Case...why surgical steel?

[bcjjones]

A little upset with my case hunter trapper and trapper knives. After a little reading I've learned that surgical steel is, well, basically cheap steel. No where near as good as even bucks HC steel. I figured case, being a USA company, would use a quality steel in their knives. I'm debating whether I should just sell then or not and buy a couple more buck 110 or 500's

 

[Stelth]

Case steel is fine. Relax.

 

[mtangent]

It isn't surgical steel. It is the same steel as Buck, but with a softer HT. It works fine, but isn't actually premium. But Case aren't a premium price.
Case SS is good for the price charged.

Edit: "surgical Steel" is a meaningless phrase, with no specific definition. Dodgy manufacturers use it when they don't want to say what steel they are using. Case is happy to tell people what their ssteel is.
Not all Surgical Steel is terrible, but the phrase can't be trusted.
Cases SS would work just fine under actual surgical conditions.

The SS on a Case tang means Stainless Steel, not Surgical Steel.

 

[CARRERA50]

I wouldn't dismiss it as "cheap steel". By all reports it is similar to 420HC and seems to hold an edge pretty well for EDC purposes. As always, the secret is in the heat treating; I have many Case knives and
have always found them to be remarkably similar in terms of sharpness and ease of maintenance. Case knows what it is doing.

 

[mete]

Today's surgical steel ? scalpels and other things are throw away ! That scalpel starts as a huge roll of thin steel , a flat bed holds only three rolls . Look like toilet paper rolls ! For one time use Sandvik types of steel are all you need .But those properties make it a good lower price steel for knives .

 

[knarfeng]

A little upset with my case hunter trapper and trapper knives. After a little reading I've learned that surgical steel is, well, basically cheap steel. No where near as good as even bucks HC steel. I figured case, being a USA company, would use a quality steel in their knives. I'm debating whether I should just sell then or not and buy a couple more buck 110 or 500's

Depends on what you are looking for. Case Tru-Sharp is 420HC, heat treated to about 55. That's a bit soft by today's standards, but is a traditional hardness for pocket knife steel.

Personally, I prefer Buck's harder heat treat of 420HC compared to that of Case. And I also prefer their blade profiles. But Case Tru-Sharp will get you through the day, and maybe through the week. Depends on how you use it and whether you are used to touching up the edge once in a while as you go along. Certainly there are fellas around who have used Case Tru-Sharp bladed hunting knives to skin deer successfully. So a lot of it is relative.

 

[smith357]

I don't think it is possible to make a functional knife with a true surgical stainless like 316L or 904L it is far to soft. it is very good at corrosion resistance which is why it is used in surgery applications and fine watches where body fluids and salts are in constant contact with the steel. I belive Case is using it as a generic term to denote a high corrosion resistance. I have read on the net they use 420HC in their stainless blades.

 

[mtangent]

I don't think it is possible to make a functional knife with a true surgical stainless like 316L or 904L it is far to soft. it is very good at corrosion resistance which is why it is used in surgery applications and fine watches where body fluids and salts are in constant contact with the steel. I belive Case is using it as a generic term to denote a high corrosion resistance. I have read on the net they use 420HC in their stainless blades.

316 & 904L are marine grade steels.
What is true surgical stainless. Please provide a reference.

 

[smith357]

316 & 904L are marine grade steels.
What is true surgical stainless. Please provide a reference.

Wiki, - Surgical stainless steel is an informal term which refers to certain grades of stainless steel that are used in biomedical applications. The most common "surgical steels" are austenitic 316 stainless and martensitic 440 and 420 stainless steels.

Sorry I got confused on the 904 from too much reading on the Rolex forums, and went from memory rather than opening a book.

 

[mtangent]

Thanks for replying. This is where Wiki falls down: by attempting to give some kind of meaning to a meaningless term.
316 & 904l are used as prosthetics & implants. E.g. wire for sutures, screws for bones, items for joint replacement. It is the very low corrosion properties that make them useful for this purpose. And also why most are being replaced by titanium alloys; even less corrosive, but also less prone to work hardening.

On a knife forum, most people think of "surgical steel" as a blade steel, which is how the cutlery industry has used it.

Wiki, by adding another category of "surgical steel" make it even less useful.
Adding "true" to the phrase implies that there is some correct surgical steel. There isn't. It just confuses a thread, & starts noobies thinking that the phrase is meaningful.

 

[moxie]

FWIW, most dive watches are made of 316L. Many dive knives also. Rolex Submariners are made of 904L.

 

[Hickory n steel]

There's nothing wrong with their stainless other than the fact that it's not carbon, which IMHO is basically a must for any traditional slipjoint ( I've gotten used to the stainless in my sodbuster Jr, but prefer how carbon hides wear under its patina while stainless just gets all scratched up )