Edge retention seems to be all the rage when talking about a blade. Steel type: CTS-BD1 (Spyderco Special Request), Sharpening Difficulty: Fairly easy 6/10 They seem to have done an excellent job turning this ultra-hard but very brittle material into an extremely tough and durable blade with the use of special heat treatments and very high carbon contents. The blade is thin, at .11″, so it cuts fine and smooth. The Smith & Wesson Extreme Ops rank as the best tactical folding knife on the market for obvious reasons. Don’t get confused by the name. Edge Retention: Excellent 9/10 Razor sharp edge that will … On the flip side, adding more carbon itself will increase the hardness and edge retention. This increases the blade’s resistance to heat and also raises the final product’s Toughness. Most steel types themselves can be hardened or softened up a bit but the actual material composition of the steel usually dictates a specific range that steel performs well inside of. 420J and 420J2 are the middle ground between 420 stainless and 420HC. A good grip has a hefty texture to it and a curved handle, but even this type of grip is somewhat reliant on the strength of your grip. While D2 steel focuses on being super hard and tough, the H1 took a softer approach to combat the same corrosion that is the D2 Achilles Heel. In addition to our five factors of grading criteria, these seven knives stand up to our standards for: To help you find the best combat knife possible, we’ve narrowed our top picks down to knives that are best for a tactical setting. The tactical knife is the go-to tool for just about any knife aficionado. It feels substantial enough that it won’t fly out of your hand, but not so heavy that it’s cumbersome. Is it easy to re-sharpen (because you will have to eventually? Is it quick to open if you’re in a pinch, or does it take a few seconds to fumble around with? The angle of the tip of this knife is also the strongest shape known to man: a triangle. However, an S30V will have better edge retention and won’t dull as quickly. My Review: AUS-6 is essentially the Japanese version of the 420HC high carbon steel with the same relatively soft average hardness rating of 57. A tactical knife will not usually use the same kind of steel as a hunting knife. With a whole lot of chromium and an insanely hard blade, these are excellent all-around blades meant to withstand both nature and you with the obvious tradeoff of being insanely hard to sharpen and manufacture. Compare two blades of the exact same steel composition and you’ll have two totally different blades, despite them consisting of the same materials. While titanium makes for a fantastic blade structure, it fails to hold an edge. With a 100% leather handle, the grip is comfortable, durable, and aesthetically pleasing. The higher level of carbon found in 440A makes the blade significantly stronger and more wear-resistant than the 420HC blades, however, this makes them prone to corrosion much more than 420HC so it’s a type of tradeoff that, if you’re in the market for a low-quality budget blade, you’ll have to decide upon yourself considering the situations in which you’ll use your knife. One of the Marine Approved top recommendations for a knife encompassing CPM-M4 steel is the Benchmade Contigo 810 found here. Higher toughness means it’s less likely to chip on the edge. There are many popular survival knife designs that fall into the tactical knife category. When shopping around, taking note of the amount of carbon in the steel used for the blade is very important. Generally, a harder steel material used to make a blade means that the blade will be stronger overall and resist damage to the edge and the overall blade. With a dark green handle and black clip, this knife is made for subtle and practical use. Most people misconstrue a knife as a weapon: a sign of aggression and something to be afraid of. The hardness of a particular blade is often defined as its ability to resist rolling and caving in on itself. The handle is made of 6061-T6 aluminum, which is made up of silicone and magnesium. For those who like nice things but aren’t trying to show off, this is the aesthetic you’re looking for—classy, sleek, subtle power. This knife is all about style and functionality. Better in what way, you might ask? Although this knife doesn’t have an automatic deployment, it features a quick, butter-smooth, one-handed deployment that runs on the KVT ball-bearing pivot. If you’d like to study up on the Rockwell hardness scales intricacies and nuances, check out the AG Russell article on it found here. Overall, this is a great hunting or combat knife. The Hoback Kwaiback from Hoback Knives is a modern take on a classic Japanese knife. To achieve such hardness, a lot of the chromium was replaced with the aforementioned matter and thus no longer meets the requirement to be considered stainless steel. Well, different manufacturers have different methods of how they treat their steel before and after it takes life as a blade. Toughness: Decent 4/10. Edge Retention: Bad 2/10 Technically, to be considered a stainless steel composition, the steel mixture must contain a minimum of 10.5% of chromium, however, we know that much higher contents of chromium are necessary for resistance against especially corrosive environments such as usage in and near saltwater. However, for the average EDC, that isn’t an issue to consider. It is the first choice of knife manufacturers because of its extreme durability and versatility. More carbon sounds like a good thing, I mean it’s more expensive, right? Tungsten: Used to create extremely fine grain steel material by aiding in the formation of carbides. Good luck sharpening them! This powder is then screened and then pressurized to form a particulate bond that creates a microstructure whose properties are extremely fine and homogenous. S30V and S35VN are both exceptionally easy to maintain and sharpen and they hold an edge exceptionally well too, something you don’t normally get both of. As we’ve mentioned before, this steel is tougher, more resistant to edge chipping and breaking, and more resistant to corrosion. Corrosion Resistance: Bad 2/10 Often times, blades that have excellent edge retention are not blades that are exceptionally strong in overall tensile strength. That’s fine, though, especially if you really need corrosion resistance because hey, a knife that’s rusted isn’t going to do you much good. It comes with a 100% leather sheath made in Mexico to protect the blade. The handle has a nice grip to it, but it can be a bit abrasive. At a higher price point, this knife is well worth the cost. A G-10 handle is a glass-based cloth soaked in epoxy resin, shaped into the perfect grip handle by heat. Any steel with a content of 10.5% of chromium or more is considered to be stainless steel. The Pro-Tech Godson is THE knife for those who like to show off their style. As a rule of thumb, I’d give any blade of any steel composition a good mineral oil rubdown from time to time to be safe as technically, all steel based blades are prone to corrosion eventually. Common Use Case: Fixed blade combat and tactical applications, Sharpening Difficulty: Hard 3/10 A knife is a tool to assist you with your daily tasks as well as military combat fighting. So of course stainless steels used in knives also have carbon. Perhaps their best — especially when it comes to hunting — is their Proficient in carbon fiber. Toughness: Good 6/10. Theusmarines.com is reader-supported. Review: 440A is essentially just that good ol’ 420HC with but with even more carbon. This knife comes in 31 grip color and blade combinations from a basic flat black to an American Flag grip with a Damascus blade (which obviously falls under the pricier end of this style). With an HRC rating of up to 62 and a lack of softer materials in its composition, many believe D2 is one of the hardest blade materials to sharpen and is not suitable for beginners. Review: Elmax is probably the most well rounded top tier steel you can find today and this beauty of blade steel was manufactured and designed by Uddehom before the buddied up in a merger with Bohler (Now Bohler-Uddeholm). Some knives may consist of materials that, when not protected, stain or rust easily. One of the Marine Approved top recommendations for a knife encompassing LC200N is the Spyderco Spydiechef found here. This means you can’t take a specific steel type and just harden it as much as possible or make it super flexible as it’s other properties may severely limit its ability to perform outside of its specified range. Review: Knives that come stamped with unmarked “stainless steel” or “surgical steel” are often the cheapest possible materials and manufacturing processes and are never Marine Approved. Nitrogen: Nitrogen sometimes takes up some of the space carbon would have and by doing this, the blades anti-corrosion defense gets a small boost and the blade typically has a longer lifespan. Instead, we’re focused on how different steels react and are capable of being ground in specific styles. Review: The Sandvik 12C27 fine grain steel has been around for a very long time and used to be an extremely popular material to craft blades from because it was often seen as a very well rounded and inexpensive material to get decent performance from in the mid tier. This knife screams of Italian inspiration, like its parent knife, The Godfather. There are several blade shapes to choose from, but the most basic model features a tanto blade, which makes a sharp angle down from the knife spine to the blade. We found seven of the top knives that score the highest in the following categories: safety, materials, look, ease of use, and efficiency. Silicon: Present in all steels in small amounts, silicon helps bind the materials together during manufacturing and acts as a deoxidizer. They wouldn’t achieve sufficient hardness otherwise. Corrosion Resistance: Medium 5/10 Some of the options in the Godson family are made of Damascus steel. 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