Pocketknives/Kitchen Knives/Fixed Blades
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The ZT I got through you, Matt, is ever the party piece… I cut the neck of a bottle of wine, a clean cut, at a BBQ some weeks ago... There had been a rather substantial bit of drinking but it still got quite the response...
https://www.knivesandtools.be/nl/pt/-zero-tolerance-470-zakmes-dmitry-sinkevich-design.htm
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The US, Taiwan and Japan made Spydercos are all pretty good quality. The US made knives are generally the most expensive, the Taiwan made knives have excellent build quality, the Japan made knives are generally one step above Spyderco's Chinese made budget line. I would say the Taiwan made knives are a higher quality than the Japanese made knives.
VG10 is a decent steel that is easy to sharpen. They are usually used for the Japanese made line.
S30v and S35v is used in their US made line. These steels can be a pain in the ass to sharpen if you're not patient or are willing to use power tools.
They use BD1 once in awhile, it's a nice steel for the kitchen because it doesn't rust easily.
There are some other steels that they use, but it's not all that common. M390 will hold an edge for a long time but it's a nightmare to sharpen without power tools. N390 on the other hand is basically CPM154, which is my all time favorite steel. CPM154 isn't in vogue anymore, but it is a really nice balance of edge retention and ease of sharpening.In general, blades made of CPM154 are excellent bang for the buck.
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Anything more complex than S30V is getting into nuance that only really matters to knife people. The different steel compositions are interesting if you're into that sort of thing but if you want a knife that works well and is easy to maintain then @DougNg makes fair points. I have the Sypderco Sharpmaker and it works pretty well on S30V. I'd have to pay for the diamond rods if I wanted to use it on anything harder than that and I'm not going to do that.
That said, I do have 20CV, S90V, S110V and M4 which I haven't sharpened yet but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
@Seul That ZT is awesome. The blade is so pointy and the size and weight are really nice. I'm not sad I let it go but I do envy your having it for champagne parties. It's def a champagne party knife.
I pulled the trigger on a Spydiechef yesterday which has LC200N steel. It's supposed to be one of the most corrosion resistant steels out there and I'm looking forward to using it for some campground food prep. The Spyderco Swayback will be out soon which is also by Marcin Slyz (sp?) but I can't really get into the shape. If a Slyz Bowie popped up somewhere I'd seriously consider the marital strife that would ensue.
Get a Native. You can't go wrong there. Great knife with a great shape and great back lock. If you don't have a Spyderco it's a nice place to start.
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I love the orange. I think the steel for those is Rex 45 though and that's not stainless. If you don't mind a patina then it's fine. The lightweights are very nice.
In all honesty if you can get your hands on a Para 3 LW then you get the best of all worlds. The standard steel is BD1N which is pretty nice and they just started doing sprint runs to give you some more variety of color and steel. Over here it's under $100 and you get a lot of knife for that price. I had one and enjoyed it but it was too close to my Benchmade Bugout which I adore so I sent it back out into the world. Fly little birdie, fly!
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Look at the Swayback, it seems like the kind of thing you'd like…
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20CV isn't too bad to sharpen if you don't think S30v isn't a pain.
Good luck with the S90v, S110 or M4 without power tools…you can always swing by Bowie and I'll touch them up on my Work Sharp...
I honestly thought the knife industry would have given up on M4 after people found out what a pain in the ass it is to sharpen.
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The 20CV is a Hinderer ZT with a "working finish" so I agree, it should be ok.
The others I worry about but fortunately they have good edge retention and I'm not really a hard use kind of guy. I'll be careful not to let them get too dull and see if I can get away with regular touch ups. As much as I love Bowie I'll be traveling in the opposite direction but I am going to see how many forum members I can hang with when I hit the road next month so maybe when we come back through this way I'll hit you up for some heavy grinding… and maybe even some knife sharpening.
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I do love this forum, not least as a place of learning. We could start our own firkin' university offering Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate's in Cool Shit. Thank you @Matt and @DougNg
So I've been offered a very nice Spyderco knife which in terms of size and shape will be of use to me, but it has a not so stainless steel blade. The Spyderco page says it is made of 52100 steel which needs to be maintained to avoid rust. I guess this means regular cleaning and a bit of oil? Is this also one of those blades that needs power tools to sharpen?
In other news… this is a bit sexy:
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High carbon high chrome, so yes to power tools
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52100 is ball bearing steel. It might require a belt sander to sharpen it if they made it stupidly hard with the heat treat. I’ve have a few out of 52100, some have been a pain some have been easy. The trick with that steel is to touch it up regularly and you shouldn’t need to reprofile too often.
You can oil it regularly to keep it shiny or you can use it for a couple days in the kitchen, let it form a natural patina and keep it clean. The patina is a natural protective layer. Checking it for mild rust regularly will save you from a lot of headaches later.
Don’t force a patina by sticking it in a potato or covering it in mustard. It always comes out looking weird.
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Again, thanks gents. I just found this useful guide:
https://www.bladehq.com/cat–Best-Knife-Steel-Guide--3368
I notice that a lot of the knives I’m looking at use CPM-S30V. It seems to have a well balanced profile according to the above.
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Most people can't tell the difference between steels until they need to sharpen them or they need to use a knife for an extended period of time. For your average day to day user, any steel will do. I've been into knives for a while, and ultimately carry a Swiss army knife after being immersed in the knife world for 25 years.
How immersed am I into knives? The Rick Hinderer XM-18 that's held in high regards around here: I used to own the very first prototype before I sold it awhile ago. I was helping to cover his table at a knife show years ago in Vegas and he gave it to me as payment. -
@neph93 what are knife laws like in Norway? I carry a pocket knife everyday in the UK so they have to be non-locking, cutting blade under 3 inches (to play safe I stick under that), non-threatening in appearance, and while one hand opening isn't illegal, you wouldnt want to be caught with a super fast flipper.
I also have different knives for different locations. Smaller for work in the office, larger for general out and about, and medium for town and city. Still, you can never 2nd guess how a police constable might interpret the relevant laws.
At the price point I'd buy at most are D2 or N390. They are fine for edc needs… Opening packaging, lighter cutting. For heavier stuff I'd use a fixed blade. I'll put a few pics of my favs up later...
