5 or More Steels Every Collection Should Have???

ATJ999 said:
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S90V - A great stainless geared towards edge retention. A little tricky to sharpen, but once you get the hand of it, great steel!!! My Hoback A10's in S90V have the best balance of edge retention and toughness!! I have literally tried light chopping on bamboo with it, don't try that though. Anyways amazing toughness for the steel and thin grind the blade has! S110v is great, but I have also had really poor HT's and such with it. I have had all good experiences with S90V.
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may i ask what knives you had a poor heat treat with S110v? my manix2 blurple s110 is awesome heat treat thus far, but i dont want to sharpen it, i hear some people have problems, just got to follow Ankersons advice i suppose.
 
Ankerson said:
Something with high wear resistance like S90V, S110V, 10V.

Something in the Middle Range like S30V, CPM 154.

Something in the lower range like AUS-8.

A Simple Carbon Steel like 52100 or A2.

As far as the knives go, well that's up to individual opinions, mine would be more inline with Customs and Production knives like Spyderco.
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Perfection
 
Mo2 said:
may i ask what knives you had a poor heat treat with S110v? my manix2 blurple s110 is awesome heat treat thus far, but i dont want to sharpen it, i hear some people have problems, just got to follow Ankersons advice i suppose.
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PM sent, one custom and one production s110v with not great HT. Have two that have great HT's. Still prefer S90V though.
 
no specific order, different steels for different applications

m390
s30v
cpm154/154cm
s90v
1095
m4
d2
h1
420hc
white paper
 
These are the primary steels that I have in my collection.......of flat and round bar stock. :D
W2, the new(er) and improved version of 1095/W1.
1084, the 10xx steel that you are less likely to screw up than 1095 with less than optimizedheat treatment setups.It also mixes quite well with 15N20 when you want to make that steel with those funny wiggly patterns and such.
AEB-L, old school stainless that still works
Cru Forge V
CPM 3V for those crazy kids who want that PM stuff.
FYI, NONE of these steels would ever leave my shop any softer than 60-61Rc. ;)
 
I still haven't had the pleasure of trying Maxamet, 3v or Hap40. I really wanna try the HAP because I seem to like steels with cobalt in them.

That said every collection should have a carbon steel of some type, a high carbide stainless such as s110v, something in damascus, everyone should try m390 or its American brothers and then maybe a highly rust proof nitrogen based steel such as H1.
 
Mo2 said:
may i ask what knives you had a poor heat treat with S110v? my manix2 blurple s110 is awesome heat treat thus far, but i dont want to sharpen it, i hear some people have problems, just got to follow Ankersons advice i suppose.
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my S110v just got chips in the edge :'(
 
What I've got or have recently owned and will consider to acquire again:

1- CPM-3V
2- M390 (or CPM-20CV)
3- CPM-S90V (folders only)
4- D2 (preferred in fixed blade not so much in folders)
5- S35VN (preferred in folders not so much in fixed blade)
6- CPM-M4 (in folders only)
 
Since the thread's been resurrected I'll give my $0.02.

While everyone has their favorites, and I certainly have mine, every collection "should have", IMO,
*something in 420hc or one of it's European counterparts, (12c27, 4116) or proprietary mods like true-sharp, a "simple" every day stainless steel. I would even include aus8 and 440 series in this group.
*something stainless that is "better" then those.
*Something with a simple basic "old school" carbon steel be it 10XX, 5160, 52100, o1, whatever.

And any other 2 of the collectors choice, just so long as they like the knife.
 
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CPM Rex 121
CPM 15V
CPM S125V
CPM S110V
CPM MPL-1

If it was 6 or 7 and included all alloys then Stellite 6k and NiTiNOL/SM-100 would both be on the list.
 
Everyone needs to own 5 carbon and or stainless steels that easily take a razor edge and hold it respectably, I don't care what they are.
I pay no attention to anything other than weather a knife is carbon or stainless when I buy it, because whatever it is it will still cut stuff.
I understand that some hold a better edge than others, but my knives don't get dull daily so it doesn't matter to me.
 
These are my favorites. Some have pretty good edge holding to very good edge holding while capable of maintaining a fine edge and being slicey, some are very rust resistant and capable of super fine edges all work well for me as an edc.

1095 Gec 72

S35v Spyderco Native/PM2, CRK Mnandi

8cr13mov Byrd Cara Cara 2, CRKT Kit Carson M4 , AG Russell medium Barlow

D2 anything Bob Dozier

440c Benchmade mini Presidio
 
Since this has been bumped, most are participating and the difference in available alloys making this relevant (and interesting), I'll play along.

-Maxamet
-INFI
-Bluntcut Metalworks (CPM 10V or similar in 66/67hrc)
-LC200N or H1 (only if fully serrated)
-CPK Optimized D2 or 4V
 
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I'm not a big fan of super steels anymore, I just don't think the benefit is worth the extra cost. I only have one super steel blade in my rather small collection.
AL Mar Nomad-VG 10
Benchmade Boost-CPM S30V
Benchmade Small Summit Lake-CPM S30V
ZT 0566-Elmax
Buck 110-420hc
I also have several old traditional folders in 1095 or something similar.
 
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