stainless steel, high carbon

[cajun47]

why are carbon folding knives so rare? i find they hold an edge much better than stainless steel.

 

[conw]

Two reasons: common perception is that stainless is best. Second, and related, are the fact that few people carry and use their knives enough to worry about edge retention, let alone sharpening (even fewer people know how to sharpen).

 

[Valkman]

90% of people want stainless knives, so stainless is what's made. I use stainless in my knives for that exact reason.

 

[hmphargh]

Because when your pocket knife is in your pocket, it will get moisture on it, and if it is not stainless it will rust faster.

 

[ChristopherG]

They're making some pretty good stainless these days; have you looked into stuff like CPM154, SV30 and ZDP189? They may partially answer your question--since folks want the stainless quality that comes with 12% of chromium and you can get a pretty good edge on some modern steels that have it. Of course, they're not giving them away.

 

[cajun47]

http://www.coldsteel.com/americanlawman.html

"Japanese AUS 8A stainless"

is that any good?

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Newer Metals

We now have steels in stainless that compete very credibly with the high carbon steels.

S30V, 154CM, 440C, 420HC, VG10, 14C28N, 12C27, ATS-34, AUS-8.

Some of these steels are essentially equivalent, and they're not uniform, one to the next, in hardness and other characteristics. They are all, however, a significant step up from the steels of yesteryear.

There are certainly compromises made, but there are plenty of high-quality stainless formulations that hold up very well.

 

[Valkman]

I sharpened up a new CPMD2 skinner tonight and who-eee is it sharp!

 

[7X57chilmau]

Valkman,

I've got a CMP D2 blade here, a Kershaw Leek. I've found D2's performance to be very good, but there's a strangeness to it....

I can't get a burr to form on it when sharpening... That was somewhat surprising...

It will take a wicked sharp edge (whittle hair), but dulls to just sub-razor relatively quickly (as compared to my 5160 blades). But once at that point, it doesn't seem to dull anymore for a LONG time....

Have you had a similar experience with it?

I understand that these properties are probably related to the large carbide structure in D2 (which also makes polishing it kinda difficult...)...

J

 

[bikerdoc]

I am more concerned with the country of origin. USA only for me. I can make any steel sharp but I prefer Carbon over stainless.