Kershaw does make good knives....or at least exercises good quality control of the offshore companies that make most of their knives. In this case I was curious enough to try and locate the type of steel used. The knife is made in China from one piece of drop forged Germain 1.4116 Stainless steel. This steel carries the AISI designation of 420 MoV. It appears to be the usual low carbon(0.38% in this case) 420 series to which some Molydenum(0.4 %) and Vanadium(0.3%) have been added. Finally found this data at a Finnish Puuko site. How much the added Mo and V add to the performance of a low quality(in my opinion) steel such as 420, I've no idea. Mo should increase wear resistance a bit, and V acts as a grain refiner and increases toughness. Thre combination of these two elements, plus drop forging the knife should provide a blade that is both tougher and holds an edge better than standard 420 series steels. The steel also has 13.5% Chromium, which is about average for this particular type. Russ Kommer, a well known Alaskan Knifemaker, uses this steel on some of his knives sold at A.G. Russells site, so it must have some performance quality to it. The Kershaw knife bears an almost startling resemblance in many ways to the old Nazi Youth dagger from WWII, except for the guard. It's not a bad design for a stabbing/combat knife.....I wouldn't expect too much from it if any heavy utility use is also a requirement. Then again, the knife we have in hand is the one we use when something comes up.
