SAK with a better steel

I always wonder what people are gonna cut. From what I can see super steel chasing folk have a need to slice paper and card on YouTube. I remember some fellah on these forums talking about his job were he cut at least 100 feet of cardboard a day and asked which Spyderco / he should get for $200. I thought a a two dollar box cutter from one of those 7/11 stores, but I don’t think I bothered to reply Supersteelers and their mullah are soon parted. I’ll stick with Victorinox and the occasional fillet steak in the groceries.
 
It's nice to have SAK clones with better steel options.

I personally am not ready to put >150$ on such a knife though, I would fear to loose it.

But you also have the Fox Vulpis with N690 blade steel (also exists in M390), comes in different tool sets, for a more reasonable price.

iu
 
Wirelessjunkie said:
I'm fine with Victorinox's standard steel because it always finishes the work I need it to do. I have plenty of other knives in Maxamet, K390, Rex45, S30V, S45VN, Sandvik, D2, K110, etc etc and Ive gotten to the point where I prefer low drama with my daily drivers, which is why the knives with fancy steels are going to get sold soon... I just dont carry them anymore.

Geometry is what cuts, and even without a crispy edge SAK blades are thin enough to still do a lot of common work with relative ease until they can get touched back up... and they sharpen up very fast. I honestly hope Victorinox keeps doing what they're doing, it seems like every company that jumps in on supersteel fever eventually loses their minds with pricing.
Click to expand...
Victorinox seems to know its sweet spot, that's for sure. And the steel they use (whatever it is) is easy to sharpen, which always surprises me. Most softer steels are difficult for me to sharpen, due to chasing the burr.

There is an aftermarket company that use to replace blades and handles on Buck knives (with Buck's permission) and upgrade the steel. I wonder if there's a company out there that would do the same for SAKs. Given the purpose of a SAK, there would probably be a market of less than 100 people, and it wouldn't be worth it.
 
Victorinox using one kind of steel reminds me of Henry Ford and his black model T’s. Even Buck offers non 420-HC blades from the factory.
 
There are people who make custom blades for your SAK if you wanted. Also Sakology111 on instagram specializes in fitting Spyderco blades into Saks. That, I think is pretty cool. If I really wanted a sak with some sort of supersteel, that's what I'd be trying to make happen. However for me, Victorinox and the older Wengers work just right for how I use them. I always have a "primary" knife on me, and when I carry a sak, it's a secondary blade for me. Last time I looked Sakology was pretty dang booked, so you'd have to be patient.
Sakology.jpg
 
patrickguignot said:
Do you have a link?
Click to expand...
I don't think I'm allowed to post that under the forum rules. However, if you search for it, you can probably find them. During the pandemic, they shut down because Buck wasn't sending them knives any more, I don't know if they started up again or not.
 
Glad to hear the MKM Magnacut is done well! I’ve been swapping MKM M390 blades into 93mm SAKs for a while now and have also found it to be pretty soft with the earlier models being the worst.
 
I never knew their were alternatives to the Victorinox or Wenger SAKs! While I have a number of SAKs that are larger, they're mostly stashed as prepper knives in my hiking packs and get home/camping gear boxes in my Land Cruiser and camping van. What I carry daily in the SAK lineup is the 74mm Executive but, mostly, for the tools. I carry one of three Benchmades for a blade. Anyway, while I'm sure some might be suspect, I've found Victorinox's "Dual-Knife" sharpener to be outstanding on touching up their blades and pretty much all of my folders. I'm really interested in finding a Magnacut folder, just to have one of that steel but, I don't put much stress on blades and some of the super steels are probably overkill for my needs. Whatever steel Victorinox uses works fine for me for the light tasks I put the Executive to (like opening the mail or the occasional package). FWIW, I also have a few bench stones as well as a Sharpmaker which all work great for the slightly toothy edge I prefer but for the SAKs? This sharpener works great and I keep one in the nightstand and one in the glove box of each vehicle.

Victorinox pen sharpener
 
SAK needing better steel???

I've had thoughts on this, mostly about the SAK steel needing to be "better". Well yesterday I had a real world comparison, of sorts. Maybe this needs to be a whole new post, but here it is. I'll let the mods decide.

Yesterday, the wife and I spent the whole day as volunteers up at the Gault archeological site in Florence Texas. It dates back to before the Folsom era, and proves that ancient man was here a lot longer than thought. But we got to do some flint knapping on the outstanding Georgetown Chert that is all over this area due to some anomaly of the Edwards plateau. Great stuff, smooth gray and flakes off in thin very sharp shards that can be further worked/flaked. We're talking surgically sharp cutting tools now. We did some cutting on leather, and some other materials and was amazed at how it cut right through primitive cordage made from plant fibers.

Later, after the throwing atlatl hands on session, we bundled up the atlatl darts, arrow thin shafts about 5 to 6 feet in length. Tied up the bundles with modern jute twine. The lengths of twine were all cut with the chert flakes we chipped off earlier. Then came lunch.

A nice affair catered by a local BBQ place, with brisket and sausage and all the the trimmings. With a flimsy plastic fork, we used the flaked chert to slice out food. It did unreal. Razor sharp edge of chert sliced right through the sausage and slices of brisket as good as my SAK in my pocket would have done. After lunch we did some basket weaving with local reeds and again the flaked stone did the cutting and trimming.

All in all it was an eye opening day of experiencing primitive technologies and way of life. I learned that if I had to rely on an atlatl to get food 10,000 years ago, I would have been very hungry. I managed to miss the mastodon target completely. But going the whole day using just the stone tools we flaked out under the guidance of the professors graduate students, I looked at my modern knife a bit different.

Better steel needed for the SAK? Not just no, but hell hell no! If I could cut reeds for basket making, jute twine like I had a modern pocket knife in my hand, slice meat, leather scraps to compare, what the heck do we need a super steel for? Really!

After stone cutters, the SAK steel in a miracle in itself. Holds a good edge for a reasonable time, can be touched up on any nearest coffee mug bottom or window edge or smooth stone from a creek. The steel geeks chasing the latest and so called greatest super steel of the month are being deluded by a greedy industry to stimulate sales by offering something that is of doubtful value increase. Yesterday was one of those lightbulb moments that I have had in the past, that reminds me that chasing the steel of the month is just plain silly. And that's putting it politely. With a SAK in my pocket, I'm up for any cutting job that comes my way. If it isn't, I'll go chip myself a real knife!
 
I just processed 2 dozen cardboard boxes using a utility knife with a Tungsten Carbide blade. It was fast and a pleasure to use. I doubt that a chunk of chert would have elicited such a s#*% eating grin.
 
The best thing about soft steel is that you can sharpen it on a rock if you need to. This is why Victorinox shouldn't change a thing about its knife steel. It's perfect. Their stainless is affordable and awesome. It doesn't corrode and it sharpens easily and quickly. This is all anyone could really ask for.

Supersteels are cool and they have their uses but in my personal opinion they don't belong on a multitool. That's just how I see it. You are all welcome to your own opinions.

I personally think that *most* (but not all) of the people who are focused on supersteels just don't know how to sharpen a knife and can't be bothered to learn it properly, and so the higher edge retention of a supersteel really appeals to them a lot more. They can put off sharpening a lot longer and then go use their guided systems at home when they finally get around to it. These are the kinds of people who buy a ton of expensive knives and almost never use them for anything besides small tasks like opening a package or a plastic clam shell, or slicing a hot dog.

I do think magnacut is a really great steel though. One of these days I am going to put the money down on a nice full tang fixed blade outdoor knife in Magnacut. I'm just not in any rush.
 
Just because I can sharpen knives doesn’t mean that I like to. My EDC is ZDP-189 at 67HRC. It sharpens up readily on Al2O3 stones and holds an edge for a long time. My folding Diamond files are quite portable in case I want to sharpen my CPM REX 121 or CPM S-125-V blades on the fly. The Tungsten Carbide blades on my box cutters are a joy to use and need very little attention.
 
tiguy7 said:
Just because I can sharpen knives doesn’t mean that I like to.
Click to expand...
🤔mhmm. Check out this old topic: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/anyone-else-love-knives-but-hate-sharpening.1314618/

It seems like most of the people who hate sharpening aren't very good at it, but that's probably not saying much since most people are bad at it because that's the default state that everyone starts out with.

Pretty much everyone starts out hating it or at least finds it frustrating. I know that I found it very frustrating at first too. It's one of those things that isn't necessarily difficult once you learn it, but it has to really "click" first. A light bulb has to go off in your head, and then you suddenly "get it". It can take a long time to get to the point when that light bulb finally clicks, but once it does, frustration starts to be replaced with excitement or enthusiasm. I went through that process. Even after I figured out sharpening, it still took me a good long while to realize that "oh, this is actually enjoyable now".

I think someone who is good at sharpening but still hates it is probably a rarity among rarities. If you're honest with yourself then I think you'd probably come to same conclusion. Or maybe that's just my biased point of view talking. Could be.

I think the only real argument that I can allow myself to accept hearing at this point is "I just don't have the time", and even then I'll still be thinking "eh... but is that really true?" Because if you treat your knives well and you are in the habit of regularly touching up your edges, then you won't typically have to spend that much time sharpening them at all. That's one major reason why I don't place a lot of value on supersteels. You don't typically need a supersteel as long as you are in the habit of staying on top of your edges. In my current way of thinking, staying on top of your edges is the proper thing to do.
 
Guy McVer said:
It can take a long time to get to the point when that light bulb finally clicks, but once it does, frustration starts to be replaced with excitement or enthusiasm.
Click to expand...

That's just over-generalized BS. He didn't say he hated sharpening or is frustrated by it. I've had to sharpen kitchen knives as a chore throughout my childhood. It still is a chore.
 
calm said:
You can also buy some Victorinox models with Damasteel
Click to expand...
They are available as limited editions aimed at collectors, yes. The currently available limited edition collector's Damasteel models from Victorinox are the 130mm Micarta scale Ranger 55 and the 111mm wooden scale Special Picknicker. There is also a carving knife. That's just what Victorinox has available right now. I don't know if there are other retailers that have different models available. I also don't know what the prices are like on the second hand market for the previous limited edition models.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top