Hardest Pocket Knife Steel

Why steel grade matters.
Hardest pocket knife steel. Time to face it fellow knife nerds we re living in an era of over saturation. A mix of carbon and iron that is often enriched with other elements to improve certain characteristics depending on the desired application. It is harder but more brittle than lower carbon steels such as 1055 1060 1070 and 1080. With so many companies releasing a deluge of new designs it s difficult to pluck the hits from the static.
Best buys for blade readers. Alongside edge geometry and design blade steel is a critical element that determines how a knife performs. While h1 steel lives in a specialist category as a fishing or boating knife lc200n holds its own as an edc knife steel. These knives retain their sharpness much longer but can be a bit difficult to sharpen.
Aus 6 steel is rarely used to build pocket knives or fixed blade knives and is typically found in kitchen knives nowadays. Since pocket knives and hunting knives aren t generally used for chopping wood they benefit from a harder steel that will take and keep a good sharp edge for slicing and cutting. Being of higher quality than 420 but still used in budget blades. It has a carbon content of 0 90 1 03 many older pocket knives and kitchen knives were made of 1095.
Decent edge holding capabilities and fairly easy to resharpen this steel is a good balance of the most desirable traits for knife steel. The grade of steel as well as how it s made determines everything from the blade s hardness and durability to its ability to take and hold a sharp edge and its corrosion resistance. A hard strong blade steel. Typical of the hardness found in pocket knives such as spyderco and cold steel or premium japanese kitchen knives.
Steel is essentially an alloy i e. Very easy 9 10 edge retention. If you live in a humid environment or frequently meal prep with your pocket knife try the spydiechef from spyderco in lc200n steel. This stainless steel is commonly used in knife blades and offers good corrosion resistance at a low cost.
In choosing the best pocket knife you should pay particular attention to the type of steel used in the blade. Bad 3 10 corrosion resistance. Cold steel bush ranger lite review. On the same note a survival knife that you are going to put to extreme rugged brutal near abuse would benefit from a rockwell hardness of 55 58.
While a typical sanding belt can be used to grind several typical mono steel knife blades it requires several belts in many cases six or more for the same process using the sm 100 alloy.