Brett/IL

I am far from a knife "expert", but I have spent a fortune on them because I enjoy having many to choose from. Having said that, as far as "bang for your buck" goes, I would recommend any of the knives in Benchmade's Gold series. Most are joint ventures with custom makers and they are very high quality. They sharpen well and maintain an edge.

TEmbry

from the research i have done S30V is the steel your looking for. good edge retention, and extremely hard and durable. My favorite knives to use are by far buck knives. You can select an upgrade to s30v steel on some of their knives for like 65 bucks im pretty sure.

easiest way to get a buck knife in s30v steel is to design your own in their custom knife shoppe on their website. select a style you like then pick out the blade style, material, handle material, all that good jazz.

far as collectors go, besides custom made knives, case xx is the best brand going, just cant bring myself to using these knives and devauling them. i think im up to 50 plus case xx/custom made knives.

LouisianaTomkat

Jeff, If you really want an easy to sharpen knife that will hold edgeand quality to boot, try this. Find the size you need for the purpose first and foremost. Then find one of these 3 knives. The blade will be made of (1) Queen Steel, or (2) Solingen German Steel. If you can not find one with these particular steels that you like, I have one other suggestion, though it may be hard to find. (3) Uncle Henry 6.5" (I believe) Lockblade with stag handle side plates. This one would have to be NOS or from someone's collection to purchase. I have this particular knife and it gets downright scarey sharp and will hold an edge thru 3 deer easy. Hard to find, but worth the effort. I also have 2 lockblades with the Solingen Germany Steel and they are quite close to being Straight Razors. Scarey and hold a heck of an edge. Hope this helps.

LT

TFOX

Rev,you can appreciate this.

440 c is a high carbon stainless,the carbon is what makes it heat treatable,but you probably know that already.


My stepdad used to use 440 but has changed and I will post what he using when I get the info but he says he can get the blades harder without getting brittle and hold an edge betterbut it is still stainless,so it doesn't rust.


My stepdad makes these(GMMAT,I pm'd you)

This is my daughters knife.

BigJ71

Yep, I'm a knife guy but nothing custom, just quality store bought stuff for me. The make really doesn't matter so much but get a quality steel. Gerber, Buck, K-bar, Case, Camillus, Imperial, Schrade, etc...all make good knifes. I've even used cheap Jap steel knifes in the past and they have performed well. The only difference is they don't hold an edge as well as the better steel knifes will but I like to sharpen so it doesn't bother me to sharpen them more often.

The key to any knife is keeping it sharp and that's where I get a little over zealous if you will. If it doesn't shave hair I'm not happy, I can literally shave my face with my hunting knifes. All of my knifes will cut a beer can in half with little effort. My wife thinks I'm nuts because I will sit with her (watching TV) and sharpen my knife(s) for hours.

Almost as important as the steel is the stone used for sharpening. I not a big fan of those sharpening systems you can buy that you clamp your knife into and go to town with different course sharpening stones. They work but I prefer to hold the stone in my hand. I can feel the angle I want to sharpen my knife to. I use industrial sharpening stones my Father-in-Law gave me. He used to be a butcher for many years and knew how to sharpen a knife!

I use a medium stone to get an initial edge, then I use a very very smooth stone. I also sharpen with water only(no oil)with my medium stone then I dry sharpen with the fine stone. I don't recommend dry sharpening unless you know what you're doing. It takes some practice and a steady hand to hold a good angle. After a while I will actually get a slight build up on the smooth stone thatmakes it even smoother. When done I simply wash it clean. This is why it takes me a long time to get a super sharp edge but once I do get it, it's fantastic sharp. Don't forget to use a good quality leather strop to finish it off.

TFOX

Big,I agree with you about the sharpening but to the average person trying to get a good edge with little knowledge,the Lansky system is hard to beat.

If you know what you are doing,a few stones and a leather strap can do wonders.

BigJ71

Totally agree....It takes time to learn how to freehand sharpen and those systems do work well. I would suggest to a beginner to get one.

springcaller

Look at the SOG, i think it is more of a military knife butthey have somemade of the 440C. I agree with The Rev, it is very hard to work with. When I first bought my SOG it was very sharp and I didn't have enough since to stop cutting everything. It stayed sharp for quite a while but got to were you couldn't cut butter with it. I bought a wet stone and sharpened it for 3 straight nights before I got the edge I wanted on it. Im not too good with knife sharpening either, could be the reason it took so long. Hope you find what your looking for.

Your not that far away from Smoky Mountain Knife Works in Sevierville TN, stop in there and you can test them out before you buy it. Just don't get too caught up on what the salesmen has to say or you will have one of every knife made. Take Care

BobCo19-65

Carboned steel is my favorite material to work with. As someone has mentioned, it will tarnish and rust a bit if not taken care of properly. But it will get super sharp and it will be easy to sharpen. But nothing is set in stone and there are exceptions.

There were a lot of knifes out there mentioned that I agree with are good. I bought a Rapid River Knife works for my friend and it is working out very well for him. I believe their knives are treated to 59-61 RC. They also have a lifetime sharpening service which is nice. Hesends it back after every season and they get it in new condition.

I mentioned exceptions and hereis one. My favorite whitetail knife is a PUMA folding 2 3/4" SS clip point blade. Idon't know why, but it is a razor and is easily sharpened. I don't have all the specs on it, but I believe it was heat treated exceptionally well. Germany is well known for their knife making abilities. But, I think you have to be careful on the PUMA that you buy. I recently saw them in a catalog and they seemed extremely cheap. I'd be a little suspect on that. It's funny, I lost that knife for two years. I knew about where I lost it, but it covered about 40 acres. I took a metal detector out this spring and found it buried in a tractor rut. Needle in a haystack, but I found it.

Someone mentioned a cheap knife made in china or japan. I also have a knife like that. I actually got it free from the NRA, it was substituted for aBuck Knife (imagine that). But this knife is sharp, and I mean sharp. I used it last year on afew deer and it was amazing. I'llhave to identify it if you are interested. I did find it one time and I believe it is worth like $20.

Some day, I'm gonna get a decent flint knapped knife. I have seen them sharp enough to cut leather.

brucelanthier

Some good information here - http://www.huntingblades.com/index.html

This is a good knife from there - http://store.huntingblades.com/modrposk.html

More info on knife steel - http://www.zknives.com/knives/articles/knifesteelfaq.shtml