so basicaly, you say that carbon steel is the tough steel , compared to the stainless, which has the primary atributte of just being stainless.
i have some carbon steel fixed blades, carbon V srk, and Gi tanto, 1055 steel,
and one laminated vg 10 fallkniven f1.
im no expert but it seems to me that for outdoor stuff, the carbon blades have superior edge retention, for example working with wood, making sticks, etc.
the F1 its good at meat cutting, being stainless, it also cuts well in wood, but it seems to me that the carbon blades are better at that particular aspect.
i know, it depends on many factors like the blade thicknes, type of edge, lenght and blade geometry ....
thanks for the reply
For my post above, I was talking about absolutes. The very toughest steel alloys are relatively low in carbon, of moderate hardness, and do not contain enough chromium to be stainless. By most peoples definition, that makes them carbon steel, although, again, they are far from just carbon and iron.
In my opinion, geometry plays a large role in edge retention, so it cannot be overlooked, or even considered after the fact. I have some RADA cutlery kitchen knives that will not even make 15 cuts on a piece of cardboard before loosing the fine edge, but compared to some other kitchen knives I have seen, they cut wonderfully after loosing their keeness based solely on geometry. To give you an idea, a 12 degree per side bevel is less than 1/16" wide.
You have to be very careful and very specific about the steels and heat treatments you are talking about. If you dont specify the grade of steel and sometimes the heat treatment, it can be very misleading. There are many areas of overlap between toughness and strength and edge holding. See Larrin's post above. High Speed Steel such as M2 and CPM M4 hardened to their maximum hardness (HRc 64-66) will be much more wear resistant than all but the highest end stainless steels, but most stainless steels will be tougher. Conversly, 420 stainless is wonderfully tough, but low enough in wear resistance that most people wont consider a knife made from it, even compared to 1055 plain carbon steel. Personally, I am not one of them. I think that 420 hardened in the mid 50's HRc would make a fine rough use knife or machete, but I'm in the minority. Most people consiser HSS (high speed steel) a carbon steel, but its really not. The tendency is rust=carbon steel. There is a whole lot more in there than carbon and iron.
Here is how I think of it. We started (in terms of steel anyway) with the plain carbon steels, 1095, 1080, 1060, 1050, etc. These were tried in various applications and we decided that certain properties were more or less desirable, so we modified them accordingly. Every steel was/is designed/selected based on certain properties that are deemed more important for its intended use than others. And make no mistake, expense is a material property for purposes of material selection. When looking for a blade material, decide on the most important properties and pick accordingly. Consider also that ability to sell is a material property as well. Its a wide brush used to paint the picture that stainless is less wear resistant and less tough than carbon steel, but that picture can be seen with some of the most experienced knife users around. As a very basic guide, not knowing any performance requirements, consider that I know of no stainless steel used by industry to cut things, with the exception of industries where corrosion is a primary concern (food prep, and others).
As an example of edge holding and the importance of environment, consider 1095 versus 440A. For most people, 1095 is considered the superior edge holding steel. Now put the knife in a salt water environment, like filleting fish, or even worse, in a kitchen environment cutting onions or lemons or nearly any acidic vegetable or fruit. The edge on the 1095 blade will dull quickly solely based on corrosion, and the 440A will be the clear winner in an edge holding contest.
