How effective is Elmax for a 4 inch utility fixed blade

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maximus83

Joined
Nov 7, 2011
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Hi, I'm interested in TRC knives, a relatively new-ish (to me, anyway) maker from Lithuania who's making some nice looking fixed blades you can get on sites like BladeHQ.

http://www.trcknives.com/

I'm specifically interested in his K1 knives as an all-purpose utility blade for camping, backpacking, and hunting.

Question for the forum: How effective is Elmax steel going to be in a utility/field blade like this?

Specific concerns:
  1. Corrosion resistance: is it going to be good enough for the wet Pacific Northwest climate? My understanding is Elmax is not quite as corrosion-resistant as say S35vn.
  2. How effective is Elmax at the other aspects of knife steel performance, like toughness and edge retention? I've read it can be brittle and prone to chipping, also hard to sharpen in the field.

My preference in a high-end stainless steel like this would be something like M390, which he uses in his K-1 Fuller knives, but unfortunately those knives include a fuller in the blade, something I'm not really interested in.
 
I think with minor maintenance it would serve you well . Elmax is listed as a bit better stain resistance then S30V ... and I have never had any issues with it.

Elmax takes a good edge and has very good edge retention ... and is tougher then S30V ... I think its a great blade steel ... it's not too difficult to sharpen.

Now all that being said a good HT is important ... heard stories of Elmax chipping due to a poor HT but never saw any first hand ... and that seemed to get that worked out quickly ... but that holds true for most steels have their sweet spot for HT.
 
Elmax would be one of my top choices for such a blade. It has outstanding toughness for a stainless steel(and it being a stainless that means the corrosion resistence is excellent as well). I haven't seriously compared it to my other steels yet, but what I do know is that it'll take a keen, polished edge without a whole lot of trouble, and keep that edge for a while.

I highly doubt you'd have anything to worry about when it comes to the climate affecting your blade in any way. You shove it into a pool of acid, yeah maybe it won't hold up so well, haha.
 
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Heard good things about his blades, have always wondered who does his heat treat (if not performed in-house).
 
I have a splinter from TRC knives in elmax that I am really pleased with. Edge retention, corrosion resistance and toughness is as good as the posters above say it is.
I've mainly used my knife while backpacking, woods bumming and fishing.
 
I'm not a metallurgy expert, so do your research and be comfortable with your decision based on your needs. My experience using M390, ELMAX, and S30V - all pretty much the same in real world conditions. YMMV.

Using the K-1 in the kitchen and outdoors in New England, it's become my primary all purpose fixed blade knife. Sold everything else and done searching for a while.

Also, the sheath on the K-1 is very, very good.

K-1.jpg
 
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Not sure where you're getting that S35 has better corrosion resistance than Elmax, but I believe this article, though dated, is fairly accurate. I only have a ZT0566 in Elmax, but I tried doing some feathering with it, never washed it, and it has exhibited zero oxidation.

https://www.bladeops.com/Articles.asp?ID=272

I'm thinking that given the same heat treat, Elmax is what I would choose.

PS: That K1 isawesome
 
When heat treated properly, elmax has great corrosion resistance. If it goes through secondary hardening phase, it will have much less corrosion resistance.
 
Photo of the sheath with a large tek lok attached. I cut and drillled a piece of black kydex for a spacer between the back edge of the sheath and the tek lok so it's flush when attached. Carries high enough on the belt for concealment.

The corner of the sheath just behind the spine has the kydex folded open. With your thumb placed at that point and your index finger under the handle choil, pulling this knife from the sheath is a joy.

K1 Sheath.jpg
 
I agree with above, TRC K1 is an exceptional knife. Mine is in M390 however...
Sheath is top notch too. As good, if not better than Mashed Cat's custom sheaths and he is the best of the best in my opinion.

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XtianAus said:
I agree with above, TRC K1 is an exceptional knife. Mine is in M390 however...
Sheath is top notch too. As good, if not better than Mashed Cat's custom sheaths and he is the best of the best in my opinion.
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Love that K1, linked to it above and have been looking at it too. Awesome looking version of the K1! Would like to hear your report on it.

What do you think about that fuller in the blade, for a hard use knife? Seems like it could be a potential place for stuff to get hung up while you're using it, then a pain to keep that area clean if using for food prep.
 
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maximus83 said:
Love that K1, linked to it above and have been looking at it too. Awesome looking version of the K1! Would like to hear your report on it.

What do you think about that fuller in the blade, for a hard use knife? Seems like it could be a potential place for stuff to get hung up while you're using it, then a pain to keep that area clean if using for food prep.
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They really are great knives. As long as you are fine with finger grooves. I know some people hate them, but for me, this is the best feeling knife in hand that I have ever experienced. It provides a very secure comfortable grip.

To be honest I haven't hard used mine enough to know if the fuller would be an issue. I really doubt it though. Andrius seems to know what he is doing and I doubt he would compromise the sturdiness of the blade. But I'm not certain on that either.
As for food prep, the fuller is very smooth and well constructed so for me it isn't an issue. Sure it might take a few minutes more than the other version, but hey, not enough to annoy me. And i personally like the look of fullers.

I do see where you're coming from though. But I think M390 is just worth these potential issues unless it did affect the durability of the blade. Which again, I doubt (but who knows?)

Whichever K1 sub-model you decide on, I'm sure you will be happy with. Its almost perfect for me.
The one and only thing that bothers me is that you cannot remove the scales for cleaning. You need to send it to TRC to do that. But then again it's M390 or Elmax so there shouldn't be much if any corrosion anyway :)
 
Oh that's interesting, you can't remove the scales on K1's? I just assumed from looking at them that they are removable.
 
maximus83 said:
Oh that's interesting, you can't remove the scales on K1's? I just assumed from looking at them that they are removable.
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I assumed that too but when I emailed Andrius to ask what tool I needed to do so, he said otherwise.
 
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In my experience, ELMAX and M390 are very close in performance. I've used a super thin SYKCO 340 MAX and it was suprisingly tough. I abused the little guy and never had any chipping or corrosion. My M390 blades have no issues either. Don't worry about the steel and just pick the one you want. Good luck.
 
IMO, M390 will hold an edge quite a bit longer than Elmax, although either steel is excellent. You are not likely to be disappointed with either choice.
If up to me, I would pick M390, but would not flinch at Elmax.
 
For Jim Ankerson's reco's on various steels and edge-holding, you must see his "rankings" or categories of popular steels in this link. He is very well thought of on this Forum.
On the first page of his report, Jim ranks the steels in terms of rope-cutting vs edge-holding, and in his tests, M390 is right up at the top in Categories 1 and 2 (heat-treat dependence), whereas he places Elmax further down in Categories IV and V, along with other excellent and popular blade-steels. I would imagine that many of us would not notice much "practical" difference unless we used these knives pretty hard...

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...ed-on-edge-retention-cutting-5-8-rope.793481/
 
Why is the point of the TRC K1 blade so chubby? Stabbing? I wouldn't use it for field work. The basic shape is good though. Here are my recommendations.



 
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