JohnDoe99 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:03 pm
archangel wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 3:34 am
Okay, we have SPY27, we have S45VN, and soon (gosh I hope soon!) we'll have Larrinite. I'm pretty sure all of them will see ALOT of representation in future Spydies.
What do you think, which steel will we see the most, and longest? And why? Everybody is excited about Larrinite, but don't forget how well represented S30V/S35VN are in the market, so I think S45VN has a good shot. And SPY27 has a home field advantage - why develop your own home steel and then not use it widely? The Dark Horse - Larrinite?
Who wins?
There is a consistent retreat away from carbide with each of these steels by lowering carbon and vanadium content, which contradicts the industry's recent and heavy emphasis on ever increasing vanadium carbide.
On a whole, the high carbide steels never sold at the volume of lower carbide steels.
Spyderco was always unique in using steels that were impossible for majority of companies to work with like Maxamet for instance. So it gives the impression that everyone does it when in fact a lot of these super steels will never, ever touch the sheer volume of low alloy stainless used by Mora, Victornox and J.A Henckels.
I think folks underestimate the increased cost to make blades in high wear steels, it's not just the raw cost per lbs for the steel but one hidden factor is mountains of abrasives needed to grind these steels is exponential. It's also something that is not as universally enjoyed by casual knife folks at different experience and expectation levels of what a knife realistically can or should do so there is even increased cost in just answering more questions for customer service.
There is a notation that a knife should be invincible and cut forever but it's an inverse relationship.
So I personally feel there is a sweet spot for balanced steels with less trade offs in the knife industry and for majority of casual knife folks.
More extreme steels or features are more enjoyable but alienate larger production and causal users in my opinion.
Spyderco really spoils us, so it should be appreciated that you can buy a folder in Maxamet.