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Reply to: Best survival knife Posted September 23, 2019

Interesting selections. I will respectfully disagree on a few points. The Falkniven blades are *not* supersteel in today’s market. VG-10 (used in the core of the blade) isn’t a bad stainless steel. It holds an edge reasonably well. It *was* a “supersteel” compared to the earlier 440C and 8cr13mov types but there are at least a dozen better types of stainless steel like S30VN, S35VN and all of the wondersteels that are currently being used. The 420j2 steel that the VG-10 is sandwiched between has great corrosion protection but that’s about all. It’s soft and has pretty terrible edge retention. *IF* you require a stainless blade, a Falkniven isn’t a bad choice, but it is awfully expensive for the quality of the blade you are getting. Remember that the F1 is military issue. It is “good enough” without being too expensive to issue to troops. I’m not afraid of high carbon tool steels. They make awesome knife blades. My Randall #5 has a forged blade made from O1 tool steel. It has not pitted or turned red-orange over the last 35 years. (Neither have any of the old school Case knives that I have picked up over the years.) 1905 is also a terrific steel for blades. I don’t think anybody will scoff over the durability of a Ka-Bar or an ESEE knife made from 1095. Both steels are harder and will hold an edge better than VG-10. If you live in the western USA, in an arid climate, carbon steel will not rust to the point of being unusable. If you are willing to wipe your blade with something or rinse it to get blood, acidic fruit juice, and salt off of it, carbon steel will be fine. Better still, wipe it occasionally with a corrosion inhibiting oil and take care of the freaking thing. Some people believe that the patina that a carbon steel blade acquires over the years gives it character. This is my recommendation of the ESEE-4. The F1’s blade is thinner and the steel is softer. It will be more likely to be bent if you get aggressive with it. There are a lot of people who believe that a knife you expect to bet your life on ought to have a blade thickness of 1/4″ or 6 mm. Thanks for allowing this critique. It’s worth every cent that you paid for it.

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Reply to: Best survival knife Posted September 23, 2019

Interesting selections. I will respectfully disagree on a few points. The Falkniven blades are *not* supersteel in today’s market. VG-10 (used in the core of the blade) isn’t a bad stainless steel. It holds an edge reasonably well. It *was* a “supersteel” compared to the earlier 440C and 8cr13mov types but there are at least a dozen better types of stainless steel like S30VN, S35VN and all of the wondersteels that are currently being used. The 420j2 steel that the VG-10 is sandwiched between has great corrosion protection but that’s about all. It’s soft and has pretty terrible edge retention. *IF* you require a stainless blade, a Falkniven isn’t a bad choice, but it is awfully expensive for the quality of the blade you are getting. Remember that the F1 is military issue. It is “good enough” without being too expensive to issue to troops. I’m not afraid of high carbon tool steels. They make awesome knife blades. My Randall #5 has a forged blade made from O1 tool steel. It has not pitted or turned red-orange over the last 35 years. (Neither have any of the old school Case knives that I have picked up over the years.) 1905 is also a terrific steel for blades. I don’t think anybody will scoff over the durability of a Ka-Bar or an ESEE knife made from 1095. Both steels are harder and will hold an edge better than VG-10. If you live in the western USA, in an arid climate, carbon steel will not rust to the point of being unusable. If you are willing to wipe your blade with something or rinse it to get blood, acidic fruit juice, and salt off of it, carbon steel will be fine. Better still, wipe it occasionally with a corrosion inhibiting oil and take care of the freaking thing. Some people believe that the patina that a carbon steel blade acquires over the years gives it character. This is my recommendation of the ESEE-4. The F1’s blade is thinner and the steel is softer. It will be more likely to be bent if you get aggressive with it. There are a lot of people who believe that a knife you expect to bet your life on ought to have a blade thickness of 1/4″ or 6 mm. Thanks for allowing this critique. It’s worth every cent that you paid for it.