Best stainless steel to use for full tang knives?

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LostWoodKnives

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Oct 17, 2013
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I am looking at ordering some stainless steel to make full tang knives with but there are so many options and seeing as I'm new to knife making i have no idea what to purchase. any help will be appreciated.
 
There is no best steel. It is completely dependant on what attributes and features you desire most and what order of importance you rank those features. What are you after, edge retention, toughness, corrosion resistance? Steels will have different advantages and disadvantages and you will have to figure out which qualities are most important to you.
 
Fill out your profile to tell us a bit about you and where you are.

Then tell us a bit about the knife you plan to build - Style, use, size, your methods of making it and the method of HT you plan. Sketches/drawings/photos are always good.
 
well i make edc knives and im thinking of upgrading from using 1095 high carbon since it does not have too high of a wear resistance. I just want to try it with a really basic drop point hunter design of mine. My main priority is edge retention, wear resistance, and toughness.
 
Will the heat treating be done in house or sent out. Stainless is hard to heat treat well without the proper equipment.
 
LostWoodKnives said:
well i make edc knives and im thinking of upgrading from using 1095 high carbon since it does not have too high of a wear resistance. I just want to try it with a really basic drop point hunter design of mine. My main priority is edge retention, wear resistance, and toughness.
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In my experience, Elmax and CTS-XHP are the very best corrosion-resistant steels available today, for a great combination of really good edge-holding, very high toughness and ease of maintenence/sharpening. And when I say "corrosion-resistant"... you have to try really hard to make them patina or rust. That's important to some folks.

CPM-154 is not far behind those two... it's my "standard" stainless steel for small and medium knives, and I have a great deal of confidence in it. Although I have not worked with it yet, I also hear very good things about S35VN, from makers and users I respect. My personal EDC/bushcraft/survival knife that I use most often is made of CPM-3V... it's not quite as stain-resistant as the others, but it's tougher than all of them, and it takes and holds a good crisp edge very well.

With pro-quality HT and top-notch geometry, any of those alloys will make an excellent knife. :thumbup:
 
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I use S35vn when people want wear resistance, and AEB-L when people want a carbon steel like fine edge. Never had a complaint with either one. We worry too much about steel type, but what is important is geometry and heat treat. :thumbup:
 
LostWoodKnives said:
well i make edc knives and im thinking of upgrading from using 1095 high carbon since it does not have too high of a wear resistance. I just want to try it with a really basic drop point hunter design of mine. My main priority is edge retention, wear resistance, and toughness.
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1095 wears reasonably well if heat treated correctly. How are you heat treating it? It's no supersteel, but it does have some carbides for wear resistance.
 
Howdy LostWood - I have used a ton of different stainless steels. Most of my knives are EDC and Hunting. My customers seem to really like good edge holding capabilities combined with fairly easy sharpening attributes. By far the most popular steel on our knives with CPM154 Close behind that is 440C (the old standby... nothing wrong with it). I have done a few others and S35VN is not bad, I just like CPM154 better. As a testimonial, I made my own knife out of CPM154 and use it regularly.
As many have said, heat treat is even more important than the steel. We do our own and cyro with liquid nitrogen. If it doesn't bore you to death, you can watch the heat treat in our video... www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDi6Hp1QI9s

So that's my two cents. Hope it helps! Good luck and have fun!
 
I grind CPM 154, 154 cm, ATS-34, and 440 C. I can use what ever I want on my own knives and I choose 440C. A side benefit to 440 C is the price. If it were invented in the last few months it would be really expensive and everyone would rave about its attributes. I have mine professionally heat treated .
 
That's awesome. 440C is a close second for us and there are some guys that always spec it out. I can't blame them. Tried and true!
 
From my point the best is Bohler M390PM III gen micropowder steel ( hehe I have distributor 50km from my house xD ).
 
MMuhlhauser said:
Howdy LostWood - I have used a ton of different stainless steels. Most of my knives are EDC and Hunting. My customers seem to really like good edge holding capabilities combined with fairly easy sharpening attributes. By far the most popular steel on our knives with CPM154 Close behind that is 440C (the old standby... nothing wrong with it). I have done a few others and S35VN is not bad, I just like CPM154 better. As a testimonial, I made my own knife out of CPM154 and use it regularly.
As many have said, heat treat is even more important than the steel. We do our own and cyro with liquid nitrogen. If it doesn't bore you to death, you can watch the heat treat in our video... www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDi6Hp1QI9s

So that's my two cents. Hope it helps! Good luck and have fun!
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Just watched both videos a little bit ago and am VERY impressed Markus. I left a comment on the second video. I really appreciate the in depth demonstration of how you do that beautiful file work. I think I'm gonna screw up some steel soon and try some spine work myself.

You make some of the classiest knives I've ever seen. I learned a ton from that video, thanks a bunch!
 
Holy delayed response. I was about to close the old thread when I saw that the OP had responded to a nine month past question. Glad you came back LostWood.

The choice of stainless has no "Best". It is a choice of one of many good steels. 440-C and CPM-154 is good and are cheap. Elmax and other specialty steels are good and expensive. CPM-S35VN is good and medially priced. You can pick any one and make a first class hunter. The HT for stainless is best left to the professionals if you want the most from your knife.
 
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