Carbon or stainless?

2. dubna 2024

Although the vast majority of our knives are made of stainless steel, Mikov also offers the Commandos knife and one type of UTON knife made of carbon steel. Each type of steel has its own specific features and advantages, which are balanced by some disadvantages.

Steel is actually an alloy of iron and carbon. The fundamental difference between the steels lies in the carbon content and the presence of other elements, mainly chromium. The more carbon steel has in it, the harder and stronger it is, the easier it is to sharpen to a very sharp edge and to keep the edge for a long time, but it also has a lower ability to resist corrosion. Therefore, stainless steel has a significant proportion of chromium and other elements such as nickel, molybdenum or manganese can be added to further improve its properties. However, steel does not hold an edge as well or is much harder to sharpen. It is very difficult to sharpen a knife made of high quality, high hardness steel at home on your own, so you need to have it sharpened by a specialist.

Mikov uses different types of steel for its knives to cover the widest possible range of customer needs. The widest choice is on Predator knives. Mikov produces these in damascus steel, RWL, N690 steel and regular 420 stainless steel. But the range of steels used is much wider. The exclusive Ruby kitchen knives or butcher knives are made from DIN 1.4116 stainless steel, for example, and the hunting knives from 440 steel. You can always find the specific material of the knives on our website in the product description under the Parameters tab.

Even though stainless steel is the clear leader among knives, many customers still prefer the UTON military knife made of carbon steel. Its great edge is redeemed by the need for more thorough maintenance and keeping the knife clean and dry, but it's still a great choice.