AEB-L

The knives I have in AEB-L ... it is really impressive ... it sharpens easily and to be cliche ... it gets scary sharp ... it has proved pretty tough also ...

For me it's about the best of both worlds merged ... other than AEB-L ... D3V and Elmax are the closest steels I've used much that comes the closest in performance ... that ride the line having great attributes of SS and HC steels ...

There may be others closer or better these are just my own impressions so far.
 
For an outdoor knife or tool I'd say it's a good choice. Unless it's a marine environment then something like nitro-v might be bettered suited

Plus if you are making your own it's relatively inexpensive and easy to work. I've made two knives using it and have two more in AEB-L I'm working on now. Only drawback that I've heard of when working it is that it has a tendency to warp during heat treat. However I haven't had a problem with that so far. The one's I've done I've sent out for heat treat.
 
I would say I see more AEBL then any other alloy come into my shop. Our shop kinda revolves around it. It can be a tricky alloy to heat treat and get consistent results. It’s also quite prone to warping. I am proud to say we have a real solid heat treat for it. Don’t let that scare you away from it as it is a real great steel. But don’t be surprised if it come out of the quench with traits that resemble a banana instead of a nice straight knife lol
 
I have made and sold thousands of knives from AEB-L, most used in very hard outdoor conditions. Its the only stainless I use on a day to day basis. My customers like the edge holding and the ease of sharpening. I do send em out for heat treat and they are at 63 RC. If you've got 150 calves to do before lunch, you're gonna need to touch up your knife, doesn't matter what its made of. A few passes on your chap leg or on the top of the truck window and your good to go. I also make all of my own leather working knives out of AEB-L. While not hard outdoor use it is very hard indoor use. Not unusual for me to cut for 4 to 8 hours at a stretch. Same attributes apply here. I was cutting the other day and a friend was over watching. My roundknife started to drag on a cut. I stopped, walked over to the buffer, one or two passes on each side, came back and slicing like a hot knife through butter. My friend said he would not of believed the difference if he hadn't seen it. Secret to AEB-L in use is don't let it get dull. Touch up when starting to drag and it will go and go and go.

This batch is off at heat treat right now. All in the left pile are AEB-L.

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Most of my customers are working cowboys/ranchers/horsemen and these knives get used.

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You won't go wrong with AEB-L.
 
There might be a better steel than AEB-L, but it will be several times the price of AEB-L. Great stuff. I've been using at 60Rc but based on reading lately I think I'll up to 62/63 Rc or so for kitchen knives.
 
For hard use knives, run it around 58-59 rc, it’s insanely tough at that hardness! For a skinner or slicing knife 62 is the sweet spot! It’s a very good steel for the price!
 
I really want to try out AEB-L at some point, hearing so many good things about it on this forum. It seems an Extremely good bang for the buck. I can get a 0.138x13.4x39.4 plate for appr $140 around here. That is 1/5 of what RWL 34 costs, that I am using now...

To those of you that do your own heat treat: do you deep freeze / give it cryo?
 
Scaniaman said:
To those of you that do your own heat treat: do you deep freeze / give it cryo?
Click to expand...

It's good stuff. AEB-L and RWL-34 are a great pair of complementary stainless steels to have in your repetoir.
Yep, you totally want to give it a freezing treatment. Dry ice should get you most of the way there, according to data sheets and experience. It needs to reach temp, but no cold soak necessary. Larrin's testing in this sub-forum has been done with full LN treatment, for reference.

Sandvik's version, 13C26, has this page online: https://www.materials.sandvik/en/pr...-13c26-piece-hardening-deep-freezing-70c-95f/

Check your tempering temperatures, you'll want them a lot lower than RWL-34, and you can run AEB-L harder too.
 
Ken H> said:
There might be a better steel than AEB-L, but it will be several times the price of AEB-L. Great stuff. I've been using at 60Rc but based on reading lately I think I'll up to 62/63 Rc or so for kitchen knives.
Click to expand...
I’ve been using AEB-L for about a decade. I make 98% Culinary knives and have all of my AEB-L HTed by Paul Bos at Buck Knives with a range of 60-61.. I’ve used them for 20 years now for all of Stainless HT. There are other HT places now, can’t tell you about them , but Paul Bos at Buck was the original for the custom knife maker market.. I sell to papered Chefs and home Chefs and they love the steel, it’s edge retention and ease of sharpening.. I can’t tell you about the possibly of forging with it .. Stay safe & have fun!
 
It does not come in thick enough stock to really make forging practical for the extra work required. I would say the exception is the guys that make Damascus out of it. But it’s so cheep that the amount of material you save forging would be eaten up with propane and electricity for annealing.
 
Next is the best source for purchasing the steel? Admiral Steel doesn't seem to have it nor does Jantz or Texas Knifemaker Supply. USA does, and a place in NJ.
 
I get all mine from AKS. Thy have been really good to deal with and I get my steel in a few days. But I order the largest sheets thy offer.
 
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