I’ve read several past posts on this but haven’t really found a definitive answer. I have two CRKT M16-03z knives. Both are the bayonet point blade versions and both are marked as having been made in Taiwan. One has a LAWKS that engages on its own (the more recent one I got probably around 2015 or so), and the other earlier one (from about 2003) does not have any LAWKS at all. I used the older model on the boat, and had to frequently touch up the edge after cutting synthetic rope. The liners have rust, but the blade didn’t rust as easily and it was never a problem. Amazon lists the steel on current production ones as AUS4. Smokey Mountain Knife Works claims the steel is AUS8. BladeHQ only says “stainless steel.” Currently, it appears that CRKT does not offer the 03z, and lists the current 03 iteration as having 12C27 steel. I believe I read on an older post that the blade was made of 420J2.
I have two questions:
A. Does anyone REALLY know what steel is used in the blade of this knife?
B. Is there any way to tell the approximate age of the knife if the steel did in fact change over time?
I partly blame the poor edge holding on my primitive-at-the-time sharpening abilities. However, the steel always felt “squishy,” for lack of a better word, when I sharpened it on a stone.
The M16-03z was at one time my only carry knife. It replaced an equally-lower-quality Gerber Harsey Air Ranger (a design I also liked a lot) because I wanted synthetic handle scales rather than metal handles. My 20-year-old M16-03z is a pretty solid knife despite the abuse I subjected it to, and I really wanted to like it, despite being hard to keep an edge on. These days, it has some nostalgia, hence this post.
I have two questions:
A. Does anyone REALLY know what steel is used in the blade of this knife?
B. Is there any way to tell the approximate age of the knife if the steel did in fact change over time?
I partly blame the poor edge holding on my primitive-at-the-time sharpening abilities. However, the steel always felt “squishy,” for lack of a better word, when I sharpened it on a stone.
The M16-03z was at one time my only carry knife. It replaced an equally-lower-quality Gerber Harsey Air Ranger (a design I also liked a lot) because I wanted synthetic handle scales rather than metal handles. My 20-year-old M16-03z is a pretty solid knife despite the abuse I subjected it to, and I really wanted to like it, despite being hard to keep an edge on. These days, it has some nostalgia, hence this post.
