fav steel

meanwhile said:
Of course a lot of these "high edge retention" steels only give significant edge retention increases if you measure the time to reach something like 90% bluntness; if you measure to to 10 or 20% bluntness - the point where a knife with an easily sharpened steel can usually be touched up with a few strokes on a pocket sharpener, and which a professional knife user like a butcher or fisherman wouldn't dream of letting his knife drop below - then they often aren't significantly better than 440, 12c27, etc. Marketers tend to bullshit unwary buyers over this by quoting the single most favourable point on a CATRA graph, however ridiculous it is.

Otoh, some of the super steels do give big improvements in toughness - but it seems to be best measured by a figure no one ever talks about, the transverse toughness - everyone quotes longitudinal charpy if they talk numbers at all.
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If I need a tool to cut lots of stuff I'll use an OLFA, deformation is usually my primary method of dulling, in which case a nicely hardened basic carbon steel is probably best.

Oppositely.
As a tech nut, when I buy a fancy folder that represents the best the knife industry has to offer, I want my stats over 9000.
 
I agree with others about M390 (but only for my folders). For a bigger outdoor hard use style fixed blade I cant help but love 1095. Its easy to sharpen, easy to keep sharp, and its very tough so it wont chip or break
 
OP, did you have a particular task in mind? Different steels are better at different things. Pick the steel that fits the need (and make sure it's got a good heat treat, as the type of steel matters far less than how good the heat treat is).
 
mkjellgren said:
That would be one heck of an expensive set of kitchen knives...but I agree, I'd buy one too!!
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I just got on the list for one of Ozark Traditional Knifeworks DC Slicer models in M390 at 61RC. I am pretty excited to try it out. I am a big fan of S30V,CPM-154, CTS-XHP, Elmax, S35VN, CPM-M4 so far ect. And some of the new " super steels " are pretty easy to sharpen. CTS-XHP ,CPM154, Elmax, M4, they all sharpen pretty easily. I just like trying new stuff, its fun.
 
Joshua J. said:
If I need a tool to cut lots of stuff I'll use an OLFA, deformation is usually my primary method of dulling, in which case a nicely hardened basic carbon steel is probably best.

Oppositely.
As a tech nut, when I buy a fancy folder that represents the best the knife industry has to offer, I want my stats over 9000.
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And this is fine: if you want to spend $800 on a knife that will in no way meaningful way perform better for you than a good $20 knife, it's your call. Fly your freak flag high!

($800 vs $20 is about right for the prices of a Hinderer and the Enlan EL01 "homage", yes?)
 
mooman99 said:
what is ur favorite steel and why?
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Personally, I like good old A2 Tool Steel.

This fine grained tool steel is the best bang for your buck in my opinion.


Sure some steels are tougher or offer better edge retention,

...but I use my A2 knives very hard and they hold up just fine.


But asking about steel without defining a use is foolish,

...like I always say, edge geometry and heat treatment are just as important as metallurgy.




Big Mike
 
I cant believe there are this many different answers, ...M390 is the the answer, it its amazing stuff. I read a post ther said it takes several weeks of hard use before you can see a differece in edge retention when compaired with S90V. But the difference being S90V is a bear to sharpen and M390 shapens up fairly easily. M390 is the best.
 
I depends on what you want the knife to do but for EDC use I'm VERY fond of the S30V used for my Manix C-95 and Skirmish 630 BK1 (holds edge really well and easy to sharpen) but I find that the ZDP-189 of the A.G.Russell Acies and the CPM-154 (this surprised me) of my Strider SMF seem to hold their edge the longest.

I'm certainly not a steel snob as I have several fixed blades that either AUS8 or 1095 they've held up extremely well for camping/outdoor use. Lots of great steels out there...
 
crimsonfalcon07 said:
OP, did you have a particular task in mind? Different steels are better at different things. Pick the steel that fits the need (and make sure it's got a good heat treat, as the type of steel matters far less than how good the heat treat is).
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any knife you buy thats made with a premium steel is going to be heat treated properly, who are these knife makers that are using S30, M390, Elmax ect... that are doing a crappy job of heat treating.
 
I like VG10, and I also like CPM M4 when I can get it. I like finely grained steels.
 
meanwhile said:
Of course a lot of these "high edge retention" steels only give significant edge retention increases if you measure the time to reach something like 90% bluntness; if you measure to to 10 or 20% bluntness - the point where a knife with an easily sharpened steel can usually be touched up with a few strokes on a pocket sharpener, and which a professional knife user like a butcher or fisherman wouldn't dream of letting his knife drop below - then they often aren't significantly better than 440, 12c27, etc. Marketers tend to bullshit unwary buyers over this by quoting the single most favourable point on a CATRA graph, however ridiculous it is.

Otoh, some of the super steels do give big improvements in toughness - but it seems to be best measured by a figure no one ever talks about, the transverse toughness - everyone quotes longitudinal charpy if they talk numbers at all.
Click to expand...

I'm glad I'm not fisherman or butcher as I would suck at both. How does one earn a "professional knife user" status? I use my knife everyday and that 80% till dull area is where my knives shine for my line of work. Can those $20 knives hold a really thin edge for a long period of time?
 
ericvar101 said:
any knife you buy thats made with a premium steel is going to be heat treated properly, who are these knife makers that are using S30, M390, Elmax ect... that are doing a crappy job of heat treating.
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Perhaps you might consider a different perspective: All heat treats are not created equal, and not every company or maker does every kind of heat treat as well as they do others. Order an S30V knife from several different makers and manufacturers, and you'll find they have different HT philosophies. And every company has a steel that's their specialty. Kinda like Cold Steel does a great job with AUS8, and Becker and ESEE do a great job with 1095, etc.

I've personally had very poor experiences with Benchmade's 154CM, and very good experiences with Spyderco's 154CM, for instance. Or what if you're buying a Gerber? In my experience, CRKT doesn't do as good of a job at heat treats with some steels as other companies do. And that's just talking about larger companies.

What about individual custom makers? Many makers will make you a knife in a wide variety of different steels, but I think it would be obvious that they're going to be BEST at heat treating the steels they're most comfortable with, and if they make most of their knives in 1085, and you order one in CPM 3V, and they've only ever done a few knives in that steel, it stands to reason that, while they'll still probably do a pretty good job, it won't be as phenomenal as their 1085 heat treat. The processes are very different, and it ought to be obvious, IMO, that people are better at heat treating things that they do all the time, than things that they do once in a while.

And what counts as a "premium" steel today probably will be considered run of the mill tomorrow. In fact, with a good heat treat, even 440A can do a very fine job, and yet I doubt there's anyone on here that would consider it a premium steel, even though I've gotten a better edge and better edge retention from 440A than from VG-10, in some cases. The main reason to choose a steel, as far as I'm concerned, is because certain steels are better suited to certain tasks. But that doesn't mean that every maker or manufacturer can do every steel perfectly, and I think it would be pretty foolish to assume that they will.
 
meanwhile said:
Of course a lot of these "high edge retention" steels only give significant edge retention increases if you measure the time to reach something like 90% bluntness; if you measure to to 10 or 20% bluntness - the point where a knife with an easily sharpened steel can usually be touched up with a few strokes on a pocket sharpener, and which a professional knife user like a butcher or fisherman wouldn't dream of letting his knife drop below - then they often aren't significantly better than 440, 12c27, etc. Marketers tend to bullshit unwary buyers over this by quoting the single most favourable point on a CATRA graph, however ridiculous it is.

Otoh, some of the super steels do give big improvements in toughness - but it seems to be best measured by a figure no one ever talks about, the transverse toughness - everyone quotes longitudinal charpy if they talk numbers at all.
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Not really.....

Tell that to my S110V knife at 65 HRC, K294 knife at 64 HRC, M390 knife at 62 HRC and S90V blades that I use.

And no they aren't hard to touch up either when needed, and it's not very often, just a few passes on a ceramic rod and that's it, takes seconds.

Used my S110V knife in the kitchen for 6 months without touching the edge and it was still sharp enough to slice phone book paper easy and when I did touch it up..... after 6 months.... it took all of 5 seconds and it was screaming sharp again.

And that's S110V at 65 HRC.......
 
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M390!

However, there are many other excellent steel choices as well... :thumbup:

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R. Lemmen said:
My favorite steel is... properly heat treated.
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Best answer overall! There are dozens of alloys that, handled well and used in appropriately-designed knives, perform very, very well. From 1084 to the newest super-duper powder steels. Choosing a steel really depends on what you expect from it.

I'm partial to CPM-3V, but use several others too.
 
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