high carbon instead of SS

Discussion in 'Blades' started by Tango3, Jul 12, 2007.


  1. Tango3

    Tango3 Aimless wanderer

    picked up a new ( to me ) wilderness survival text ( "98.6 keeping your a$$ alive )The author reccommends using a high carbon steel swedish mora("?) knife because of the ease of sharpening a softer steel in a primitive environment.This makes alot of sense to me..Granted plain carbon steel is gonna rust without care,

    What do the blade guys think??? Mistake?Are there better "modern" alloys that are easy to maintain...I like my kabar even if it is a little large.

    (Is the issue kabar a high carbon steel blade? It seems to sharpen easily enough. I am not opposed to carrying a smaller 4" mora if it is a superior wilderness survival tool. haven't fought any griz lately...
     
  2. BigUglyOne

    BigUglyOne Monkey+++ Founding Member

    There is at least one benefit to high carbon - it works better as a striker on flint

    You can get SS soft or hard, brittle or tough as hell, just like H Carbon

    I prefer a harder edge - I can find something to sharpen it easy enough. Something file soft (like a machette) will just wear you out sharpening it unless you have the file with you [winkthumb]
     
  3. tjbbpgob

    tjbbpgob Monkey+++

    I was always told by the older generation that if it didn't rust it wouldn't sharpen. I've found that to be usually true until I tried a diamond sharpener. I had to use a hard or medium grit arkansaw stone over and over. Just about anything can be used to sharpen carbon blades, even a piece of paper or the bottom of a china cup.
     
  4. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    A good carbon blade with the edge hardened would be good. As mentioned carbon steel works better if you have or find flint as a striker, so theres a double use, always a good thing. If not cared for carbon blades will rust but they arent that hard to care for. Clean it off when done with t and when you skin an animal with it use the skin or a piece of fat if there is some to 'oil' the blade and while it may develope a patina it shouldnt rust. The main thing to consider though is that you want to choose a blade that will HOLD an edge well. If your in a survival situation then even if its easier to sharpen you dont want to have chosen a knife that you have to sharpen 3 times to skin a squirle. If you can find one thats touph (tempered or whatever so its not brittle) that you can dress, skin and cut up a deer with and still have an edge to it then I dont care what kind of knife or material it is, thats the one I would want. If I need to I can be sure (as sure as I can that I have the knife) that I have a whet stone and you can get dimond stones the size and shape of a credit card or 1"x3"x1/4" either of which takes up very litle space or weight, in fact I have one of the 1x3 ones and 2 of the credit card size ones (all different coarseness) in my pockets now and typicaly do, or at the LEAST 1 of the 3.
     
  5. Elizabeth

    Elizabeth Monkey+++

    Both types of blades have their uses.
     
  6. phishi

    phishi Psy-Ops Moderator Emeritus Founding Member


    +1 to what he said.
     
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