Why Stainless Steel is a Good Material for Knives?

Carry a Stainless Steel Pocket Knife with you Everywhere and be Prepared for Anything

Carrying Knives for self-defense requires the knife to be portable and be safe for the customer to carry. If we talk about safety, pocket knives are best at job. They are easy to deploy and are easily portable. 

Pocket knives are available in different materials, but stainless steel being one of the most popular material used to make these types of Knives. Stainless Steel knives tend to be tougher, have better durability. With the mixing of 12% of Chromium, it even becomes Corrosion resistant.

Stainless Steel Knives are easy to sharpen as compared to it's competitor carbon steel knives and are even recyclable. For those who are Earth Conscious, these knives are made for you all. The knives have a perfect classy look. It has a spotless appearance and makes it much easier to spot any staining or rust so it can be cleaned right away. 

Origin of Pocket Knives: -  

The first ever pocket knife with a complete swiveling pivot was found in Austria back in 600BC. Originally the were known as "Peasant Knives". Before 17th Century, these knives were often used by gardeners, farmers.

Due to their cheap cost, sometimes they were even called Penny Knives. During 1650's, these knives were made from iron and bronze with a wooden handle or a bone handle.

These Knives did not have the advance locking system like today's knives and to open the knife, they were found to be held open by the thumb of it's user. 

What is the Ideal size for the Pocket Knife?

As per the Federal law of states, the legal allowance to carry a knife is for those knives with a blade shorter than 3 inches. It is even said the knives with a blade exceeding the given length, are not considered as Pocket Knives.

Sometimes these knives can even be made even with a blade of 1 inch. These knives can work as an excellent letter openers, thread cutters, and all those small activities.

Types of Pocket Knives: -

Pocket knives have different variation in the type of material, blade style, handle material, number of blades and many more. The best suitable knife for a person depends over the way they use it.

Over the time pocket knives have gain a lot of fame for their compact design and portability. Still, within pocket knives there are different knives which people love. Well here are some types of pocket knives : - 

1) The Camper tool: - These knives are also known as multitool knives for the multiple tools in the knife. This knife has a screwdriver, can/bottle opener, scissors, pliers, nail file, toothpick, tweezers, pretty much everything. 

2) The Canoe Knife: - This knife gets it's name from it's design. It forms a shape like a canoe when the blades of Knife are closed. The blades of this knives collapse on opposite ends bounded by the same handle. 

3) Pen Knife: - This knife got it's name from the time when people started writing with quills. Before being able to write, the quills were supposed to be pierced with this knife. Even the design of this knife resembles it's name as it is very sleek knife with a pointed end. 

4) The Trapper Knife: - This knife comes equipped with two knives joint at the one end of the handle. This knife got it's name from it's user, "Trapper". This knife has a spay blade that helps in spaying herd animals. 

5) Tactical Folding Knives:- These knives were the first one to get a clip put on the handle. These knives are easy to deploy. You may clip this knife anywhere with you, be it your hat, belt hole, or even your shirt's pocket. These knives can easily be carried because of their small size.  

Composition of Stainless Steel Knives: -

Stainless Steel knives are not just made up of steel but they are mixed with other metals in order to maintain the strength and make the corrosion resistant. Stainless Steel knives are generally made up of martensitic and ferritic grades of stainless steel.

These metals are having a high composition of carbon making them harder. Austenitic grade material such as 316, 340L are avoided to make the knives as they have a low carbon content. These material are not so tough and they are not corrosion resistant. 

Here is a look at the materials being used to make up Stainless Steel Knives: - 

1) Carbon(0.5%>)- Carbon helps in making the knives tougher. Generally with increased levels of carbon you get a harder steel, improved tensile strength, edge retention and overall resistance to wear. However, if manufacturers go over the top with too much carbon it can make the steel brittle and also increases proneness to corrosion.

2) Chromium(11%-16%) - Chromium is an essential part to make Stainless Steel. By adding Chromium, the oxidation rate of Steel slows down and the resistance to corrosion increases. Chromium also  provides Edge retention and makes it easy to sharpen the Stainless Steel Knives. 

3) Molybdenum(0.5%-4%) - Molybdenum is another metal that promotes the strength of the Knife. It allows Knife to handle a high temperature so that it can be produced in the factories. 

4) Manganese(0.3%-2%) - Manganese provides the strength to knife for high temperature and even increases it's tensile strength. Adding more of Manganese to steel will make it brittle and eventually it will break the knife.

Some of the Stainless Steel types available to make knives are AUS-8, 440C, 8Cr13MoV, and many more.

All these metals have a good mixture of elements and provide the best knives made out of them. 

Conclusion-:

Pocket knives are available in different materials, but stainless steel being one of the most popular material used to make these types of Knives. Stainless Steel Knives is easy to sharpen as compare to its competitor carbon steel knives and it's even recyclable. The stainless steel knives are not just made up with only metal but they have other metals mixed in order for them maintain the strength and be corrosion resistant.