There is no such thing as the "best" knife steel. All steels are a trade off between corrosion resistance, edge retention, toughness, etc etc etc. Where INFI excels is in having a very favorable all-around balance of these qualities for hard use knives. But INFI is hardly the best choice for ALL knives

For me, INFI has always been a niche steel . . . and not always due to the alloy itself. INFI is almost always married to hard handle materials. IMO, hard handle materials are not very well suited to knives that are designed to absorb a lot of shock. Choppers fall into this category. So I don't own any INFI choppers and I doubt I ever will.

Slicers are fine with hard handle materials. But they don't require a great deal of lateral strength . . . a quality that INFI excels at. And INFI is expensive . . . VERY EXPENSIVE. I've never been convinced that I need to pay for something I don't need. And far less expensive alloys including stainless alloys exist that work perfectly well in slicers. So I don't own any INFI slicers and I doubt I ever will.

So where does INFI excel? For me it's the 5"-8" blade range . . . the middle ground between choppers and slicers where some chopping may be required but not dedicated chopping and some slicing may be required but not dedicated slicing. It's in this category of mid-sized fighters/camp knives that INFI's combination of qualities come together to make it nearly unsurpassed as a cutlery alloy.

That's just my opinion, of course.

No tearing, no chipping, ever.

I disagree <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

For me, INFI has always been a niche steel . . . and not always due to the alloy itself. INFI is almost always married to hard handle materials. IMO, hard handle materials are not very well suited to knives that are designed to absorb a lot of shock. Choppers fall into this category. So I don't own any INFI choppers and I doubt I ever will.

Slicers are fine with hard handle materials. But they don't require a great deal of lateral strength . . . a quality that INFI excels at. And INFI is expensive . . . VERY EXPENSIVE. I've never been convinced that I need to pay for something I don't need. And far less expensive alloys including stainless alloys exist that work perfectly well in slicers. So I don't own any INFI slicers and I doubt I ever will.

So where does INFI excel? For me it's the 5"-8" blade range . . . the middle ground between choppers and slicers where some chopping may be required but not dedicated chopping and some slicing may be required but not dedicated slicing. It's in this category of mid-sized fighters/camp knives that INFI's combination of qualities come together to make it nearly unsurpassed as a cutlery alloy.

That's just my opinion, of course.

I disagree <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

It's probably in reference to the Noss vids and such. Just pretty much saying all steel is susceptible to damage. INFI is just high on the list of durability.