[at-l] Scout knife.

[jbryankramer at msn.com (J Bryan Kramer)]

Ah, your point may have been correct in the 14th century but metallurgy has
made some advances since then. You are correct that the common stainless
knife blades are not optimal. People prefer no-rust to a good hard tough but
prone to rust blade.

 You can buy non-stainless blades made in the US, and elsewhere. Indeed
there is a whole industry of blademakers who use exotic alloys to produce
very tough and hard blades. Most hikers probably don't want to pay a couple
hundred dollars for a hand forged knife tho. But if you look around, usually
a gun shop, you can find better knives than you'll see in Wally world.
Indeed even the big manufacturers produce better knives, my minimalist
Gerber, which doesn't even have a molded handle, is made of a tougher than
average alloy called AUS-6. No can opener tho.

Now there may be some good blades made in Sweden or Germany but Iron is just
Fe the world around.

Bryan

 Samuel Adams advised, "Let us contemplate our forefathers, and posterity,
and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the
sake of the latter."


> this planet; it makes the best knife blades.  Non-stainless steels are
> harder - - which is what you want - - than the stainless steels.
> Sheffield
> and Solingen also make excellent knife steel, but Swedish steel is still
> preferable.  If you find a ?vintage? knife, don?t be dissuaded merely
> because it?s been around for a while.  Knives made long ago were made by
> craftsmen who spent their professional lives proudly perfecting knife
> making.
>
> I bought a small very lightweight three-bladed quill knife made in
> Sheffield, England, on eBay.  It was designed to sharpen quills
> for writing;
> it predates pens.  All the blades are extremely sharp.  One blade
> is heavy
> duty, the other two are thin and narrow, and could be used to perform
> surgery.
>