8Cr13MoV What is it and whats your opinions on it?

I

initb2009

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Jul 7, 2009
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I have the spyderco tenacious and I'm pretty sataisfied with it being that it is my first spyderco knife and I know it gets better than 8Cr13MoV but what is it and whats your opinions on it?
 
Comparable to aus8 I believe. A time proven , solid working steel. Takes a great edge but wont hold it forever.
Trade off....


Tostig
 
Here is a comment I made ealier this year. Btw, I have a Persistance in my pocket at the moment. As much as I want to be biased against Chinese steel and knife making Spyderco's branded knives made there are very good. I'd say don't hesitate to buy a 8Cr13MoV knife from Spyderco. I've heard a lot of comments about this steel being compareable to AUS-8 and I agree it is as good or better.

You should really look hard at the Spyderco Tenacious. I have it, the Cara Cara, and a Endura 4 w/G10 and a flat grind. All three are very good to excellent knives. The flat grind VG-10 Endura is one of the best knives a man can put in his pocket for EDC. The Cara Cara is a poor man's Endura but never the less a great value. Now the Tenacious is a compromise...flat grind and better quality construction but still Chinese built and 8C13. Of the three, I prefer the size and blade shape of the Tenacious and tend to EDC it more than the Endura.

I think Spyderco should send the Tenacious to Seki City where my Endura was produced and tell them to make this knife with VG10 and that pretty sage green G-10. I'll buy that one as soon as they make it.

One comment on quantity over quality...you'll find yourself very quickly with more knives than you can possibly use or enjoy. I would say start out by making value purchases (like the Tenacious) and determine what your preferences are in a knife and then drop the big coin on the knife with the best steel, best materials, and construction that nails those preferences and you have a knife you'll keep and use for a very very long time.

Anyway that's my 2 cents.

Here is a link with some good reviews on steel. It says Summary : 8C13CrMoV is basically an upgrade to 13C26 in terms of wear resistance while reducing edge stability. Thus it offers better extended slicing aggression though lower optimal push cutting sharpness and high sharpness edge retention.
However, the chart with the elements looks like 8C13 and AUS-8A are a dead ringer. Anyway, I like the stuff and have no problem with it.

http://www.cutleryscience.com/review...s.html#C_52100
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this is decent alloy breakdown \ C .8 crom.13 man..4 moly.moly. .15 ni..2 silicon.5 vana..14 forget about phos. spydeco & bench made chinese good knives.we use them on brothers ranch all the time.is not a hot shot but at 20.00 or so beats losing a 120.00 spyder or b.m.
 
initb2009 said:
I have the spyderco tenacious and I'm pretty sataisfied with it being that it is my first spyderco knife and I know it gets better than 8Cr13MoV but what is it and whats your opinions on it?
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IMO it is very similar to AUS8 steel, if you can get past the fact that it is made in China, then it is a very great steel for the money.
 
I think it performs better than most AUS8 I've had my mitts on (could be the heat treats), it takes an extremely keen edge and holds it nicely. My experience has been with the Tenacious too.
 
Like others have said, a good bang for your buck. Mkaes a good EDC steel...easy to sharpen, holds an edge decently.
 
DennisStrickland said:
this is decent alloy breakdown \ C .8 crom.13 man..4 moly.moly. .15 ni..2 silicon.5 vana..14 forget about phos. spydeco & bench made chinese good knives.we use them on brothers ranch all the time.is not a hot shot but at 20.00 or so beats losing a 120.00 spyder or b.m.
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8Cr13MoV--I have often wondered what the letters and numbers mean. Is the 8 in reference to the 0.8% C content? Then what's the 13Mo? 0.13 Mo? Then why no number for V?

Anybody know the code for the numbers for these Chinese steels?
 
elkins45 said:
8Cr13MoV--I have often wondered what the letters and numbers mean. Is the 8 in reference to the 0.8% C content? Then what's the 13Mo? 0.13 Mo? Then why no number for V?

Anybody know the code for the numbers for these Chinese steels?
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I think you hit the nail on the head..
 
elkins45 said:
8Cr13MoV--I have often wondered what the letters and numbers mean. Is the 8 in reference to the 0.8% C content? Then what's the 13Mo? 0.13 Mo? Then why no number for V?

Anybody know the code for the numbers for these Chinese steels?
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0.8% Carbon
13% Chromium
Molybdenum- Trace in this case 0.15%
Vanadium- Trace - in this case 0.1%

I am not sure what a trace of moly will do, but a trace of Vanadium produces a steel with finer grain structure. The finer grain structure produces a steel with a better toughness at a given hardness. It also allows for a finer edge to be achieved.

Sal Glessar has posted that according to Spyderco's tests, 8Cr13MoV had edge retention on the order of AUS8, but that AUS8 has a bit better corrosion resistance when tested in salt spray.

When I tested AUS8 and 8Cr13MoV blades of equal hardness I found they had the same edge retention when cutting manila rope.
 
In my experience (albeit very little experience) 8Cr13MoV holds an edge longer than AUS-8. I have used my Byrd Raven much more than my SOG Trident. The Trident is losing its edge. The Raven is showing no signs of this.
 
I dont post here much, but FWIW, I picked up a Byrd some time back, just too field test it, and I used knives for tools, not just carrying around.

The steel is way impressive, for a 30 dollar knife, or what ever it is. And I am hard to impress.

Not that I am gonna turn into a chink made knife nut. Too many other parameters are involved in their manufacture, to make me respect a knife, other than a low price. Even though it has good steel.

Few low end knives, have even the steel found in a typical hand crank can opener, but this Byrd knife does.
 
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I too find that edgewise, it out performs AUS8. I love it. It stays sharp for a good bit and is easy to re sharpen.
 
these byrds irregardless of the fact -chinese manf.are simply great for the price.having followed cutlery trends since 1970s i believe we shall see many surprises shortly from the chinese.
 
I like it and have really put my meadowlark to the test. Actually, it has held an edge better than my delica which is VG-10.
 
It doesn't seem as rust resistant as AUS8 to me. I left my Catbyrd on the deck rail overnight during a rainstorm and when I went back for it the next afternoon there were broad rust spots on the blade where rain droplets had stood. I haven't seen that from my favorite AUS8 knife, a Beretta Loveless hunter. It has sometimes spent the night covered in dried deer blood to no ill effect.

Still, corrosion resistance is very low on my list of desired characteristics for a blade steel, with the exception of knives like the Spyderco Salt series that are purchased specifically for that reason. Edge retention is much more important to me, and the Catbyrd is pretty good in that regard.
 
Jake Bauer said:
I too find that edgewise, it out performs AUS8. I love it. It stays sharp for a good bit and is easy to re sharpen.
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The copy beats the original then!

I think, from the steel analysis we have made here at Sandvik that the quality consistency of the steel varies much more than the Japanese original. So sometimes wear resistance will be higher and sometimes lower. Imo AUS-8 is cleaner, tighter in spec (compsition tolerance) and so forth. Wether it shows in the blades or not I leave up to others to judge.
 
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