Steel Snobs - Take a step back...

[RLR]

I have been getting more slip joints lately (actually, most of my other knives are a little more "traditional" anyway). Well, I am a steel snob, but I have been "edumacated" on the merits of a wonder steel, a magical steel, a fantabulous steel:

CASE CV! Argh... it is super easy to sharpen, polish and it keeps an edge. This is my first Case CV (I got a med stockman) and I cannot say enough about the steel. Old school, high carbon, dayum! Do yourself a favour, find a case CV (new red CV line gives you a nice choice) and find out how easy you can freehand a PERFECT edge.

Cheers - RLR

[Michael Cook]

:spyder: It's all too true that we Americans can become a bit steel pretentious. I don't really need a knife that can cut boxes for 6 months without dulling considering how much I like to sharpen and touch up my blades but there I am, drooling over the next upcoming zdp blade (bring on the zdp chinese!) :spyder:

[RLR]

Ok, don't get me wrong, that ZDP Chinese is the bomb!

[severedthumbs]

do you guys think Sypderco will ever use Cowry y or vg-10 super gold?

[Simple Man]

Another EDC, opposite a SS Endura, is a CV Stockman I bought off a local dealer for $10. He sells a local farmer a new stockman every couple years and the farmer trades his used one in on he new one. He says it was used it to cut tobacco and anything else, when it came in and the spey would not even open. The dealer soaked it in a kerosene mix for a week, would blow it out with compressed air and repeat. It was still stiff when I brought it home.

After a good WD-40 cleaning, Militec, and SLP-2000, and a touchup with benchstones then the 204, it has turned out to be a real nice user. Other than being dull and stiff, it was in real good condition, the blades were straight and all fell in nicely, no contact between them. The clip blade is rough sharpened for mail and such, the sheepsfoot, 40° for heavy plastics, packages, and the spey 30° to impress. :D

I enjoy carrying the same pattern my Grandad did for years.

[bh49]

Ok, don't get me wrong, that ZDP Chinese is the bomb!

Is ZDP189 made in China or this is joke?
R

[Simple Man]

That is refering to the Chineese Lum mentioned in another thread.

"5. The ZDP Lum Chinese folder "Sprint" is scheduled for later this year" Sal

[bh49]

Thank you.
Do you know who makes this steel?
R

[ghostrider]

Thank you.
Do you know who makes this steel?
R

IIRC Hitatchi makes it.

[ghostrider]

Okay, so I'm a steel snob. I can't help it. I'd much rather have a blade that doesn't require sharpening twice a day to one that does. I learned my lesson with a CRKT Prowler (AUS-6). I bought the knife after loosing my second Kershaw Whirlwind. I’d get it hair-popping sharp on the Lansky, but before the end of the day it would be dull. It’s really too bad because I did like that design. OTOH, I was very happy with the 440A of the Whirlwind but, neither one of them comes close to my VG-10. I figured all this out before someone told me that VG-10 should hold a better edge than AUS-6 and I really didn’t know the difference between the 440 series. Fact is, what made me a steel snob was my desire to figure out why one knife held an edge better than another, not which knife should perform better according to it's steel. As cheap as the FRN Spyderco’s are, I see no reason to go with something that doesn’t work as well.

[Simple Man]

RLR, I've done the same thing with the Endura. I carried one of the first batch S30V Millies (still with ecc. pivot) for 2 1/2 years. I got an AUS-6 SS Endura for my birthday last year and the Millie hasn't been back in my pocket since. I sharpen it at 40° instead of the S30V's 30° and it is doing fine. Spyderco doesn't make a "bad" steel. I have really been looking harder at design and not so much at steel type. (I say that, and as I type, I am waiting for a VG-10 SS E4 to be delivered, oh well :o )

[thombrogan]

Case's chrome-vanadium is the same steel Camillus and Marbles use on their non-stainless knives. Good stuff.

The two slightly more modern knives that kicked this steel snob in the teeth are 420J2 and AUS-6. Spyderco's reverse-S Spyderedged Meerkat in AUS-6 is an amazing cutter. So is Boker's SubCom folder in 420J2. Just goes to show that the actual shape of the blade is more important than the steel. After that, the hardness of the steel is more important than the type of steel. After all of that, the nature of the steel will reveal itself, but you need a well designed stockman, Spyderco, or CLB design before that stuff will matter.

[fret]

I have several of the Case Chrome-Vanadium knives. I use one like the one shown in the photo for wood carving. It works great. Holds a sharp edge for quite awhile. Actually have shaved with it just to see how well it would do. It is good steel in my opinion.

[RLR]

And, to add to this new, old super steel, you can actually strop it to a shimmer. Try that with anything newer (ATS34, ZDP, S30V). Stropping extends times between sharpening and it's quite therapeutic.

[gordonk]

I've refurbished a couple of the old stag handled Case slippies for a few people and after clean up, touched up the edges a bit. I agree - it pretty amazing how easy it was to resharpen. I've kinda been toying with the idea of adding a few slippies into my collection to "round it out" , so to to speak. I already have a few, but I don't think a few more would hurt :D

- gord

[RLR]

Just buy more slipjoints! Hey Sal, we need a slipjoint line at Spyderco.

Oh, and Simple Man, nice knife:

[The Deacon]

I guess, in my own way, I might be a "steel snob". Not for the "high performance" stuff though. My brand of snobbery is that I've reached the point where I desire something that looks attractive in its own right. I would prefer a stainless damascus blade that displayed an interesting pattern and had decent, but unremarkable, edge retention, to the plain grey of the most super of super-steels.