Hand Digger Steel Types

atomicbrh · Aug 23, 2022

https://www.bladehq.com/cat--Best-Knife-Steel-Guide--3368#N690

Here is an article about knife steel. You can click on each type of steel in the bar graphs and more details about that particular steel will pop up.
It would be prohibitively expensive to make a shovel out of knife steel, but what about using knife steel to make hand diggers?
They should keep an edge much longer than the steel most current hand diggers are made of. I am thinking that the Hori knives probably have the best steel of all the current diggers, but they do not have much of a hand guard.

Mikey48 · Aug 23, 2022

I've been using my hori hori since the 1980's. It is not sharp but it digs well. I need to re-sharpen the serrations for root cutting. I bought two at a gun show when i got it, and it's marked Parker Knives Japan. Not sure how to find out what the steel is. I know that as a prying tool it is really sturdy, and if it were not, it would be very bent because I pry with it a lot.
As for there not being a guard, that is not really a concern for me. If I need to push it into hard ground, I use my palm on the butt with my other hand holding the handle and shake it. It will go down in very hard ground... unless it is a rock I'm hitting.

GroundSweeper · Aug 23, 2022

I don't know what kind of steel a Lesche is made out of, but I am on my second and they take a serious beating from me. I have a brand new spare from returning my first Leche that eventually I cracked, and they sent me a brand new one, and that is my spare as I immediately just bought a replacement meantime.

Silversmith45 · Aug 25, 2022

Mikey48 said:
I've been using my hori hori since the 1980's. It is not sharp but it digs well. I need to re-sharpen the serrations for root cutting. I bought two at a gun show when i got it, and it's marked Parker Knives Japan. Not sure how to find out what the steel is. I know that as a prying tool it is really sturdy, and if it were not, it would be very bent because I pry with it a lot.
As for there not being a guard, that is not really a concern for me. If I need to push it into hard ground, I use my palm on the butt with my other hand holding the handle and shake it. It will go down in very hard ground... unless it is a rock I'm hitting.

I have been using versions of the Hori-Hori knife for about forty years now and I wouldn't use anything else. I have never seen one made by Parker before. Back in the seventies Parker made knives sold here in the U..S. They made thousands of them but they are hard to find now. Your knife could probably be a collectors item.

Hand Digger Steel Types

atomicbrh

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GroundSweeper

Silversmith45

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