I was expecting to see RWL34 featured
Do you not rate It ?
Has it been super ceded by better products?
J
Do you not rate It ?
Has it been super ceded by better products?
J
Stalking Knives, their metallurgy and use.
- Thread starter Bowland blades
- Start date
I dont think there are better and worse so much as " difference " must say cannot remember seeing it recently but some steels are changed slightly or copied and sold under a different name for less money by another mill or in a better format AEB-L and SF100 are basically the same product but AEB-L is American owned and rolled in coil under Licence in Germany , SF 100 is rolled as flat plate in Sheffield /Rotherham in the Uk .
There are hundreds of steels and some stock is done in a real big melt many years ago and once its gone , it might not be viable to do again if something better is available . I read a while back most of the w2 stock dates from the 1940s and 50s ? ! I wonder how many have bought and sold W2 stock without it moving an inch in that time ? Not really something i bother about to be honest
A powder technology from Sweden (I think)
Fairly high on the Rockwell scale but also rust resistant (SS)
Good edge retention - but a bugger to sharpen
Fairly high on the Rockwell scale but also rust resistant (SS)
Good edge retention - but a bugger to sharpen
I am familiar with it but i dont use it , a phone around would likely find some at a stockholder , thinking on i wonder if i bought a bar not to long back as it was cheap on clearance ? in an oddball size
Could be interested in a knife if you have such a bar
Though I need another knife like a need a hole in the head
Though I need another knife like a need a hole in the head
will have a route aboutCould be interested in a knife if you have such a bar
Though I need another knife like a need a hole in the head
Was wrong its a stick of N690 equivalent stainless 30x5.5 for some dispatch knivesCould be interested in a knife if you have such a bar
Though I need another knife like a need a hole in the head
What about Bohler N695?
My main stalking knife is a Boker made from N695. The edge retention is superb and the blade seems very light.
It's not that easy to sharpen but if stropped regularly after use it rarely if ever needs it.
I'd like more knives made from this steel.
Last edited:
Selection of the right steel involves ballance for the task at hand . There will never be the ultimate steel for all tasks . High edge retention for instance tends to compromise toughness ( a bit like a faster accelerating car gives a lower mpg ) .
With a deerstalking knife geometry is a big part of edge retention and of course the heat treatment process overall . For example AEB-L and a few other steels i do and have used have gone over 100 deer without difficulty without seeing a stone , for many that is a good few years of use .
There is more to things than the steel selection than pick something with X or Y properties . The heat treatment and Geometry play a massive part, the area of heat treat is where factory knives tend to show the accountants input ( a blade needs hardening under high heat for a reasonable time and then a longer time at a lower heat to temper ) This costs !
i havent exact figures for N695 but N690 has a toughness of 3.5 way behind AEB-L, edge retention of 4 which is 1 above AEB-L and corrosion resitance of 8 with AEB-L at 7. .... both reach similar Hardness
Its a balance like i say, there are higher wear steels , higher toughness steels and higher corrosion renitent steels . Deer knives imo should really have a good toughness if i was to use just one feature and here steels like the very much used 440 will show why so much chipping and tip loss occurs in deer knives as its only rated at 3.5 ( AEB-L rates 9.5 !) taking the slots off or a head is not such a risky thing . This factor will be a big part in how long a knife stays in service , without major remedial work!
AS STATED previously in the thread heat treat can be mixed about and refined some to feature "slightly changed " properties but something is always going to suffer in another area . with over 50 different steels compared and likely only 20 easily obtainable to UK makers you can no doubt anticipate certain obvious issues ?
I can make in any UK available steel a premium is charged if there is no good heat treat process available and needs developing
If its a deer knife i suggest i have better and "field proven" steels in the rack or easily obtained for less cost than bringing something in
Steels of high wear contain stuff that often compromises other aspects and my AEB-L will do the field work 100 deer in capable hands.
I cant say this enough but AEB-L and SF100 ( its UK smelted and rolled equivalent) offer a very high toughness ( resistance to chipping or tip loss ) with a very practical edge retention (without being hard to sharpen ! ) pretty much all the corrosion resistance required away from sea Kayak fishing and a hardness of around 63-64 Rc
I rate what's field proven in the job at hand and property balance, if we dont have good balance things simply "fall over "
norcan
Well-Known Member
Cru-Wear isn't even close to the latest (it's been around since 1994) and I wouldn't call it "trendy", either — but as a hunting-knife steel goes, the CPM version is absolutely fantastic stuff, since the balance of properties it offers is about as optimal as it gets. It's heavily biased toward toughness, still has excellent wear resistance, and though the chromium content is below the 10.5% threshold for being classified as stainless at 7.5%, my Cru-Wear blades are spotless. Another great characteristic is that it takes and holds a keen edge very nicely with excellent stability, gives good feedback while sharpening, and gives great cutting performance with with any sort of edge finish from toothy to mirror-polished.
It's a truly premium steel and is highly-regarded by people who are into quality knives for a reason. In fact, about the only steels I might prefer to CPM Cru-Wear for some hunting applications would be Vanax and CPM Magnacut, along with K390 if it's for a smaller knife and corrosion resistance isn't a big consideration. Even among those other top-of-the-heap steels, it's hard to beat Cru-Wear for a field knife because of its superior toughness.
Last edited by a moderator:
stainless isn't just about Chromium content , its importantly how its used . D2 has enough to qualify as stainless yet it is not stainless and shouldn't be rated as one because it uses the Chromium to make carbides not a passive film
Vanax is nearly half as tough as AEB-L but it (vanax) I rate toughness on a deer knife a lot btw as we are talking edge chipping and tip loss! it offers a slightly higher edge retention / wear than AEB-L not by much but it does and if you had to point out its niche its actually its high corrosion resistance which it right up at the very top as good as it gets in any real cutting knife , it just makes 60-61 Rc (AEB-L will go 63-64 Rc) . The reason to choose Vanax would be a knife used in salt water it up there with LC200N that offers a lot tougher blade if you need to do a bit of prying but looses a bit of edge retention to the vanax. I cannot say the added corrosion resistance is any real use in a deerstalking knife ( even my dirtiest clients have not had one have an issue with rust )
Similar threads
