Experience with LC200N's edge retention and toughness?

jstn

jstn

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I am really interested in getting a Spydie in this steel. Anyone with firsthand experience able to give a comparison to something more common such as S35VN in terms of edge retention and toughness? Thanks
 
I have a spydiechef. I would compare it to S30v. My chef stays sharp just as long as my shaman. And they take about the same amount of time to sharpen. They both get the same edc type use.

As for toughness, they both have have had small chips. For another reference, my vg10 superleaf has never chipped under the same uses.

IMO it’s a very capable blade steel that is a lot like S30v, but has added corrosion protection.
 
PStone said:
I have a spydiechef. I would compare it to S30v. My chef stays sharp just as long as my shaman. And they take about the same amount of time to sharpen. They both get the same edc type use.

As for toughness, they both have have had small chips. For another reference, my vg10 superleaf has never chipped under the same uses.

IMO it’s a very capable blade steel that is a lot like S30v, but has added corrosion protection.
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Thanks! Exactly what I was hoping to hear!
 
Check out Cedric Ada gear and outdoors on YouTube. He's got one and it's his favorite steel. He's done lots of testing with edge retention which for him has shown better than alot of steel. Lc200n also has high toughness. It for the most part will not rust. Peter has tried.

If your getting chipping somethings wrong with the edge if you ask me. I get chipping with vg10 pretty easily. So not sure what's up with the above posters spydiechef. Maybe others can comment if they experience that too. Its on my list of knives to get from spyderco though.

https://www.youtube.com/user/CedricAda
 
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Mo2 said:
Check out Cedric Ada gear and outdoors on YouTube. He's got one and it's his favorite steel. He's done lots of testing with edge retention which for him has shown better than alot of steel. Lc200n also has high toughness. It for the most part will not rust. Peter has tried.

If your getting chipping somethings wrong with the edge if you ask me. I get chipping with vg10 pretty easily. So not sure what's up with the above posters spydiechef. Maybe others can comment if they experience that too. Its on my list of knives to get from spyderco though.

https://www.youtube.com/user/CedricAda
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You sold be on it Mo2. Toughness was really my only concern, and as long as it is not an issue, I will have to get me some! LC200N seems to be nearly perfect for my uses; just wish it had a cooler name lol.
 
jstn said:
You sold be on it Mo2. Toughness was really my only concern, and as long as it is not an issue, I will have to get me some! LC200N seems to be nearly perfect for my uses; just wish it had a cooler name lol.
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Another brand with the same composition is called z-finit and another called cronidur30.

Vanax is also a high nitrogen steel (vanax has 3 variations, the newest is just called vanax the prior versions were vanax 37 and vanax 75). Very good corrosion resistance.
 
Vanax is supposed to have better edge retention. Sal said LC200N had edge retention similar to VG10
 
Mo2 said:
If your getting chipping somethings wrong with the edge if you ask me. I get chipping with vg10 pretty easily. So not sure what's up with the above posters spydiechef. Maybe others can comment if they experience that too. Its on my list of knives to get from spyderco though.

https://www.youtube.com/user/CedricAda
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My spydiechef had two small chips about a quarter inch from the tip. Do you think it shouldn’t have? I sharpened them away, otherwise I would take a pic. Do you think something is wrong with it? Like a heat treat issue?
 
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Cronidur 30 was the original German invention circa 1999. It was the original Nitrogen steel. They said (back then) that they couldn't sell it to us for 2 reasons; 1) Spyderco was an international company and they were afraid that we might send it to a non patent friendly country that would cheat on their patent. 2) They were selling all they could make to Nasa at the time.

While we was disappointed, we kept searching for a "salt water friendly" steel. Then a few years later, we were introduced to H1, which worked well. When Crucible broke up, Harry, their President set up another steel company. He knew I wanted Cronidur 30 so he chased it down for me. (He's one of the few with a CPM S125 Military). But he said we couldn't call it Cronidur because it was a trademarked name. Alpha distributes the steel to custom makers. They didn't like the name LC200N (the factories name for "Low Corrosion"), so they call it Z-FiNit.

It's fairly new to the knife industry so there isn't much history at this time. It has good edge retention in plain edge. Better than H1, but not as good as VG-1-0, by our lab testing. We're still watching everyone's testing as well. The more, the better. I don't think it's as tough as H1.

The Caribbean is now shipping and it is a higher volume model so we can get more feedback.

sal
 
Sal Glesser said:
Cronidur 30 was the original German invention circa 1999. It was the original Nitrogen steel. They said (back then) that they couldn't sell it to us for 2 reasons; 1) Spyderco was an international company and they were afraid that we might send it to a non patent friendly country that would cheat on their patent. 2) They were selling all they could make to Nasa at the time.

While we was disappointed, we kept searching for a "salt water friendly" steel. Then a few years later, we were introduced to H1, which worked well. When Crucible broke up, Harry, their President set up another steel company. He knew I wanted Cronidur 30 so he chased it down for me. (He's one of the few with a CPM S125 Military). But he said we couldn't call it Cronidur because it was a trademarked name. Alpha distributes the steel to custom makers. They didn't like the name LC200N (the factories name for "Low Corrosion"), so they call it Z-FiNit.

It's fairly new to the knife industry so there isn't much history at this time. It has good edge retention in plain edge. Better than H1, but not as good as VG-1-0, by our lab testing. We're still watching everyone's testing as well. The more, the better. I don't think it's as tough as H1.

The Caribbean is now shipping and it is a higher volume model so we can get more feedback.

sal
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Awesom, Sal, and thanks for the response! The Caribbean was one I was waiting for. Can't wait to try some out!
 
I've used this steel quite a bit for the last few years and I'm very happy with it. Regarding edge retention, my response is "it depends". Mainly it depends on what you are cutting. Most of my use with this steel is on fish meat/cleaning and in the kitchen. For that type of use I would rate it comparable to vg10. Once you start cutting into a lot of high wear or fibrous material (imagine heavy cardboard or carpet) then I think the carbides in vg10 and s30v probably help them hold a working edge a bit longer.

I have found it also depends on the hardness of the material being cut. I have found that lc200n can dull do to plastic deformation when cutting very hard material under high pressure. In other words, it can roll at the edge. The good news is it rolls instead of chipping. The other good news is that though this type of dulling can occur, it is has FAR greater strength and resistance to this type of deformation than H1.

To me, lc200n is much like a bridge between H1 and more wear resistance steels like s30v. It shows the high corrosion resistance and much of the toughness of H1 while being much closer (than H1) to steels like s30v in wear resistance. An excellent balance if you are looking for a rust proof steel with better edge performance than pe H1. In addition to my saltwater use, I find it a very solid performing steel for my EDC knives too.
 
Surfingringo said:
I've used this steel quite a bit for the last few years and I'm very happy with it. Regarding edge retention, my response is "it depends". Mainly it depends on what you are cutting. Most of my use with this steel is on fish meat/cleaning and in the kitchen. For that type of use I would rate it comparable to vg10. Once you start cutting into a lot of high wear or fibrous material (imagine heavy cardboard or carpet) then I think the carbides in vg10 and s30v probably help them hold a working edge a bit longer.

I have found it also depends on the hardness of the material being cut. I have found that lc200n can dull do to plastic deformation when cutting very hard material under high pressure. In other words, it can roll at the edge. The good news is it rolls instead of chipping. The other good news is that though this type of dulling can occur, it is has FAR greater strength and resistance to this type of deformation than H1.

To me, lc200n is much like a bridge between H1 and more wear resistance steels like s30v. It shows the high corrosion resistance and much of the toughness of H1 while being much closer (than H1) to steels like s30v in wear resistance. An excellent balance if you are looking for a rust proof steel with better edge performance than pe H1. In addition to my saltwater use, I find it a very solid performing steel for my EDC knives too.
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Thanks Surfgringo. LC200N sounds like it will be a great steel for my summer EDC since I sweat a ton and rust many of my others blades. I love the looks of your Waterway too, and I think I will have to pick one of those up.
 
I have a Chef and a Mule with a Caribbean on the way. VG 10 is a great steel and to have at least that edge retention with corrosion resistance is fantastic. It's quickly becoming a favorite. The mule doubles as a camping and fishing knife.
 
Sal Glesser said:
Cronidur 30 was the original German invention circa 1999. It was the original Nitrogen steel. They said (back then) that they couldn't sell it to us for 2 reasons; 1) Spyderco was an international company and they were afraid that we might send it to a non patent friendly country that would cheat on their patent. 2) They were selling all they could make to Nasa at the time.

While we was disappointed, we kept searching for a "salt water friendly" steel. Then a few years later, we were introduced to H1, which worked well. When Crucible broke up, Harry, their President set up another steel company. He knew I wanted Cronidur 30 so he chased it down for me. (He's one of the few with a CPM S125 Military). But he said we couldn't call it Cronidur because it was a trademarked name. Alpha distributes the steel to custom makers. They didn't like the name LC200N (the factories name for "Low Corrosion"), so they call it Z-FiNit.

It's fairly new to the knife industry so there isn't much history at this time. It has good edge retention in plain edge. Better than H1, but not as good as VG-1-0, by our lab testing. We're still watching everyone's testing as well. The more, the better. I don't think it's as tough as H1.

The Caribbean is now shipping and it is a higher volume model so we can get more feedback.

sal
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I'm just seeing Sal's comments and found it very interesting, thanks. Giving it a bump in case anyone missed it.

Z-FiNit is Zapp Fine grain Nitrogen steel

An interesting comment from EverydayCommentary here:
https://www.everydaycommentary.com/.../2018/7/6/steel-grade-card-lc200-n-or-z-finit

Note the YouTube video link above.

And Surfingringo has been following LC200N for years, see comments above and some interesting threads at the Spyderco.com forums.
 
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New here, really enjoy reading and viewing the forums. Going to try to upload pic of my rit dyed "Caribbean" inspired Spyderco Caribbean.
 
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