Any else prefer the lower wear/higher toughness stainless steels?

jstn

jstn

I know edge retention is all the rage, but sometimes I get tired of the chippiness of steels like S110V, S90V, and even M390 to a lesser extent. When I'm going to be really using a stainless I find myself often reaching for something in AEB-L, Nitro-V, LC200N (surprisingly tough) and even 14c28n (very underrated IMO). I especially like AEB-L and would love to see it in more folders.

I realize for certain applications edge retention is important, but I think that oftentimes the trade off of toughness is too much.
 
I pay almost no attention to what steel is being used by the major brands that interest me (Benchmade, Victorinox, and Buck). I'm not a heavy user of knives but notice little performance difference other than one might need honing or sharpening a little sooner than another. I've never had a blade chip on me that I can recall.
 
I like Vanax, because it's easy to resharpen, takes a really nice edge and holds that edge for a long time. Plus, it's about as stainless as it gets. All good.

I do have a kitchen knife in AEB-L. The knife is nice, but the steel doesn't hold an edge worth a darn. I gave up on it. Yes, it's tough, but it requires constant attention to the edge.
 
I've gone the other way towards high strength, acceptable toughness tool steel alloys. I don't need tons of corrosion resistance, but I like not sharpening frequently, so for me what's ideal is something like K390, which will cut for days and shrug off accidental contact with staples or a stone counter way better than stainless supersteels.

I'm not sure how people here have never experienced a chip, but I've gotten a bunch on stainless steels.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
I've not had any major issues with chipping, but I have found that 14c28n is just about perfect for what I actually use a knife for. I'm also extremely comfortable with VG10, N690 and others.
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I feel the same. I've had plenty of good experiences with 14C28N and VG-10. Whenever I see a new knife that strikes my fancy for a reasonable price, seeing either of those steels makes me likely to buy. I'm new to N690 via Kizer but so far, so good.
 
14c is a damn good steel and very under rated! I have been in love with Fallkniven 's Lam CoS steel and niolox.is some pretty tough stuff too. Steel type doesn't even come into play for me until at least 3 other boxes are ticked off! Besides I like sharpening and stropping my knives, I find it therapeutic!!!
 
Twindog said:
I like Vanax, because it's easy to resharpen, takes a really nice edge and holds that edge for a long time. Plus, it's about as stainless as it gets. All good.

I do have a kitchen knife in AEB-L. The knife is nice, but the steel doesn't hold an edge worth a darn. I gave up on it. Yes, it's tough, but it requires constant attention to the edge.
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I need to try some Vanax.
 
marrenmiller said:
I've gone the other way towards high strength, acceptable toughness tool steel alloys. I don't need tons of corrosion resistance, but I like not sharpening frequently, so for me what's ideal is something like K390, which will cut for days and shrug off accidental contact with staples or a stone counter way better than stainless supersteels.

I'm not sure how people here have never experienced a chip, but I've gotten a bunch on stainless steels.
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I'm right there with you. Love me some 4V and K390.
 
AEB-L if heat treated to take advantage of it can be exceptional IMHO and I hope to see more use of it soon ... 14c is very similar to AEB-L and in my limited use I like it quite a bit also.

Personally I prefer a bit more toughness over a blade with more edge retention that chips.
 
I definitely agree, for me s35vn has been the sweet spot of durability, ease of sharpening, and edge retention. I am not a fan of m390 since it’s been too chippy in my experience.
 
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