There must be some way to make a steel that has the edge holding power of 52100 and the elastic power of a polymer, and the toughness and strength of H1 stainless nitrogen steel. There has to be. And that is self-healing. Spyderco can do this, I know they can.
You forgot Self sharpening as well
3 x Endura 1 SE, 1 x Endura ? CE and a Black Pacific Salt. Want Aqua Salt, Fish Hunter and a Pacific Salt Yellow.
There must be some way to make a steel that has the edge holding power of 52100 and the elastic power of a polymer, and the toughness and strength of H1 stainless nitrogen steel. There has to be. And that is self-healing. Spyderco can do this, I know they can.
You forgot Self sharpening as well
Oh yeah that too! :)
But regarding what we have now available, I would like to ask you this 500Nitro: Do you think that despite the fact that some on here have damaged H1 steel when using it to cut through certain types of cable, in a general sense we can trust it to have extreme edge strength when cutting non metals?
"Do you think that despite the fact that some on here have damaged H1 steel when using it to cut through certain types of cable, in a general sense we can trust it to have extreme edgeeone strength when cutting non metals?"
Yes. For non metals, yet to see someone post damage on non metals (without abuse).
I put damage cutting metal into the same category as a hang over. Self inflicted, using it for purpose not designed for!
3 x Endura 1 SE, 1 x Endura ? CE and a Black Pacific Salt. Want Aqua Salt, Fish Hunter and a Pacific Salt Yellow.
There must be some way to make a steel that has the edge holding power of 52100 and the elastic power of a polymer, and the toughness and strength of H1 stainless nitrogen steel. There has to be. And that is self-healing. Spyderco can do this, I know they can.
You forgot Self sharpening as well
Oh yeah that too! :)
But regarding what we have now available, I would like to ask you this 500Nitro: Do you think that despite the fact that some on here have damaged H1 steel when using it to cut through certain types of cable, in a general sense we can trust it to have extreme edge strength when cutting non metals?
SE H-1 is pretty strong but in my experience, it doesn't come close to the really hard, high alloy steels like Maxamet or CPM M4 or S110V. I've had SE H-1 roll on me while cutting into plastic banding.
A bit off subject here, but I can't help wondering how something like CPM Cru-Wear or M4 would work in serrations.
- Connor
"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
I too have wondered how M4 would work with a serrated edge. I saw knives with blades made from M4 made by other companies, too, with other blade shapes, and wondered about that.
M4 is good and M4 is what people know because it's what they have used but unfortunately they are missing out on some performance when it comes to more strength and toughness with steels like 4V
So it's narrowed down to 4V, Vanadis 4 extra, Rex 45 and CPM Cruwear
Question: what steel currently used by Spyderco has the highest degree of edge strength or stability? I'm not necessarily talking about "toughness", or the chipping-vs-rolling debate. I'm talking about the ability of an edge to resist any and all forms of deformation, even under extreme abuse.
Since heat treat and geometry play such a big role in this equation, let's stick to Spyderco models.
My question is especially directed to those who have rigorously tested similar models side by side, but anyone with real world experience is welcome to chime in as well.
M4 is good and M4 is what people know because it's what they have used but unfortunately they are missing out on some performance when it comes to more strength and toughness with steels like 4V
So it's narrowed down to 4V, Vanadis 4 extra, Rex 45 and CPM Cruwear
Thanks Shawn. I will definitely check out that video.
Btw keep them coming, I really enjoying watching your sharpening and testing videos.
- Connor
"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
M4 is good and M4 is what people know because it's what they have used but unfortunately they are missing out on some performance when it comes to more strength and toughness with steels like 4V
So it's narrowed down to 4V, Vanadis 4 extra, Rex 45 and CPM Cruwear
Thanks Shawn. I will definitely check out that video.
Btw keep them coming, I really enjoying watching your sharpening and testing videos.
I am beginning to think that many steels have sufficient toughness for normal use in folders, and that in the end the edge strength (with hardness as a proxy) makes the difference in how much damage they take.
Other than my M390 Military model one other blade steel I always thought had incredible Edge Strength>> is the old 440V ( S60V)z>> it may not have ranked up with some of the supersteels we've got now but that steel had unbelievable overall strength. Especially in Spyderedge. And it was truly a monster to sharpen>> I actually invented cuss/curse words while sharpening really beat up 440V blades :D ( PE & SE).
Also I've been told that there are certain heat treatments that will make D-2 incredibly strong as well.
Where is Vtoku 2 in this toughness area? I recalled you also tested it and I remember someone said it’s very tough, though not as wear resistant.
Tough for a folder steel, I would never do this with any other folder but given that the steel is laminated I know it's not going to snap in half, also with the lock disengaged it doesn't stress the thin pivot area which would break very easy with energy transfer.
The damage was more of a really bad deformity, rolling so bad that it looks like a chip. If the HRC was softer the damage would be the same but more plastic deformity above the damage on the blade and it would not have been able to cut the nail with batoning.
The spirit of this thread is strength not toughness. I feel Vtoku lacks the strength to be mentioned here. It's still impressive that it chopped a nail though. If the geometry was thicker it would not have taken so much damage. However, Vtoku is not an ideal chopper steel either if it wasn't laminated it might have broken in half. The softer steel jacket makes that very difficult though. I do feel that if raw toughness needed you have to think 0.80% Carbon and under, also non stainless steel with low carbide forming alloys. I also feel this is useless on a folder since its just designed to absorb shock and impact energy (swinging the knife like an axe) not edge stability. We want edge stability, no rolling, no chipping, with thin geometry for cutting. Technically V2 is more on the stable side then the raw toughness side but the problem is it's 2018 and we now have access to some very impressive steels that offer better blends of strength, toughness, higher hardness and more wear resistance so V2 is over shadowed by those steels- Cruwear, V4E, 4v, Pd1, Rex 45, Z-Wear.
But V2 is neat.
