51–60 of 89 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
this data is mostly scraped from a few large knife retailers, so should be accurate.
It's unusual for a large retailer to not use the official name of a product
It seems like the steel data comes from larger database on hardness/toughness/corrosion? Can you say where that data is coming from or if it's your own measurements? If you could show the data (eg HRC) that supports the radar chart it would be easier for a purchaser to know if their steel actually meets the purported performance after purchase. I guess what confuses me most is that heat treatment/hardening seem cruci…
I looked through most of the charts, and I it seems like you cannot get the best of two worlds. Can you get good edge retention, ease of sharpening and toughness at the same time? It would be nice with an example on how knife steel properties work. I assume there are balanced tradeoffs.
Being soft or brittle can also make forming a sharp edge difficult, requiring very light pressure in the final phases of sharpening to remove or avoid creating a burr in the case of softness, and to avoid chipping in the case of brittleness.
Of course all of these properties are affected by the heat treatment, which is often more important to the performance of the knife than the composition of the steel.
Anyone else like ceramic knives? I have a couple paring knives. Super sharp but very brittle.
I have a lot of knives (and have made my own) and I love ceramic knives. For those that don't know, ceramic knives are sintered zirconium dioxide; they are super sharp and retain sharpness far better than steel, but are brittle and not practical to resharpen. As a result your average knife enthusiast tries them, sees that they chip easily and can't be fixed, and condemn them as throwaway garbage.
The secret is to use them for an application where they'll never hit something hard or rough. For example, using them where they might hit metal or bone, they'll eventually chip - possibly into your food! Or using them on a cutting board, they'll dull, although slower than steel. But use them on soft objects only and they'll last virtually forever.
They are very useful for cutting cardboard boxes open, or tape, or plastic. You can use the same ceramic knife for 1000+ cardboard boxes and it will cut like a hot knife in butter, while the same steel knife would need to be resharpened several times for the same smoothness.
Oh, and they are non-browning for food like apples or avocados, which is nice. The browning you see in cut foods is caused partly by polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme that can be activated by iron and other metals. Steel knives shed tiny amounts of iron into food as they cut, so if you use a ceramic knife, your food will look fresher for longer.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I went through manually and these appear to have the highest volumes: H1 H2 CPM Magnacut Sandvik 12C27 Interestingly they are all weak on Edge Retention.
Calling magnacut weak on edge retention is an... interesting take. It's not record setting, but it's far, far above the other 3 you listed. The data this site is using really seems questionable.
CATRA testing by Magnacut's creator[0] suggests D2, 3V, VG10, and 440C should have a lower rating than Magnacut for edge retention, while Elmax, M2, and Cruwear should be the same. 5 probably is a reasonable rating for Magnacut though when Maxamet is 10.
[0] https://i2.wp.com/knifesteelnerds.com/wp-content/uploads/202...
Tangent: I had a decent benchmade griptilian folding knife for the last 10 or so years. Wasn’t the sharpest knife but I loved the form factor, grip, etc. I left it on the bed cover of my truck the other day while unboxing some towing equipment in a parking lot and took off accidentally. Looked at Amazon to replace it and they’re going for $200+ now. Is this just Amazon tax? Tarrifs? Something else? No way in hell I p…
Sharpness is a product of sharpening, which should be done regularly for good results.
Benchmade's pricing is based on irrational customers being willing to pay premium prices for knives that really aren't competitive anymore.
If you want a replacement knife that's very similar for a more reasonable price, consider the crossbar lock version of the Vosteed Raccoon.
It seems like the steel data comes from larger database on hardness/toughness/corrosion? Can you say where that data is coming from or if it's your own measurements? If you could show the data (eg HRC) that supports the radar chart it would be easier for a purchaser to know if their steel actually meets the purported performance after purchase. I guess what confuses me most is that heat treatment/hardening seem cruci…
Looking at some of the comparisons, the data appears to be (I could be wrong) scraped from this article by Dr Larrin Thomas based on his personal research and testing, possibly also including some of the other articles on his website: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2021/10/19/knife-steels-rated-by...
