Carbon vs Stainless Steel

Larrin, as usual, thank you for educating the general BF populace :) The history and background you included was key to explaining the real story. Old timers who swore by carbon steel have had very good reason to do so. The new reality is quite different.
 
Legendary_Jarl said:
What is your personal preference? Do you like forged high carbon vs stock removal stainless steel?
Click to expand...
That's a good question. Harder to answer than I thought it would be. Grouping "forged high carbon" into one category and "stock removal stainless" into another makes it kind of difficult because then you're talking almost of different types of knives then just steel choice. I don't have a large knife collection. The majority of them are stainless steel so as a consumer that is the choice I have made. In general my favorite steel is AEB-L because I like low maintenance and ease in sharpening. But that is based on my preferences and the types of knives I use and what I use them for.
 
Larrin said:
That's a good question. Harder to answer than I thought it would be. Grouping "forged high carbon" into one category and "stock removal stainless" into another makes it kind of difficult because then you're talking almost of different types of knives then just steel choice. I don't have a large knife collection. The majority of them are stainless steel so as a consumer that is the choice I have made. In general my favorite steel is AEB-L because I like low maintenance and ease in sharpening. But that is based on my preferences and the types of knives I use and what I use them for.
Click to expand...
And then there is also the whole "forged HC vs. stock removal HC" can of worms!:eek:
 
I would be interested on your take of the fine-blankable fine grained stainless steels that can be hardened in the Rc58+ range like 420HC, Aus8 and 12C27. These have allowed high volume product manufacturing due to being able to be fine blanked in bulk and still hardened to a reasonable level.

Buck and Schrade were both using 420HC in the late 80s. Mora and Opinel both use 12C27 commonly.
 
pinnah said:
I would be interested on your take of the fine-blankable fine grained stainless steels that can be hardened in the Rc58+ range like 420HC, Aus8 and 12C27. These have allowed high volume product manufacturing due to being able to be fine blanked in bulk and still hardened to a reasonable level.

Buck and Schrade were both using 420HC in the late 80s. Mora and Opinel both use 12C27 commonly.
Click to expand...
Those would be in a similar category to the AEB-L and 13C26 mentioned in the article only with somewhat lower hardness and wear resistance. As I understand it, Kershaw fine blanked their 13C26 and now the 14C28N. Those steels are near the limits of fine blanking.
 
Hmm. First of all, what the H - E - double hockey sticks is "carbon-free steel?" No such thing that I know of. All steel has carbon. That is right in the definition of steel.

Second - your article completely ignores one of my favorite non-stainless steels: T15. It is still available.
 
eKretz said:
Hmm. First of all, what the H - E - double hockey sticks is "carbon-free steel?" No such thing that I know of. All steel has carbon. That is right in the definition of steel.
Click to expand...
There are several types of steels where carbon is undesirable and essentially is an impurity. Also nitrogen can be used in place of carbon but that isn't part of the typical "definition" of steel which is generally just given as iron+carbon.
Second - your article completely ignores one of my favorite non-stainless steels: T15. It is still available.
Click to expand...
There are a lot of non-stainless steels I didn't mention. A lot of stainless steels as well.
 
I think the big difference is simply how carbon steel looks and feels. It just feels heavier and more expensive, where as stainless can look and feel light and chintzy.
 
Larrin said:
That's a good question. Harder to answer than I thought it would be. Grouping "forged high carbon" into one category and "stock removal stainless" into another makes it kind of difficult because then you're talking almost of different types of knives then just steel choice. I don't have a large knife collection. The majority of them are stainless steel so as a consumer that is the choice I have made. In general my favorite steel is AEB-L because I like low maintenance and ease in sharpening. But that is based on my preferences and the types of knives I use and what I use them for.
Click to expand...

I sent you a related question via email if you have a chance to respond I'd greatly appreciate it. :)
 
Larrin said:
Because of Poe's Law I can't tell if you're trolling or not. The difference in density between carbon steel and stainless steel is small.
Click to expand...

Nope not trolling.
All my stainless steel knives over the years to me IMHO just felt more flimsy then my carbon knives. But that's the thing on paper they may seem similar but IRL there's a large difference in how It feels. It's just like you can hand a Rolex and a Timex to someone and many people can't feel the difference, where as there's people who can feel the difference like night and day and are willing to pay for it.
 
cbrstar said:
Nope not trolling.
All my stainless steel knives over the years to me IMHO just felt more flimsy then my carbon knives. But that's the thing on paper they may seem similar but IRL there's a large difference in how It feels. It's just like you can hand a Rolex and a Timex to someone and many people can't feel the difference, where as there's people who can feel the difference like night and day and are willing to pay for it.
Click to expand...
Except that it's entirely in your head. There's no appreciable difference in density (.275-.284 lb/in^3) or elastic modulus (29-30 msi) between the vast majority of steels.
 
Last edited:
Great article, and interesting to see how this debate has evolved along with the various type of steels. I do stock removal of different steels, AEB-L being great to work with, but I also do stock removal of carbon steels, lately preferring 80CRV2. I try to work with as many steels as I can, the variety is a boon to this hobby.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top