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Show HN: I built a knife steel comparison tool

(new.knife.day)
135 points p-s-v | 8 comments | 17 May 25 17:13 UTC | HN request time: 0.41s | source | bottom

Hey HN!

I'm a bit of a knife steel geek and got tired of juggling tabs to compare stats. So, I built this tool: https://new.knife.day/blog/knife-steel-comparisons/all

It lets you pick steels (like the ones in the screenshot) and see a radar chart comparing their edge retention, toughness, corrosion resistance, and ease of sharpening on a simple 1-10 scale.

It's already been super handy for me, and I thought fellow knife/metallurgy enthusiasts here might find it useful too.

Would love to hear your thoughts or any steel requests!

Cheers!

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Retr0id ◴[17 May 25 19:23 UTC] No.44016375[source]▶
> [Maybe attach the screenshot here if HN allows, or link to it]

I think the AI intended for you to edit out this part?

replies(5): >>44016404 #>>44016447 #>>44016505 #>>44016751 #>>44016817 #
loloquwowndueo ◴[17 May 25 19:28 UTC] No.44016404[source]▶
Shhh, I like those placeholders as dead giveaways that content was AI-produced. Don’t call too much attention to them or we’ll lose this way of identifying slop :)
replies(1): >>44016441 #
1. FieryTransition ◴[17 May 25 19:36 UTC] No.44016441[source]▶
I'm fine with ai slop if it provides value, the value here being questionable, because now I don't know if the values in the comparison are fact checked or hallucinations.
replies(1): >>44016472 #
2. Retr0id ◴[17 May 25 19:42 UTC] No.44016472[source]▶
I suspect they're hallucinated. As a random spot check: https://new.knife.day/item/spyderco-paramilitary-2

"The Spyderco Paramilitary 2 is a tactical knife with a 3.44 inch blade. The knife is made in USA of CPM S35VN steel."

It's a real knife, and the blade length checks out (to two significant figures), but the manufacturer spec sheet says S45VN steel. Also the actual name is "Para Military® 2".

https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details/C81GS2/2090

replies(2): >>44016509 #>>44017496 #
3. p-s-v ◴[17 May 25 19:49 UTC] No.44016509[source]▶
this data is mostly scraped from a few large knife retailers, so should be accurate.
replies(1): >>44016567 #
4. Retr0id ◴[17 May 25 19:56 UTC] No.44016567{3}[source]▶
It's unusual for a large retailer to not use the official name of a product
replies(2): >>44016739 #>>44016900 #
5. p-s-v ◴[17 May 25 20:25 UTC] No.44016739{4}[source]▶
shrug, if you search around youll see that isnt true
replies(1): >>44017270 #
6. shawn_w ◴[17 May 25 20:50 UTC] No.44016900{4}[source]▶
Not in this particular case. Out of the 5 knife retailers I just checked, 4 use Paramilitary in their listings. Only one included a space.
7. Retr0id ◴[17 May 25 21:53 UTC] No.44017270{5}[source]▶
Fair enough, I do see it listed under that name on some sites, and there appears to be a S35VN variant too
8. Zak ◴[17 May 25 22:26 UTC] No.44017496[source]▶
A problem with choosing that specific knife for a spot check is that it has been made in many different steels in various special editions, sprint runs, and dealer exclusives. Here's one in S35VN:

https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details/C81GBNBK2/Para-Mili...