Are there high carbon steel guys and stainless guys or does everyone like everything?

I would buy more carbon steel folders if they were available. I do prefer modern folders, so that significantly limits my choice. Unfortunately knife makers have made that choice for me and I guess a very long time ago: probably when stainless was a novelty and a way to differentiate or whatever....
 
Just a note about sharpening and contaminating different metals. For example... if you use a sanding belt on a carbon steel and then use the same belt on stainless, you could micro imbed some more rust prone particles into the stainless and may see some rust... not from the original blade but from the particles you put there. Years ago i worked for an industrial distributor and our wire wheel rep from Weiler said you could use stainless wire wheels on anything but if you used them on carbon steels, then you couldn't use the same wheel to go back to stainless because of imbedding rust prone particles. I'm assuming the same could be true for belts or stones, etc and the theory makes sense to me. Anyone have thoughts if this makes sense or not?
 
Yeh right,stainless sucks. I've had em all, except for zdp, and hands down the best metal is white steel, a super clean carbon. The best customs r made from this. When I start to make knives this is what I'll use:) my fav stainless is vg10, cause it sharpens easy and can take a mean edge, almost like a carbon steel. And my fav 'I'm an elitist ****, and this isn't steel' steel would be Talonite, weird stuff but takes a death edge, keeps it, and basically owns compared to h1. Feels neat too, but it's stupid expensive, so it's left to the elite ones usually. Overall I like the steels that you can get so sharp they feel dull, easily too, so that's why carbon owns in my book. And here's a trick for the morons... Just hit all your knives with marine tuff glide and them rusting in a day will NEVER happen again. 440 sux
 
That's cause you gotta pay extra for all the heritage that comes with Japanese things:) truth be told ppl are always looking for the next super steel, bhoeler this, Talonite that, woah it's titanium (my big pet peeve), oh but dude it's s30v yata yata. The best steel for knives has IMO always been this simple, yet clean steel. A pity how little it's used. Come to think of it, correct me if I sound like a fool please, but isn't it entirely plausible that the dreaded Ulfberht swords might have been a variation of white steel? The best has been here all along hehe
 
HwangJino said:
Don't forget, you can clad carbon edge with stainless shell.
Click to expand...

I too found it interesting that nobody else discussed the laminate, forge welded steels. Of course, the most important part of the blade is still prone to rust, the edge. All of my kitchen knives (only three) are Hitachi White #1 or Super Blue laminated with a mild stainless. The benefit is that you only have to pay particular attention to maintaining only a small portion of the blade.

Also not discussed that I feel make these Japanese carbon steels superior , other than tradition, is they take care to minimize impurities in the steel which leads to a finer and consistent grain structure in the steel. I think to simply say that these steels are so expensive because you are paying only for tradition is nieve.
 
I find that I enjoy reading James Terrio and Hwang Jino.
Good stuff; they know what they're doing; they live it.
 
Sonnydaze said:
I find that I enjoy reading James Terrio and Hwang Jino.
Good stuff; they know what they're doing; they live it.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that's very kind of you to say. Don't take my word for it on this stuff, the data is out there for anyone to research on their own. :)
 
I like both for different situations. I fish in the sea a lot, so my bait and fillet knives will naturally be stainless. For anything else, I happily use and own both, but gravitate more towards carbon steel for the ease of sharpness, the level of sharpness one is able to achieve, and the lovely character it forms as it ages
 
Sonnydaze said:
I find that I enjoy reading James Terrio and Hwang Jino.
Good stuff; they know what they're doing; they live it.
Click to expand...

+1. Cutting efficiency and cutting performance reign supreme in Hwang Jino's world of food prep, and James expands this thinking into a much broader range of knife usage. I would not want to have to de-limb a tree for firewood using a Nakiri, but then again, I would not want to have to chop onions with a hatchet, regardless of the steel. Having the correct tool for the job is essential. But the qualities in the steel that make a White steel Nakiri superior to a stainless one might be the same qualities that would make a 10" chopper in quality carbon steel superior to a stainless counterpart.
 
Stainless steel is relatively new in terms of the long history of blade-smiths. Imho, we are living in the golden age of Blade Steel !
 
i prefere using stainless for processing food, any thing else i like a carbon.. only reason being unprotected carbon (the knifes cutting edge) does rust easier than stainless steel.
 
I'm a big fan of tool steels lately. O1 and A2 specifically. Do love me some carbon as well. I'm tiring of trying to keep up in the steel race. Do like watching it from the sidelines though. I'll live vicariously through all of your purchases and reviews
 
40 years ago, it was a choice, high carbon or stainless. You can still make that choice, and have literally everything in between. It's no longer a 1 or 0, yes or no, either-or proposition. D2 is "almost" stainless, ZDP is definitely high carbon stainless - so much so, that it would be cast iron if not for modern metallurgy.

So there really isn't a demarcation like there used to be, more of a continuum. Which is a very good thing.

So 40 years ago, for me, I would have said high carbon. I don't find rust to be an issue at all. Now, I tend towards wear resistance and toughness for my uses. And sometimes, I still like "old fashioned" carbon steels as well.
 
Sqyrl said:
Just a note about sharpening and contaminating different metals. For example... if you use a sanding belt on a carbon steel and then use the same belt on stainless, you could micro imbed some more rust prone particles into the stainless and may see some rust... not from the original blade but from the particles you put there. Years ago i worked for an industrial distributor and our wire wheel rep from Weiler said you could use stainless wire wheels on anything but if you used them on carbon steels, then you couldn't use the same wheel to go back to stainless because of imbedding rust prone particles. I'm assuming the same could be true for belts or stones, etc and the theory makes sense to me. Anyone have thoughts if this makes sense or not?
Click to expand...

What makes stainless "stainless" is that after it is cut, extruded, whatever it immediately forms an oxide coating. Unlike simple steel, the oxide coating is the same color and is thin and hard. It protects the metal from further oxidation. Rust (simple iron oxide) gets bigger instead of forming a thin hard coat and lets more oxygen in and spreads like a cancer.

When stainless is machined for the food industry it must then be "passivated". Machining of stainless can result in small particles of non-stainless material being imbedded in the stainless which will prevent oxygen from reaching the surface to make the oxide coating. The non-stainless can then rust or whatever and the stainless adjacent can too. This will make pits which can hold food particles.

The simplest passivating solution is citric acid. (or another mild acid) Smells like vitamin C. I think it just breaks down the non stainless stuff.
 
Titanium all day! :D But I like carbon more than stainless for knife blades.
 
There's pretty stainless steel blades and there's purdy sharp carbon blades! Although Victorinox has purdy sharp stainless steel blades!
 
Over time as I have accumulated more and more knife knowledge and experience, I've started to gravitate towards harder heat treatments and lower alloyed steels. Yes, high alloyed steels will hold an edge longer overall, but, since I'm proficient at sharpening and I tend to do more intricate cuts with knives rather than use brute force, I'm more interested in steels that hold a fine edge longer. To put it another way, while some knives can hold a usable edge for 1,000 cuts on cardboard/carpet/dirty rope I'm more interested in knives that can hold an extremely fine edge for 1,000 cuts on soft protein/vegetables.

This means that I'm starting to gravitate towards steels that are don't focus on stain resistance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top