Native II

[col132]

I'm a new guy and I've been reading the forum for the past couple of weeks and have found it very interesting and informative. But, I've not found (even trying to search if I know what I'm doing) much information on the Native II. I owned an FRN model a year or so ago, and I wasn't particularly thrilled with it as it had quite a bit of sideways play in the blade when open. Bought a Native II yesterday and it is tight as a drum. Checked the forum and haven't found much information on it and even less on the AUS-10 blade. I know this version is made overseas, but can anyone tell me anything about how this blade material stacks up against some of the others, or point me in the right direction. I need someone to break down the components of this blade material into something I can understand. Thanks

[Clay Kesting]

Col,

If you click on the "Edge-U-Cation" link above, you'll find a steel chart which allows you to compare the components of various steels. Basically AUS-10 has a Carbon content of 0.95-1.10% which puts it right up with the best of the cutlery stainless steels like ATS-34 and VG10. It also has a similar amount of Vanadium to VG10 and the other AUS steels. I haven't had any experience using AUS-10 but if it takes an edge like AUS-8 (best edge I can get on any steel apart from VG10) but holds it longer due the the higher hardness (59-60 Rc), you should be very happy indeed. You could also check out Joe Talmadges' Steel FAQ here: http://www.bladeforums.com/features/faqsteel.shtml. You can get a more up to date version by doing a search at deja.com using "Joe Talmadge" as author, "Steel FAQ" as subject, "rec.knives" as newsgroup.

Clay

Don't worry that the world might end tomorrow, in Australia it's tomorrow already.

Edited by - Clay Kesting on 7/8/2001 2:57:04 PM