The Cold Steel Kiridashi for this week.
What is your EDC knife?
- Thread starter blary54
- Start date
Tenacious lightweight
UpTern
Civivi Elementum II.
Carl Schlieper Barlow
Sandrin Torino
Fallkniven U2
Böker Titanium Backlock
Civivi Chronic
A.G. Russell Wharncliffe lockback for this week.
We Knife Titanium Flipper
EclipseRedRing
I smell like a Christmas pudding
Leatherman Skeletool KB, a small knife with only a 6.6cm blade length. This takes a nice edge but does not seem to keep it for long, maybe it is the 420HC steel. I do not find this easy to open and close one handed but I don't really do that anyway. Not legal to carry here in the UK sadly.
Vic Waiter for today
People can say what they will about the new super steels. All good and fine. But VG10 is an exceptionally practical steel for knives.
It is strongly corrosion resistant under normal use circumstances. Takes a nice edge and retains it. Unlike most of the newer Super steels, it is easy and quick to sharpen and maintain an edge.
Look into LC200N and Magnacut steels. They both offer better corrosion resistance. LC200N doesn't quite hold an edge as well as VG10, but it's easy to sharpen. In practice, my wharncliffe Spyderco Salt 2 SE blade has managed to maintain its edge very well even though I used it to hack through small tree branches. I also maintain my plain edge LC200N pocket knives with just a little touchup on my honing steel. I've used them to cut through a bunch of food in the kitchen and the blades are still fine.
Magnacut is supposed to be less corrosion resistant than LC200N but hold its edge much better, along with having a higher HRC rating. I only have one knife (in SE) with Magnacut so I can't speak to how well it holds up to long term abuse.
I have one VG-10 pocket knife that I got mainly because it was damascened. I don't really use it, as I usually carry one of my LC200N knives.
Which is why I say "It is strongly corrosion resistant under normal use circumstances."
We can look at a chart of stainless steels:
You can see that ordinary 440C has a corrosion resistance of 7.5. Whereas a semi-stainless steel like D2 would have a relative corrosion resistance of only 4.5.
Most of your common Stainless steels would be around 7.5 in corrosion resistance.
If I was working on a boat or anywhere else around a saltwater environment on a day-to-day basis, yes, I would consider a special salt water resistant steel.
In practical everyday use, LC200N has a week edge retention rating of 3, while tough, it's edge retention is quite low. I would probably go with Vanax instead.
Or perhaps M390. I have a Spyderco Delica in 20CV which is essentially identical. In addition, my Delica has a TiCN coating, which further protects the blade.
VG10 has an edge retention of 4.5, while M390 is rated at 6.5. M390's corrosion resistance is 9. So it's very close to LC200N.
Larrin's Magnacut is a nice steel, but the knives that use it are expensive! Other than my Delica, my other knives are less expensive. I just don't require exotic steels. If I were to loose one of my others, no tears would be shead.
I use all my knives in commercial kitchens and I rinse them off. I don't have corrosion issues with any of them. All, other than my Delica have ordinary inexpensive steels.
If I were to buy another knife, I would go with S90V for its edge retention qualities.
With only minimal reasonable care, most any stainless steel will resist corrosion easily enough for most users.
Last edited:
My other Spyderco is an Endura VG10. It is the oldest of my current EDC knives. Unless in a more formal setting, it is my main EDC. I have slightly loosened the clip tension and I carry it on the inside of my belt next to my rear pocket.
I wear it with my regular dress pants daily except when a more discreet inside the pocket clip knife is more in keeping with the setting.
When I am wearing jeans that have a thicker belt, I wear a Cold Steel knife in its place. I have placed washers in the clip screws to allow for the belt thickness.
Love it. That makes perfect sense.
After I had a pocketknife (with 8cr13MoV steel) rust in my pocket from just my leg sweat, I moved to only carrying LC200N or H1/2 steels (though I started carrying a Pacific Salt when fishing, which was primarily surf fishing, even before then). The occasional touching up on a steel or even sharpening isn't a dealbreaker for me. But I totally get your point. It's another case of different strokes for different folks.Which is why I say "It is strongly corrosion resistant under normal use circumstances."
We can look at a chart of stainless steels:
You can see that ordinary 440C has a corrosion resistance of 7.5. Whereas a semi-stainless steel like D2 would have a relative corrosion resistance of only 4.5.
Most of your common Stainless steels would be around 7.5 in corrosion resistance.
If I was working on a boat or anywhere else around a saltwater environment on a day-to-day basis, yes, I would consider a special salt water resistant steel.
In practical everyday use, LC200N has a week edge retention rating of 3, while tough, it's edge retention is quite low. I would probably go with Vanax instead.
Or perhaps M390. I have a Spyderco Delica in 20CV which is essentially identical. In addition, my Delica has a TiCN coating, which further protects the blade.
VG10 has an edge retention of 4.5, while M390 is rated at 6.5. M390's corrosion resistance is 9. So it's very close to LC200N.
Larrin's Magnacut is a nice steel, but the knives that use it are expensive! Other than my Delica, my other knives are less expensive. I just don't require exotic steels. If I were to loose one of my others, no tears would be shead.
I use all my knives in commercial kitchens and I rinse them off. I don't have corrosion issues with any of them. All, other than my Delica have ordinary inexpensive steels.
If I were to buy another knife, I would go with S90V for its edge retention qualities.
With only minimal reasonable care, most any stainless steel will resist corrosion easily enough for most users.
Similar threads
