SK85 steel - what is your experience?

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Toomanyquestions

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My understanding is that SK85 has almost as much carbon as 1095, but it also has other additional elements that make it roughly equal to or slightly superior to vanilla 1095. Perhaps slightly better edge holding, similar toughness, and more corrosion resistance? Work Tuff Gear appears to use it regularly. I am intrigued. Please inform me - I am looking for knowledge, experience, and opinions.
 
There is no such a thing as SK85... If you talking about SK-5 which is basically Japanese 0.85% carbon steel, the edge holding will be lower than 1095. Actually, I found the as-quenched hardness is measurable lower compared to US made 1084.
 
Says on their website SK-85 is a japanese 1085 heat treated to 56-58 hrc. I've never heard of this steel, but doesn't sound very impressive.
 
SK85 according to zknives is "the new JIS name for SK5"

It has a little chromium and copper, both add to corrosion resistance theoretically, but slightly less carbon.

I have a Hultafors GK that uses SK5, it's hard to say from my experience whether edge retention is better or worse than 1095. 1095 tends to be pretty variable depending on how it is heat treated. It's in the same ball park
 
shqxk said:
There is no such a thing as SK85... If you talking about SK-5 which is basically Japanese 0.85% carbon steel, the edge holding will be lower than 1095. Actually, I found the as-quenched hardness is measurable lower compared to US made 1084.
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JIS changed the name from SK5 to SK85 a few years ago
 
Had a few knives in SK5, mostly CRKT. Their heat treat of it is okay. Edge retention is predictably low; sharpen it, cut some wood, and the edge is mostly gone. Edge stability is very good, it will hack through stuff without rolling/chipping.

I haven't tried work tuff, the prices they are charging for their steel I can find better knives. If someone has experience with their steel, I'd be pretty interested to hear it as well. Obviously I'm eating my own words as they're all out of stock...someone must like them

I prefer 14c28n, AEB-L, even 1095.
 
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shqxk said:
...If you talking about SK-5 which is basically Japanese 0.85% carbon steel, the edge holding will be lower than 1095. Actually, I found the as-quenched hardness is measurable lower compared to US made 1084.
Click to expand...


How would you rank outdoor hard-use steels (e.g. 1095, SK-5, 5160, 52100, stainless, etc.)?
 
Dergyll said:
Had a few knives in SK5, mostly CRKT. Their heat treat of it is okay. Edge retention is predictably low; sharpen it, cut some wood, and the edge is mostly gone. Edge stability is very good, it will hack through stuff without rolling/chipping.

If someone has experience with their steel, I'd be pretty interested to hear it as well.
Click to expand...

It would be great if folks would share their SK-5/SK-85 experiences.
 
You have to understand that we can't really compare steel just only based on composition alone.

There are 3 versions of Japanese 1085 equivalent which are SK5, Yellow No.3 and White No.3 And even though they all share similar carbon content, they will have slightly different mechanical properties due to the quality of manufacturing.

SK-5 is the lowest quality grade among this. It is invented for mass production agricultural tool. SK-5 steel is very popular in my country because it is cheap, available in sheets in various of thickness.

I would rate the edge holding to be slightly better than SUP9 (5155) spring steel. SK-5 is a decent steel but still inferior to US1095 and 52100.
 
It appears the consensus is, all other things being equal, SK-85 is inferior to 1095. There are a few knife brands I consider value-for-money leaders in the hard use fixed blade category. I would like to hear from everyone else: what are some of the brands - particularly smaller / lesser know brands - that you think provide considerable value for the money.
 
For that price, I'd get a benchmade puukko or leuku, tremendously tough knives and great prices.

Condor knives use similar materials and are significantly cheaper, although fit finish is on the rougher side

TOPs is a favorite, and they do a superb 1095. A little pricey though.

Then theres chinese knives too, and that list is too long to post.

Good luck!
 
I have one knife in SK-5. The Cold Steel SRK. It is an excellent knife for money. For $47, it is one the best bang for bucks in the fixed blade world imo. I've carried it hiking and camping and it has performed just fine. I guess I'll note that I don't do batoning with fixed blades. I carry a hatchet to process wood for fires.

If you are looking for budget 1095 fixed blade, maybe Ontario or Condor has something for you.
 
Dergyll said:
For that price, I'd get a benchmade puukko or leuku, tremendously tough knives and great prices.

Condor knives use similar materials and are significantly cheaper, although fit finish is on the rougher side

TOPs is a favorite, and they do a superb 1095. A little pricey though.

Then theres chinese knives too, and that list is too long to post.

Good luck!
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Condor uses 1075, though I have a couple knives/swords from Condor without any issues given the material. Seems to perform similar to 1085 and 1095, though the knives I have in 1095 (Ontario knives choppers) hold an edge a bit longer. The heat treat from Condor seems to be satisfactory for what I am using the knives for.
 
1084/SK5 is a tool steel used in knives, hammers, saws, and railroad rails. Tough stuff, holds an edge well (ref. Hultafors), easy to sharpen.
 
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I have a shark saw with a sk85 blade. Made in Japan. Can't yet give an opinion on it yet.
 
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