phenomenal premium steels in an itty bitty living space

[ChrisinHove]

I love high wear resistance steels in tiny knives. It makes sense to me to have a steel that holds an edge well when you don't have much edge to work with. High toughness steels with poor edge retention in tiny knives seems like the real waste to me.

Really enjoying my Manbug in K390. It gets used a lot and it's nice to have an edge that lasts and lasts. That's probably the best example of "tiny knife with super steel" that I have. A stainless steel like S110V would be even better in a knife like that.

I totally agree. My Manbug in zdp-189 has been fantastic, but stainless s110v would be even better. This is also why the SE H1 bugs are so good.

[JRinFL]

I never took into account the shorter edge length benefiting more from high wear steels over longer blades. I'll have to rethink my previous thoughts on the subject. Good information in this thread.

[PineyBoy]

In years past I didn't carry anything under about a 3-1/2" blade (no length laws in my state). Then on a whim, I threw out a bid on eBay for a new Chaparral Rafir Noble. What a great little knife this has been over the past 6 months, or so. It cuts like a laser and does just about everything I ask of it. The XHP steel is plenty good for EDC. I carry it on a fairly regular basis and consider it one of my very favorites.

[z1r]

In years past I didn't carry anything under about a 3-1/2" blade (no length laws in my state). Then on a whim, I threw out a bid on eBay for a new Chaparral Rafir Noble. What a great little knife this has been over the past 6 months, or so. It cuts like a laser and does just about everything I ask of it. The XHP steel is plenty good for EDC. I carry it on a fairly regular basis and consider it one of my very favorites.

I think the Chaparral is one of the best pairings of steel and blade size. Amazing cutting ability in a little package.

[bdblue]

is there any reason to buy a smaller knife with a premium steel?

I have wondered about premium steels in small knives. I carry a folding knife to use so I think I can benefit from properties of premium steels, but it seems that small knives are hard to use for serious cutting chores so do they benefit from premium steels? I suppose if a person is restricted to owning a small knife, and they do a lot of cutting, then they have to make do and use the small knife. In that case they can benefit from a small knife with premium steel.

[brancron]

Hardness and toughness is always critical to maintaining the thinnest possible edge geometry, without rolling or chipping. It doesn't matter how long the blade is.

Came here to say exactly this! I think one of the biggest misconceptions in the knife world at the moment is the idea that toughness is only important for things like chopping. That could not be further from the truth. Thin edge geometry (low edge angle and thin behind the edge) is by far the most important factor in cutting ability (both one time and prolonged cutting). And a very thin edge is only stable when its tough (minimize chipping) and hard (minimize rolling). Wear resistance per se is the absolute least important factor out of the four mentioned (edge geometry, toughness, hardness, and wear resistance).

Another good Larrin Thomas article that discusses this whole thing in more depth: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/08/27/ ... stability/

[Rinzler]

My father has a dragonfly (vg10) that I’m constantly and frequently resharpening because he uses it pretty hard. I gave him a S30v PM2 thinking it would be better, but he still only uses the dragonfly. A dragonfly in a premium steel would really benefit someone in this situation.

Some people just like a smaller knife. Some people like nicer steel. For myself I am not interested in everyday steels (I find S30v so pedestrian that I only own two knives in s30v and both are Janisongs). I have a couple <2.5” knives in cruwear, rex45, zdp189, and m390. A small knife (or any knife) in vg10, 154cm, s30v, etc is not something that I would ever be interested in except with the Janisong exceptions.

[metaphoricalsimile]

My father has a dragonfly (vg10) that I’m constantly and frequently resharpening because he uses it pretty hard. I gave him a S30v PM2 thinking it would be better, but he still only uses the dragonfly. A dragonfly in a premium steel would really benefit someone in this situation.

Some people just like a smaller knife. Some people like nicer steel. For myself I am not interested in everyday steels (I find S30v so pedestrian that I only own two knives in s30v and both are Janisongs). I have a couple <2.5” knives in cruwear, rex45, zdp189, and m390. A small knife (or any knife) in vg10, 154cm, s30v, etc is not something that I would ever be interested in except with the Janisong exceptions.

You should get him a K390 or 20CV Dfly! I love my K390.