Wear of steel on Herder and Nogent knives - is this typical for carbon knives?

I bought a French Nogent pairing knife about a year ago, which I use almost daily but only for a few small tasks. What I noticed is that the profile is starting to show signs of wear, a very slight hollow is forming where the edge used to be perfectly straight.
My mother has been using Herder pairing knifes for decades, especially for peeling potatoes, and she uses these until just a sliver of knife remains - the more worn the better she thinks (I tend to agree!). These knives keep sharp (or sharp enough) with a nice bite even without sharpening. They seem to be self sharpening.
The steel of these knives rusts or stains, so I am assuming this is carbon steel (I may be wrong here!).

So, my question is, is this typical for carbon steel knives and due to use or improper knife care that perhaps promotes corrosion and/or wear? Or do these brands use a special soft steel that abrades easily so that it remains sharp?
Or... are potatoes killing our knives?

On this forum I never read anything about faster wear of carbon steel knifes compared to stainless - so that is what triggered this question.

I would love to hear your thoughts!

I would guess a 'frown' on the edge is coming from steeling more than anything else. Pictures would help.

Its true. Herder uses c60 or c75, hardened to a lowly Hrc56-58. And they do this for reason. They could go up to 62 If they wanted to..But these peelers are throwaway- knives for like 4 Euros. And they are designed to withstand a tremendous amount of beating. Thats way they use the buttersteel on them.

Thanks guys!

We do not steel these knives, they just wear out. Actually my impression is that they wear evenly over a large part of the surface so that the blade is thinning while it is wearing. On my knife it is still hardly apparent so a picture wouldn't really work. But I found a pic on the web that shows an extreme example - not unlike my mother's!



Anyway, it sounds like this is a phenomenom specific to these knives then?
I wouldn't want to run into this should I decide to purchase a decent Japanese carbon knife.

Wear resistance -- abrasion resistance -- of carbon blades isn't very high, independent of hardness. There are simply no chromium carbides to stop wear. As for the carbon peeling knives by Herder, they are particularly thin and indeed prone to wear.
You will see the same with basic carbons of a much higher hardness like the Misono Swedish. If you look for more elaborate carbons like the Aogami you may expect a bit more abrasion resistance. They contain a bit of chromium and other carbides forming elements.

Thanks, that is good to know. Now that you explain it it makes sense but I wasn't aware of this. Also the difference between the various carbon steels I never gave much thought. Of course I was aware that between them they had somewhat different characteristics, but I never came accross the abrasion resistance issue. So much to learn!

Interesting that you point out the Misono, that is a knife I was giving some thought as a carbon steel try out. I figured if I didn't like it it would still make a cool wall decoration...

The Misono Swedish Carbon is a knife with an excellent reputation. Great profile, exceptional Fit&Finish, its edge retention though is just average and it has a little flex one should get used to. If you don't like it it won't be hard to get it sold in the B/S/T section or in your immediate neighbourhood.

Boynutman said:

These knives keep sharp (or sharp enough) with a nice bite even without sharpening. They seem to be self sharpening.

....


Or... are potatoes killing our knives?

Click to expand...

I very much doubt those knives are truly sharp - they are just ground so thin that they can be forced through the vegetables without much effort, even with an edge as blunt as a spoon. A truly sharp edge would still make a considerable difference, I suspect.


I doubt it's the potatoes that are killing your knives ... more like sand and dirt clinging to them. That said, there is a documentary on youtube about mastergrinder Wilfried Fehrekamp who once was the last of his profession and who put the final grind on all the Herder knives - his "private" knife that he used for cutting his lunch break sandwich looked even worse than your pic. I thought it pretty funny at the time

Sand and dirt, and oxidation, when the latter gets removed by the first.