5160 Steel Pro's and Con's?

Zombie Zeke

Zombie Zeke

Joined
Nov 26, 2006
Messages
2,642
I am looking to buy a replacement for my trusty Becker BK9 and I don't know much about this metal. Edge retention, corrosion resistance and durability are all significant and any help is greatly appreciated.
 
I have 1 5160 fixed blade, and it is a tough steel that will take a VERY sharp edge, the main drawback I have experienced is it will rust in a blink if your not careful.
 
Keep the knife clean and dry. You can wipe it down with a light oil, or dry lubricant like TufGlide. If you use or wipe down the knife you will need to reapply the TufGlide before storing it away. I practice this with all my knives, stainless or not.
 
Agreed. A clean dry blade will not rust and even high carbon knives will generally hold out till you can maintain them properly as long as you don't leave them lying in liquid.

I keep food grade mineral oil on my kitchen counter for my high carbon kitchen knives. In the field, Tuf-Cloth is handy and effective for cleaning & lubicating at once. Marine Grade Tuf-Cloth will do for highly humid areas. If you are going to use it in your high desert, you're already ahead of the game. :)

Many high carbon blades like the Beckers are coated to inhibit rust but this is really not necessary under ordinary circumstances.
 
Pros.

It is tough as they come. Beat it up and its gonna ask for more. It likes the rough stuff.

Is a good one for hard use obviously.

Keeps a good edge and is fairly easy to sharpen back up.

Cons

Rusts easily unless it has a durable coating of some kind on it.

For food prep it can leave a taste and/or stain some foods like onions.



STR
 
most of the bases covered here...so I'll just add mine

PROs


great impact strength (toughness)
not brittle (spring steel)
easy to sharpen and strop (polish) the edge
not as rust-prone as O-1, 1095 or L6 (lower carbon %)
can be "steeled" instead of stone-sharpened

CONs

edge-holding good, but not as great as higher-carbon steels...
more frequent sharpenings (compared to S30V, etc.)
better if used for longer blades
will rust, requires maintenance


Personally, I really like it....and use it a lot. But my reasons (as a knifemaker) are different...it's less expensive, easy to heat-treat, can be forged to shape, grinds, polishes and sharpens easily.

If I could afford it (or, rather, if my customers would pay for it) I would rather use 3V - much tougher, but still carbon steel. It costs about 8 times as much as 5160 does. ($25/lb. vs. $3/lb.) Also, it doesn't respond well to forging. But for stock removal is great.
 
5160 is one of my favorite knife steels and does have some cromium so it is not as bad for rust as simple high carbon steels like 1095. 5160 is really a cool steel
it uses the cromium more for a hardness kick when heat treating, this lets 5160 have alot less carbon than 1095 but get just as hard. I always wondered why you almost never see 5160 on production knives? Until I went to send a 5160 tanto for heat treating. Because it is a oil hardening steel and not air, it is much harder to deal with on an industrial scale.

I have not gotten brave enough to try 3V yet it's rep for hard to work is
putting me off until I get a little more experience under my belt.
 
You could add your own rust inhibitor. I've put Carbon steel bladed knives in hot vinegar and that has oxidized the surface and has kept the red rust monster at bay. There's Cold Blueing as is found on gun barrels. I believe you can get other coatings from Brownell's online.
 
Google: Thailand Handmade Knife - lots of 5160 steel Knives. Cheap too + free shipping! The best knife ever made...
 
A lot has changed since 2006. The 3V that Daniel Koster wanted more blades made from in 2006, well in 2019 got a lot more knives with it. The technology has moved on.
 
Daniel Koster said:
most of the bases covered here...so I'll just add mine

PROs


great impact strength (toughness)
not brittle (spring steel)
easy to sharpen and strop (polish) the edge
not as rust-prone as O-1, 1095 or L6 (lower carbon %)
can be "steeled" instead of stone-sharpened

CONs

edge-holding good, but not as great as higher-carbon steels...
more frequent sharpenings (compared to S30V, etc.)
better if used for longer blades
will rust, requires maintenance


Personally, I really like it....and use it a lot. But my reasons (as a knifemaker) are different...it's less expensive, easy to heat-treat, can be forged to shape, grinds, polishes and sharpens easily.

If I could afford it (or, rather, if my customers would pay for it) I would rather use 3V - much tougher, but still carbon steel. It costs about 8 times as much as 5160 does. ($25/lb. vs. $3/lb.) Also, it doesn't respond well to forging. But for stock removal is great.
Click to expand...
For a large knife or sword I would take 5160 over 3V. 5160 will spring when flexed, whereas 3V is tough, but not very springy. Thus where 5160 will spring, 3V will most likely bend or break. This is not an issue with shorter knives though.
 
I like 5160, for just about any application. It's very well suited to big choppers and swords, but takes a really good edge for a using knife. On a hunting/using knife, a high polish will help minimize rust, as well as make it easy to clean up if it does suffer from it. On the tactical side, I prefer parkerizing to almost anything. Blue looks good, and is easy enough to touch up, but park is a tougher finish.
 
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