Let's not forget that heat treating has as much to do with how a steel behaves as anything. For instance, if Jerry sent out a batch of Camp Tramps in SR101 to an incompetent heat treater, they would likely turn out to be poor quality blades that none of us would want. By the way, SR101(52100) is very hard to heat treat properly.
I would much rather have a big chopper out of plain old 1095 with a Busse or BOS heat treat than I would have that same knife in SR77, SR101, or even INFI with an improperly done heat treat.
YES, it's that important!
How would say 5160 hold up in comparison I am wondering ? Whenever I bring up 101 or 77 I usually hear the merits of 5160. I am trying to learn this steel - so bear with me if stupid question-Thank You
Not a stupid question at all. Personally it's one of my favorites as well. It's right up there with the best of them in the toughness category, and as far as edge holding goes I would put it somewhere between SR77 and SR101 depending on who did the heat treat. Justin's Rangers have a good heat treat and so do Bill Siegle's 5160 knives.
