Elmax vs m390?

M390.

Supposedly better edge retention and corrosion resistance, but I've never had any Elmax to compare to my M390 knife.

Unless you aren't too skilled or patient with sharpening...

Then Elmax.

Both made by Bohler FWIW.
 
Both are excellent steels. Elmax will be a bit tougher (resistant to chipping and breaking). M390 will hold an edge a bit better. I like both steels.
 
BD_01 BD_01 is 100% correct

But really it is 2 different steels for different purposes. I have knives in both and love them both depending on the type of knife and the purpose of the knife would determine which I would recommend. I would lean toward M390 being the better general use/edc steel off hand but again not much to go on so can't say more.
 
There is no “better”, they’re actually very similar steels. Ones a bit tougher, Elmax, and one has more wear resistance, M390. It depends on what you’re looking for.


I love M390 for folders and small fixed blades, that extra retention goes a long way when you’re cutting up cardboard. I’d prefer to have Elmax in a medium to large fixed blade, as it can handle more abuse than M390.
 
Jeremy D Bittler said:
My main question is why?
Click to expand...

Better wear resistance and I once bought an Elmax knife that wouldn't hold an edge at all until I removed a bunch of metal from it. Even taking the time to sharpen it on the edge pro, and the using a broader final bevel angle all just resulted in the same thing--it would get casually shaving sharp, but you could dull it by slicing up a sheet of printer paper. Even though that was probably a burnt edge problem or something (the knife has been better since I reprofiled and convexed it, but I still feel like it wasn't heat treated properly or something, it's never been great at holding an edge) it's like when you get sick on pizza and go off pizza for a while because you associate the bad times with it.
 
I would take Elmax over M390 ... that is not to say M390 is s bad steel ... it holds an edge well ... and isn't hard to sharpen ... I believe M390 is more a stainless ... where Elmax is one of the borderline steels ... it will rust if not taken care of ... but it isn't like it rusts like a 1095 or similar steels ...

Elmax is a bit tougher and I find "if the heat treat of Elmax" is good it can hold it's own vs M390 for edge retention ...

the other deciding factory for me is that I've had a couple M390 blades chip if I thinned the edge to 15 to 17 dps ... I have never had a chip in any of my Elmax blades ...

but they are both good quality steels.
 
Elmax is better. Unless you love M390, then M390 is better. ;)
 
Depends on how they're done. Either one, run soft, is unimpressive. With proper heat treatment, both make good knives.
 
In real world use it's like the same steel.

It's like VG10, 440c, 154cm. Or s30v vs s35v it's ballpark all about the same for elmax and m390.
 
It all depends on the maker/brand and their heat treat as to which steel is better. From what I understand, if either steel is heat treated to optimal performance, both are excellent steels.
 
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