http://www.primosknives.com/articles.htm
a really good set of articles regarding knives in general
http://www.primosknives.com/articles/steelcls.htm
a short excerp on clasifications (m, d, h, 51xx 10xx etc)
http://www.primosknives.com/articles/steelcmp.htm
an article about steel compositions
1050
1060
1070
1080
1084
1095
a simply alloy steel, good for general use. easily sharpened, easy to work with in the making stages. 1050 = excellent for swords do to its spring qualities (low carbon), 1095 is better for smaller general use blades with its higher carbon content. not the strongest steel out there though, basically a middle of the road decent steel.
154CM
similar (the same?) as ats-34. an industry standard for high end steels. its kind of the begining point of the high alloy steels. its semi stainless, and holds an edge well. however it is reletrively brittle at high hadness's (especially in thin cross sections)
15N20
to my knowledge very comparable to 440c
425 Modified
just above 420, essentially a junk steel only good for diving knives and extremely cheap production. highly stainless though.
440A
similar to aus 6, easily sharpened, stainless, a general use steel. doesnt hold an edge all that well, but it works
440C
an old school industry standard. hold an edge well and is quite stainless, its good for general purpose. wont hold an edge as long as ats-34, but its more stainless. to my knowledge its not quite as stiff as ats-34 (not as brittle) at high hardness's though. good for kitchen knives.
440V
like a higher end 440c. i'm not sure on its performance though, you dont see it used to much.
50100B
???
5160
the forgers spring steel
escellent for differencial hardening. holds a good edge, isnt stainless but isnt to hard to maintain. a good general purpose beater steel, will tend to handle impacts better then 1095, ats-34 and the higher allow steels. one major benefit of 5160 is that it can be found in massive bars as car leaf springs. using those, you can acheive thickness's that would otherwise be extremely difficult (1/2" + ). excellent for heavy choppers.
52100
an overal excellent higher allow steel. similar to 5160, but with more carbon. better edge holding then 5160, and a little stiffer, but still a very strong performer, good shock resistence. a little better then 5160 in smaller knives because of its edge holding. used by swamp rat as well as a lot of custom makers
A2
one of the higher allow beater steels. it is one of the best middle of the road steels for edge holding, shock resistence, and maintenence. while not stainless, its not a pile of rust upon exposing to air, its edge holding isnt that of ats 34, nor is its shock resistence that of s7, but it holds its own with those knives while maintainging the better aspects of all area's. a very good middle of the road beater steel. used by john greco and busse combat before switching to infi. also used by bark river knife and tool
ATS34
very similar (same?) to 154cm. used a lot by strider as well as a lot of custom makers.
AUS6
AUS6A
i didnt know there was a difference between aus6 and aus6a (same for aus 8 and 10). aus 6 is comparable to 440 a, its a middle of the road steel thats good for small blades. not exceptionally strong, nor all to good at edge holding, its a general purpose high alloy steel. easily sharpened. benchmade/crkt.
AUS8
AUS8A
comparable to 440b, better then aus 6, but doesnt have the edge holding of m2 or ats34 or d2. easily sharpened. i have heard aus10 being compared for 440c. used in benchmade, and crkt knives.
BG42
ats34 with more carbon and vanadium added. basically a better version of ats 34, better edge holding, a little more stain resistent, though it is harder to sharpen. again, not as shock resistent as a2 s7 5160 or 52100, but overall a good steel for smaller blades. used on several striders before s30v came out.
CPM-10V
???
CPM-420V
heard it before, but a kinda rarely seen steel ???
CPM-T440V
??? cpm = powder metalurgy, meaning it should have better edge properties, but i dont know anything about the rest of its performances.
D2
industry standard for edge holding and small hard impact resistence. good for use in skinners and anything that requires a knife to hold an edge against smaller hard objects like bone and rocks under low stress situations. not the best for prying or chopping, as anything above 7" starts to play on the weaker sides of the steel (lateral strength at that length). has been shown to be able to take on excellent shock resistent properties when heat treated properly (ex. - swamp rat). used by bob dozier, wilson knives, swamp rat knifeworks, and a lot of other makers.
L6
a very shock resistent steel, very strong. not the best edge holder among the high allow steels, but it will go a lot longer in a chopping situation then ats34 etc. good for swords and big choppers. used in the bugei trading co's l6 bainite sword.
M2
excellent edge holding. fairly weak as far as lateral strength, it makes up for it in edge holding and chip resistence/shock resistence to small hard objects. similar to d2 in that respect, just a more refined steel (with weaker and stronger properties then d2). will rust readily .used in several bencmades (nimravus = AWESOME :d:d )
O1
good all around steel. excellent edge holding and ability to acheive a sharp edge. fragile compared to the common shock steels, and rusts easily. used by maddog
S7
shock steel, good for heavy choppers. not the best at edge holding, it will mash roll and bend before it breaks or chipps. excellent for heavy choppers.
W1
W2
a good forging steel. not to sure about the properties though ??
id be really interested in hearing comments on the other steels in that list on primos, and some more on some of them that i kind of skipped over...
