I am having a hard time understanding who wants or needs knife steel any better than what we have now. For most applications, I have found that a well tempered 1095 does pretty much anything I might want to do with a knife. For salt water use, the 440 series and even 420HC seem to work. The Busse-tempered S7 is remarkably tough and affordable. INFI is actually better than I need for most uses. Just my two cents. BTW, the earth is flat. At least here on the coastal plain.
I agree completely!
I would wager that it is hard to find a tougher knife then the Busse family. There use of steels and hardening process seems to be very cutting edge. It would seem that toughness means different things to different people. I would think that you could just increase the thickness of a simple carbon steel, and it would survive more abuse then a 3/16 piece of INFI. Which knife is tougher???
Is a knife a prybar? Sometimes I suppose it can be. Most of the time a knife will be used like a knife, and if that is so...then a lot of other factors come into play that may nullify the gain in its capeability to withstand abnormal abuse.
My thought is toughness is likely over rated. I am not saying that I don't enjoy having one of the toughest knives in the world though. I kind of liken owning the Busse family knives to Tim the Tool man....whether you use the knife or not, when you pick it up, you just have to start grunting and foaming at the mouth....It's the law of nature! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />