440A High Carbon Stainless

B

Brently

Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Messages
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Hey everyone, I'm looking into different types of steel for kitchen cutlery.

I ran across 440A as an decent to great option for knives. How is the edge retention, corrosion resistance, and how easy is it to be re-sharpened?

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Welcome. You might try the Steel FAQ for some references on steel. I've listed an excerpt on 440 steel. I don't have any experience with it, so I'll just share what I've read.
440 A - 440 B - 440C
The carbon content (and hardenability) of this stainless steel goes up
in order from A (.75%) to B (.9%) to C (1.2%). 440C is an excellent,
high-end stainless steel, usually hardened to around 56-58 Rc, very
tough and with good edge-holding at that hardness. 440C was the king
of stainless cutlery steels in the 1980s, before ATS-34 took the title
in the 1990s. All three resist rust well, with 440A being the most
rust resistant, and 440C the least. The SOG Seal 2000 is 440A, and
Randall uses 440B for their stainless knives. 440C is fairly
ubiquitous, and is generally considered a very good general-use
stainless, tougher and more stain resistant than ATS-34 but with less
edge-holding and weaker. If your knife is marked with just "440", it
is probably the less expensive 440A; if a manufacturer had used the
more expensive 440C, he'd want to advertise that. The general feeling
is that 440A (and similar steels, see below) is just good enough for
everyday use, especially with a good heat treat (we've heard good
reports on the heat treat of SOG's 440A blades, don't know who does
the work for them). 440-B is a very solid performer and 440-C is
excellent.
Click to expand...

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=368828
 
440A is pretty mediocre as far as blade steel goes. Edge retention is sub-par and it will require frequent sharpening. I would look for 440C, VG-10, etc. Proper heat treating can do a lot with average steels, but why settle for something less if you don't have to?

EDIT

I just read my own response and I sound like a knife snob. Personally, we own 2 types of kitchen knives. Two sets are cheap Taiwan and China made sets, one I had from my single days and one came as a wedding gift. Then we have some high quality Shun knives. The first two sets, we use and abuse, and my friends and visiting relatives use it. God only knows what steel they are but they are cheap stamped stainless steel. I suspect they are something close to 440A. The third set is something I am putting together one Shun knife at a time. The Shuns are relatively pricey and come with VG-10 blade steel. That's not even their premium steel but I like the characteristics of VG-10.

I've heard from numerous sources that the most cost effective kitchen knives are the Forschner knives by Victorinox. They have cheaper (as in price) stamped blade knives and a better forged blade knives. In any case, even the stamped blade knives are very good for low cost. As for the blade steel, they list x50 CrMO. I'm not sure what other steel it's equivalent to.
 
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I've only seen 440A in Cutco knives. They're actually pretty good knives, but they're ridiculuously overpriced.
 
Welcome chefknivestogo. Love your store. Look forward to hearing what you have to say. Please enjoy all of this great site.
 
For mass production of inexpensive kitchen knives it would suit the needs of the manufacturer through most all end users. That's the best thing that I can about it.
 
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