Blade steel vs cost

A knife nut's perspective: Given the choice, I would pay $100 to get 10% more performance from a blade, almost every time. 800% for 10% sounds bad from a bean counter's perspective, but $100 ain't much out at the cutting edge of knife performance where the law of dimishing returns applies and too much performance is never enough.
 
I kind of wonder how much more Talonite costs than this steel that is 800% more expensive than ATS34. I have noticed that some Simonich knives with Talonite blades cost $100.00 more than knives with CPM440V blades. CPM440V is a very expensive steel so Talonite must really cost a lot.
 
Maybe this is just a hypothetical question that "may" increase the cost of a knife.
Every time I hear of these secret steels, methods, heat treats, full moon, etc. I just wonder if it really exists. I watched the Little Rascals one time and the terrible secret of the secret club was that there wasn't a secret club. :) :)
It is starting to sound to me like the ole "I know a secret and I can't tell you".
RW, "if" you want some advice, lay the cards on the table and lets play with a full deck. So much for trying to help some one. :(.
 
KWM,

The last I heard Talonite was running something like $125 per pound.

It is very expensive but it definitely performs.
 
Originally posted by R.W.Clark
For a medium hunter is a 10% increase in steel quality worth a 500% increase in materials costs?
Click to expand...

IMHO, absolutely not.

When you compare ATS-34, BG-42, and the CPM steels, with proper heat treating their performance is more than adequate. The majority of the cost of a using knife is labor not materials, but paying (Knife maker) $80.00 for a one foot piece of steel just takes either the profit out of the knife or out of the price range for the
average knife buying public.

Stay Safe,
A.T.
 
For a 10% improvement I wouldn't pay more than $20-30 extra. That seems like a negligable improvement and I rather have the maker put in another half hour of craftmanship.

Personally I think steel material is way overrated. When was the last time a particular steel failed you? So long as the maker is using a steel with a good reputation I have no problem with it.

As collectors we have a mentality of collecting one knife of every steel type around. If new material didn't show up now and then, I suspect collector's interests would wane. We buy the "latest and greatest" largely because it is hyped up. If the consumer really knew it was a 10% improvement, I think he would be reluctant to buy it.

We collectors like makers who are open to new technologies. We rather have some guy that says "I tried the latest X steel and it's crap", than a guy that doesn't bother to experiment and is seen as out of the loop.

On the other hand the maker can "add value" to the steel. People buy Dozier's D2, Hartsfield's A2, Clark's L6 because we think they do an especially good job with them. None of these makers use the latest steels, but interests in them are just as strong.
 
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