Carbon steel is great, stainless steel sucks.

Carbon steel is easier to sharpen on simple stones and is somewhat common so a person who knows a little about knives but is not a total knife knut might think it is the best. I like it myself, actually.

That said, I had a "discussion" with a guy on a pipe forum in which I mentioned that I thought that 12c27 had many of the same properties and he would not relent about carbon steel having no equal.
 
I’ve heard that and I’ve heard that carbon steel won’t hold an edge. Makes you wonder if ignorance really is bliss.
 
TheEdge01 said:
Have you guys ever heard someone make a statement like this? I have heard similar comments more than once. I guess it is a common opinion among non-knife folks. Some people may not realize some stainless steels have a higher carbon content than some carbon steels. Have you engaged in similar conversations with non-knife folks?
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I suppose I’ve read that on this forum a few times but not much when I’m out with people hunting, camping, or working. Most of the time I see people using whatever they have on them and usually in a lot of cases it’s an inexpensive big box store knife.

I do however get asked quite a bit if they can borrow my knife since they know me well enough that I try to have a decent blade on me for the task and it’s usually sharp. This can stimulate some conversation but in most cases their eyes glaze over when I start getting into the details.

So to answer your question, I suppose no I don’t hear that much outside of this forum.
 
DocJD said:
Worrying about those who love to argue and parse every statement ? If that's enjoyable , fine . If not, just ignore anyone that's not a moderator ! ;)
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That's why I have close to 40 people on my ignore list. I find it rather amusing to follow a thread and find several postings of someone apparently arguing with someone else and I find out, sure enough, that unseen person is on my ignore list.

Makes for some entertaining threads and this forum far more civilized.
 
TheEdge01 said:
Well, I have known the people I’m referring to for years, that’s why I said earlier that it wasn’t a blanket statement.
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One reason you would be hearing this is because people that don't "know" about knives will take the opinion of people they know or age related to as their own. If Grandad said stainless sucks, well then it must suck. They only wonder, if now uncle Bob says carbon steel sucks!
 
"Hard To Sharpen" is another overused useless phrase used a lot that describes a range of symptoms of the final can't sharpen this knife outcome. From "I don't know how" to "I am using the wrong sharpener for the knife" to "I didn't sharpen long enough" to other symptoms.

For example went to the neighbors house for Thanksgiving and rather than be rude and bring my own knives, I packed my sharp maker and strop. I took every knife out of the kitchen and sharpened them up, which they took as complete and utter magical wizardry, until I showed them why their decade old dull knives weren't going to fly for another Thanksgiving. We all have a great night with no one injured doing prep or meat carving as the sharp knives made the work effortless.

They previously had said the knives were "Hard to Sharpen", when in fact they just didn't know how to do it properly. I therefore don't subscribe to the statement that any knife is hard to sharpen.....when using proper tools and techniques. More/Less complicated or involved with more or more time to sharpen yes, but hard to sharpen, nope, should never happen.
 
ndmiller said:
"Hard To Sharpen" is another overused useless phrase used a lot that describes a range of symptoms of the final can't sharpen this knife outcome. From "I don't know how" to "I am using the wrong sharpener for the knife" to "I didn't sharpen long enough" to other symptoms.

For example went to the neighbors house for Thanksgiving and rather than be rude and bring my own knives, I packed my sharp maker and strop. I took every knife out of the kitchen and sharpened them up, which they took as complete and utter magical wizardry, until I showed them why their decade old dull knives weren't going to fly for another Thanksgiving. We all have a great night with no one injured doing prep or meat carving as the sharp knives made the work effortless.

They previously had said the knives were "Hard to Sharpen", when in fact they just didn't know how to do it properly. I therefore don't subscribe to the statement that any knife is hard to sharpen.....when using proper tools and techniques. More/Less complicated or involved with more or more time to sharpen yes, but hard to sharpen, nope, should never happen.
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Very few people learn to sharpen knives properly or even have the desire to do so. (Let alone spend a lot of money for proper sharpening tools) $29.99 every few years at Walmart and throw out the old "crap" ones.
 
Carbon steel is easy to sharpen on simple stones and with moderate sharpening skills. It is better than most big box knives' steel.
 
davek14 said:
Carbon steel is easy to sharpen on simple stones and with moderate sharpening skills. It is better than most big box knives' steel.
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While I don't disagree with the last part of the statement, "Carbon Steel" is a very broad term when referring to blade materials. Simple Carbon steels (such as 1080, 1095) are definitely easier to sharpen than most modern stainless steels. However; more complex carbon steels such as CPM 10V or it's equivalents will show you just as much difficulty as high carbide stainless steels.

The problem with this topic is there are way too many factors to simply argue Carbon vs Stainless. and what about the "near stainless" steels such as D2? Was discussing various exotics and high end cutlery steels with a friend who is also a bit of a steel nerd and it usually comes back to what environment and what expected use is the blade to be used for/in.

Personally I like and use stainless steels, particularly high carbide steels such as 20CV/M390, S90V and S110V as well as AEBL. But I work in and around brackish and salt water (Hoo Yah Navy!) and live in Southern Florida, where most carbon steels seem to rust just sitting in the sheath. This can be mitigated with coatings or oil or wax, but I still prefer Stainless to Carbon down here.

As for Sharpening stainless or Carbon, neither seem to give me an issue but I use Diamond wetstones and ceramic :) and I find AEBL and it's rough equivalents VERY easy to sharpen on any stone or rod.
 
You are, of course, right. I guess my point is that someone who wants something more than a big box knife and has some, but limited knife knowledge might make the statement that (simple) carbon steel is the best.
 
tim37a said:
If H1 is not steel, what is it?
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It is a steel, just as any super-low/"no" carbon steel is (like maraging steels). We only use the definition of "iron with some carbon" because that's historically how useful steel was achieved. Nowadays we know you can make it with nitrogen, nickel, and other additives.

It's better to think of any intentional alloy of iron with other elements made in order to improve iron's physical properties as a steel.
 
colin.p said:
That's why I have close to 40 people on my ignore list...
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I have about 7 billion people on my ignore list, mainly because I've not met them. I've bumped into the other half billion or so in airports or bus stations, and I definitely avoid them. Especially the ones with knives.
 
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