanced, and looks beautiful, but maybe the steel isn’t the best. Which knife would you remake in a new steel, keeping everything else identical, and why?

I think I’d love a Becker BK9 in CPM 3v, and one of the Casstrom Lars Falt or Helle knives in an Elmax.

 

[Kadushu]

Camillus Bushcrafter. The handle is perfect for me and the blade is excellent (after a little regrind) but it's a soft example of 1095.

 

[gra_farmer]

helle temagami, full tang and in CPM 3v,

 

[gra_farmer]

Camillus Bushcrafter. The handle is perfect for me and the blade is excellent (after a little regrind) but it's a soft example of 1095.

I really want to try the camillus bushcrafter, but the price is crazy here when they were £45 posted a few years ago.

On a different note the benchmade bushcrafter is quite good, but they run the S30v on the soft side and the blade grinds are chunky

 

[WittyUsername]

helle temagami, fall tang and in CPM 3v,

Yeah, good shout on the full tang too.


ESEE 5 in CPM 3v would be nice.

 

[WittyUsername]

Camillus Bushcrafter. The handle is perfect for me and the blade is excellent (after a little regrind) but it's a soft example of 1095.

I’ve never tried any Camillus stuff but I was eyeing up their little camo folding saw. I think it was only £15 or so and had good reviews.

 

[demographic]

I've had quite a few over the years that would have benefited from being made out of something like ZDP 189 or CPM S90V and I can be a bit irritated by the people who want a steel thats soft enough to grind on their front step.

I've tried those two steels and have to say that I think they're a huge improvement on a small blade from a buyers perspective if not from a manufacturers.

I've got over the "using a knife cos I can't find an adjustable spanner to use as a hammer" phase so I've not snapped a tip off one in years.
I use a diamond hone and then strop them. One of my diamond hones is a DMT Diafold thats small enough to fit into a pocket so I don't have to cart my front step about either, win win.
So to answer the question, I have a couple.

Spyderco Ambitious and I have a lovely little Viper Drop linerlock thabt would benefit from being made from one of the two aforementioned steels.

Having said that I have a Manly Wasp which does most of what I need in the way of a folder and the fact that it doesn't lock makes it less of a legal issue in the UK.

 

[Kadushu]

I really want to try the camillus bushcrafter, but the price is crazy here when they were £45 posted a few years ago.

On a different note the benchmade bushcrafter is quite good, but they run the S30v on the soft side and the blade grinds are chunky

Chunky blade grinds seem to be a common problem. I especially don't understand it when a blade is made of "high end" steel so the grind could be a bit more daring. Ho hum

 

[Kadushu]

I’ve never tried any Camillus stuff but I was eyeing up their little camo folding saw. I think it was only £15 or so and had good reviews.

Sadly they seem to have pulled a Gerber and gone down the cheap junk route with a lot of their knives but the Bushcrafter has served me well.

 

[gra_farmer]

Chunky blade grinds seem to be a common problem. I especially don't understand it when a blade is made of "high end" steel so the grind could be a bit more daring. Ho hum

It's like with many things, we are conditioned by manufacturers that thicker is better, while they are at the same time frightened that their customers with break them.

I sharpened a saw tooth edge out of an Esee 3 last week, which chipped when the edge was thinned out. Even with Esee's cover, the blade should not have chipped, as the steel is quite soft, and on the new edge rolled very quickly. I'll have to bring the edge up a little, but we should not have to do that. @Nice65 I'll bring it upto 17 or 20 degrees mirco bevel on the convex, before returning.

I made a hss steel knife years ago, it is not pretty, and a pain to sharpen/make, but holds an edge forever and batoning through wood with screws and nails, has only resulted in the smallest of rolls on the edge.....indestructible.

So if a DIY knife maker can produce a blade like that, why are we seeing rolled edges that we can use as mirrors to shave with?

 

[TLM]

With a question like this the material engineer in me first thinks: What is better? It is not a trivial or easy question when knives are concerned.

So what is considered better:
high yield strength > no edge rolling but maybe some chipping
high breaking strength > blade maybe bends but does not break, or just breaks when overloaded but requires really trying
good cutting > not so easy to sharpen or actually very difficult one and edge chips a bit
easy sharpening > edge rolls and does not keep well at all
stainless > kind of soft and does not cut very well or brittle at the other end

One at the present can't get them all so what do you really value?

Basically that is a very easy question to state and impossible to answer.

 

[WittyUsername]

With a question like this the material engineer in me first thinks: What is better? It is not a trivial or easy question when knives are concerned.

So what is considered better:
high yield strength > no edge rolling but maybe some chipping
high breaking strength > blade maybe bends but does not break, or just breaks when overloaded but requires really trying
good cutting > not so easy to sharpen or actually very difficult one and edge chips a bit
easy sharpening > edge rolls and does not keep well at all
stainless > kind of soft and does not cut very well or brittle at the other end

One at the present can't get them all so what do you really value?

Basically that is a very easy question to state and impossible to answer.

It was just supposed to be a light topic to discuss potentially great ideas for custom knives, to be honest. Sometimes everything is subjectively ‘perfect’ about a knife apart from the fact that it’s made from Aus8, and would benefit from a better steel.

If you find the question impossible to answer then just ignore the thread.

 

[Deleted member 56522]

My knives are made out of stone (not even flint - I hate these modern alternatives ... only the real original stuff for me)

 

[Danceswithhelicopters]

A bog standard remake of the Wilkinson Sword Woodlore in sonething stainless.

 

[Murat_Cyp]

So what is considered better:
high yield strength > no edge rolling but maybe some chipping
high breaking strength > blade maybe bends but does not break, or just breaks when overloaded but requires really trying
good cutting > not so easy to sharpen or actually very difficult one and edge chips a bit
easy sharpening > edge rolls and does not keep well at all
stainless > kind of soft and does not cut very well or brittle at the other end

One at the present can't get them all so what do you really value?

Basically that is a very easy question to state and impossible to answer.

I think you should take out the ease of sharpening from the list. There are two major factors making sharpening easy or difficult and these are the knife-edge geometry and the abrasive used. Steel has nothing to do with how easy to sharpen a knife. I have sharpened Maxamet class steel with such ease at 68HRC that it would be difficult to tell the difference from S30V. However, agree that some low alloy steels are a joy to sharpen as they allow the use of very high-quality Jap. stones with nice feedback. Diamond and CBN stones does not give the same nice feeling when sharpening.

By the way, MagnaCut has them all, followed by the CPM cruwear if you accept a corrosion resistance sacrifice (still as resistant as D2 though)

 

[Nice65]

It's like with many things, we are conditioned by manufacturers that thicker is better, while they are at the same time frightened that their customers with break them.

I sharpened a saw tooth edge out of an Esee 3 last week, which chipped when the edge was thinned out. Even with Esee's cover, the blade should not have chipped, as the steel is quite soft, and on the new edge rolled very quickly. I'll have to bring the edge up a little, but we should not have to do that. @Nice65 I'll bring it upto 17 or 20 degrees mirco bevel on the convex, before returning.

No worries Gra, I’m in not missing it. It does fit the thread criteria well, as do all the ESEE knives in 1095 with powder coating to prevent rust, and thin, flat handle slabs. I’ve no idea why the ESEE knives became so cool apart from we were all in a Maxpedition PALS military bag tuff trend at the time.

 

[forrestdweller]

am i the only one who wishes victorinox would upgrade to a steel with better edge retention?

 

[WittyUsername]

am i the only one who wishes victorinox would upgrade to a steel with better edge retention?

I’d love that. Both for their SAK blades and for their fixed blades.

 

[gra_farmer]

am i the only one who wishes victorinox would upgrade to a steel with better edge retention?

Victorinox is a mainstream tool, so on face value it has the steel and heat treatment spot on......but yes I agree, a better quality steel on 'all' edged tools (not just the blades) would be welcome. Even D2 would be one hell of a step up in steel specs.

 

[Murat_Cyp]

am i the only one who wishes victorinox would upgrade to a steel with better edge retention?

I think they use 12C27 which is pretty good steel. They should only heat treat it to 59-60 and it would be fine.