Best steel?

B

bignomad

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Jan 1, 2008
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I know this question has been asked a hundred times before,but here goes again, what are the top 3 or 4 types of stainless steel for a folding knive blade.
 
D2 is a near stainless (does that count?) with good strength and abrasion resistance, which makes it a wonderful small hard thin blade steel.

edit: The top 3 or 4? S30V, 154CM, ATS34, VG10
 
try doing a search on steels...read up on them....form your own conclusion....reading is good for the mind......
plagerism is not productive....
 
Its a question alot of people want to know, but..........there is no real answer since each person likes different thgins for different reasons...one blade steel is better at a certain task than another, so you have to ask yourself what your going to use your knife for and what will work for you the best...its alwasya trade off, each steel has its pros and cons...
 
s30v appears to be the most advertised "best steel" but I believe that there are other steels just as good if not better, but s30v is getting a lot of hype, as are kershaws latest and greatest composite blades.
 
Cutlerylover said it well.
Really it is all about what you want done with the knife.
Generally I consider anything with more than 1% carbon content to be a good every day steel (and more than 13% Chromium in your case).
More or less carbon, chromium, or any other element will have an effect on the behavior of the steel.

Read this and you will have a rough idea what you are looking for.
http://www.agrussell.com/knife_information/knife_encyclopedia/articles/steel.html
Keep in mind that this article is ten years old and doesn't list the newer steel types, but it points you in the right direction.
 
Yeah Tyrkon------That's because they don't make a folder with an INFI blade, YET!!
Lycosa
 
Welcome to the forum, bignomad.

Check out Joe Talmadge's awesome knife steel fact sheet.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=368828

There is lots of disagreement about which stainless is best, but I think most would agree that the best stainless steels are (no particular order):

VG-10
S30V
ATS-34
154CM
N690co
BG-42
S90V (less common)
ZDP189

Also add D2, a great steel that is not quite stainless, but close.
 
I have to add CPM S30V...it has a finer more even grain than regular S30V...just a bit nicer when compared to each other...More inof can be found at crucibles website, just google crucible steel...
 
cutlerylover said:
I have to add CPM S30V...it has a finer more even grain than regular S30V...just a bit nicer when compared to each other...More inof can be found at crucibles website, just google crucible steel...
Click to expand...

I thought all S30V was powder metal, and it was just an abbreviation on CPM S30V. Do you know who's using CPM and who's not?
 
I'm pretty sure as well that S30V is just an abbreviation of CPM S30V.
Regardless, the PM in CPM stands for 'particle metallurgy,' and all S30V is a particle metallurgy steel. The C stands for Crucible, as in Crucible Steel, the company that first designed it. I'm not sure if any companies other than Crucible manufacture it.
 
S30V is only made by crucible and is part of there CPM line of knife steels. CPM 154 is better than 154cm though.

Dustin
 
With all the new steels that have come out in the last few years I think people overlook a few steels.

AUS 8 is a tough steel and great for larger fixed blades
440c is in my opinion one of the best steels available, it is extremely stain resistant, it is easy to sharpen, and it keeps a decent edge,(knives steels such as d2, are extremely hard to sharpen), 440c is probably the best stainless for some one who is new to sharpening, and knife care!
 
salty141 said:
With all the new steels that have come out in the last few years I think people overlook a few steels.

AUS 8 is a tough steel and great for larger fixed blades
440c is in my opinion one of the best steels available, it is extremely stain resistant, it is easy to sharpen, and it keeps a decent edge,(knives steels such as d2, are extremely hard to sharpen), 440c is probably the best stainless for some one who is new to sharpening, and knife care!
Click to expand...

Question was about folders, for big fixed blade I should add SRS-15.

There is no steel which hard to sharpen. There is no difference for novice or not in sharpening any modern steel with modern diamond stones. Which is also pretty affordable. No difference is it 440C or D2 or ZDP189 or anything else.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Like CutelryLover and others inferred, I think the best knife steel is the one that your favorite knife is made of. I like 154CM and S30V as my favorites, I guess, but the others aren;t really lagging. D2 is probably my least favorite because it's so hard for me to sharpen. I have no diamond stones at this point in time.
 
S30V
BG-42
VG-10/ATS-34
I listed them in the order that I would personally rate them performance-wise, but you really aren't going to see any huge differences between them in actual use. Those offer a combination of qualities that make them well-suited for a smaller knife like the typical folder. I wouldn't choose one knife over another based on the steel, since a better blade or edge geometry is going to make a lot more difference than you'll see between the steels.
For the same knife available in various steels, sure I'd go for the one I like best, but wouldn't pay much extra for it.
Still, there's not really a "best", because different steels may exhibit different qualities that make them better suitable for different uses and environments.
Some of the "lower grade" stainless steels are more corrosion resistant, softer, and sometimes tougher which may make them a better choice depending on what you want from the knife. You can also get some other high end stainless steels that are run at a higher hardness and/or more wear resistant, though you're usually giving up something like strength or toughness(things stainless steels at relatively high hardness don't have a lot of to spare to begin with).

cutlerylover said:
I have to add CPM S30V...it has a finer more even grain than regular S30V...just a bit nicer when compared to each other...More inof can be found at crucibles website, just google crucible steel...
Click to expand...
There is no "regular" S30V, but it is an exceptionally fine steel, which makes me wonder whenever people compare it to other popular steels while erroneously implying that the others have a finer grain structure(which few, if any, commonly used stainless steels do).
 
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