Are there any premium Chinese steels?

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May 13, 2019
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I've just been looking at all the steels and where they sit on the edge retention and toughness ladder, all USA or EU, but is there a hidden gem coming out of china?

When I see Chinese made I nearly inevitably see stainless? Are there any powdered steels coming out of there? Any equivalents to the likes of A2 etc.?

If you could have any Chinese steel what would it be?
 
I think Chinese steel, suffers from a quality problem 1st and a marketing problem 2nd. The keyissues is right now they have to overcome years being associated with cheap low quality product for knife applications.

They really need to step up smaller high quality specialty production( copying the chemistry is is only the 1st step). Second dump the idiotic alphabet soup monikers and and go to unique easily remember-able (albeit still probably still silly) names, and no China D2 dosn't cut it don't just use the current moniker. Partner with reputable Chinese OEMs( WE, Reate, Bestec, etc) to make 100% Chinese designed/manufactured/sourced blades to ease high quality Chinese made steel to the market.

It will take time but I think it's possible for specialty steel in china to do what Chinese production (using US and EU steels) have proven they can do if they want to.
 
This thread reeks of barely-disguised xenophobia. Lots of usage of the word “they” like Chinese companies act as a collective, rather than being distinct businesses with varying goals, products, and quality levels.

The reasons you don't yet see ultra-premium knife alloys coming from China are likely numerous, but all entirely economic:

- Until recently, the knife manufacturing market in China has been exclusively inexpensive budget knives, some bespoke to a company (Spyderco, Kershaw, etc) and some made and sold to be rebranded under whatever company's name that decided to buy them. High-end alloys made in China were just not in demand locally or abroad.

- Companies in China that want to make high-quality knives now save a significant amount of money by not having to reinvent the wheel and develop / research new alloys - importing steel is just plainly more cost-effective.

- Similarly, Chinese metallurgy startups would find themselves in immediate competition with businesses that have been doing it for decades. They would be hard-pressed to turn a profit on premium steels given the startup and material costs involved - the established businesses can produce premium steels in bulk and sell them for less than any new manufacturer (regardless of location and labor costs) just due to the established supply networks and equipment.

TL,DR: It takes less to keep a wheel rolling than it does to research, manufacture, and push the wheel into a roll from an inert state.

So, it will likely be a while before we see exotic or premium alloys coming from China that are cost-competitive with the current supply lines available to them. This will also be delayed by a lack of demand, since people tend to want trusted materials in their high-end pocket knives and not some mystery alloy that has yet to see field testing - you see the effects of this demand already in both domestic and foreign companies using premium steels essentially as a marketing ploy and not because it is a fitting steel for the knife.
 
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Doesn't matter if it's premium, if the heat treatment isn't there to support it. Until recently they didn't have ovens that get hot enough to ht many of the super steels we have today in cutlery.

We still see sub optimal ht on the imported steels they use and the 8cr stuff they have locally. China can do premium stuff, look at Reate, a prime example of something done to a very high level. Crkt would be a step away from the bottom no matter the steel they use.
 
I've just been looking at all the steels ... is there a hidden gem coming out of china?....
They tend to use the best quality ss available at the time of manufacture :)
However, they never disclose details about steel type.
Who knows, maybe it would tantamount to exposing a state secret...
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This thread reeks of barely-disguised xenophobia. Lots of usage of the word “they” like Chinese companies act as a collective, rather than being distinct businesses with varying goals, products, and quality levels.

The reasons you don't yet see ultra-premium knife alloys coming from China are likely numerous, but all entirely economic:

- Until recently, the knife manufacturing market in China has been exclusively inexpensive budget knives, some bespoke to a company (Spyderco, Kershaw, etc) and some made and sold to be rebranded under whatever company's name that decided to buy them. High-end alloys made in China were just not in demand locally or abroad.

- Companies in China that want to make high-quality knives now save a significant amount of money by not having to reinvent the wheel and develop / research new alloys - importing steel is just plainly more cost-effective.

- Similarly, Chinese metallurgy startups would find themselves in immediate competition with businesses that have been doing it for decades. They would be hard-pressed to turn a profit on premium steels given the startup and material costs involved - the established businesses can produce premium steels in bulk and sell them for less than any new manufacturer (regardless of location and labor costs) just due to the established supply networks and equipment.

TL,DR: It takes less to keep a wheel rolling than it does to research, manufacture, and push the wheel into a roll from an inert state.

So, it will likely be a while before we see exotic or premium alloys coming from China that are cost-competitive with the current supply lines available to them. This will also be delayed by a lack of demand, since people tend to want trusted materials in their high-end pocket knives and not some mystery alloy that has yet to see field testing - you see the effects of this demand already in both domestic and foreign companies using premium steels essentially as a marketing ploy and not because it is a fitting steel for the knife.
When speaking of an industry, it is normal to collectively refer to another countries manufacturers as "they" and to ours as "we".
 
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I get the whole dedicated "blade steel" argument, but china has been a manufacturing powerhouse for decades one would think they would make their own tool steel for dies and the like.
 
Kizer makes some great CPM-S35VN knives, IMHO. That said I EDC a Spyderco Gayle Bradley 1 with a super M4 blade made in China.

 
I get the whole dedicated "blade steel" argument, but china has been a manufacturing powerhouse for decades one would think they would make their own tool steel for dies and the like.
Like I said, they do make D2. The company I work for has made replacement dies for the automotive manufacturers here because the Chinese dies don't last very long at all. I don't know if it's the steel or the HT, or both, but I was told that ours last 3 times longer.
 
Reate, WE, Bestech and Kizer (among others) are held up as examples of the "good" side of Chinese knife manufacturing. Unfortunately most of the best examples from those companies carry blade steel imported from the US or elsewhere. My experience with steel originating in China is less than stellar; 8Cr13MoV and the rest of the alphabet family are barely adequate in a modern knife. The Chinese "D2" that is currently proliferating seems to be a little on the soft side. I have Chinese D2 on a Kershaw, a couple of CIVIVIs and a Steel Will and none of them act like what I'm used to D2 acting like.

I'm not as hard line as many here, but I definitely hold the opinion that these manufacturers need to "prove" themselves given their shared past in the cloning market.
 
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