Favorite blade steels?

CPM 3V. I have found that I dont cut abrasive stuff that often, so ultra high wear resistance is not as important to me as resistance to chipping, rolling and blunting. I use my fixed blades mostly for outdoors and hunting use, cutting wood and cleaning game. 3V has pretty good wear resistence and extreme toughness. I wish there were more folders made with this steel.


As for an EDC stainless, I like 14C28N (my kershaws and my SG Bad Monkey), spyderco's S30V and CPM 20CV in my Survive 3.5 and necker is proving to be really amazing stuff!
 
I dont know why but my favorite steel is 154cm and CPM154. Second is S30V. I can deal with anything though. I dont care for any super steels. I simply dont feel they offer me any real advantage. I dont enjoy sharpening knives. I cant say that I actually like putting a keen edge on a blade. I should say I dont enjoy sharpening abrasion resistant super steels. For me, even if I need to touch up my EDC once a day to keep it in top shape I would rather do that than try and sharpen a ZDP blade once a month. Ease of sharpening is a much higher priority for me than edge retention. And unfortunately I have not found a "super" steel that I can get as sharp as the 154 varieties and not nearly as easily. Its too bad though. Not many makers are using 154 much anymore. But D2 Is a decent replacement for me.
 
I'm wondering how much where we live impacts what steels we prefer or maybe should prefer. I grew up in East Texas in the 50's and 60's. Air conditioning was rare, humidity was not. Not only does humidity lead to rust, it leads to sweat which certainly doesn't help! None the less, I got by well enough with my carbon steel scout knife, mainly because I used it a lot. But I was certainly glad to buy my first stainless slip joint Case, probably a Stockman.

I'm typing this reply from the south plains of West Texas. Humidity is much lower here and rust is less of a problem. This is true for so much of the western US unless you live very near the Pacific coast. I guess the point is there are almost always trade offs. Carbon steel knives have a reputation for toughness. Broad stroke: stainless knives that maintain an edge seem to be less tough. Bottom line for me is I generally prefer stainless for smaller knives and high carbon, usually 1095, for larger blades.

Some of my smaller folders are ZDP-189. Not sure I'd want a large blade in that steel for cost and potential brittleness reasons. Larger folders I like VG-10 and CPM S30V. I've heard many complain of ZDP being hard to sharpen, but I have not noticed that so much. It occurs to me the reason may be that the largest ZDP knife I have is a Delica.
 
Charlesmc2 said:
I'm typing this reply from the south plains of West Texas.
Click to expand...

Where's that, Presidio? I hear west Texas and I can only think that if you're not in or near El Paso, then you might as well be in Sanderson.
 
I don't really have a preference in steels. Design, function and fit are more important to me. That said, in traditionals I like how Case does their CV, how Buck does their 420HC, how Queen does their D2 and 1095 and in moderns I like everything I've tried from Spyderco--VG10, S30V, M4, 440C, etc--they all perform well for me. Buck does a good job on their S30V as well. I have a few low-priced 8Cr13MoV knives I like quite a bit.
 
Penetration said:
Something that most knife collectors or users look for first when looking at buying a knife is the blade steel. For me I don't have specific steel I favor more actually I could care less what the steel is, in my opinion a steel that performs well is good steel to me but I know we have you picky types out there that won't buy a knife unless it is made with a certain steel so what is your favorite and preferred steel or steels?
Click to expand...

After spending time with 154cm (Benchmade), I'm beginning to feel that it is considerably inferior to S30V and perhaps overrated in general. It just doesn't stay sharp for very long. Cliff Stamp claims it is a high wear-resistant steel. Yes, relative to 8cr13mov but not S30V.

154cm is easy enough to sharpen but I get tired of having to sharpen it every time after I cut into something substantial, like plastic. Benchmade claims 58-61 hrc on the 154cm but I'm thinking 58 is the norm, 59 if you're lucky. The biggest problem is that pretty much everyone except Spyderco run their steels too soft.

S30V is however a pain in the ass to sharpen because of the vanadium. Maybe Benchmade's 60-61 D2 is a good compromise?
 
I own more knives in A11 class steels than any other these days so I guess you could say that class is my favorite. :)

Next would be knives in CPM S110V as far as number of knives go.
 
Fallkniven 3g is pretty DAMN impressive followed by their cobalt. Made a believer out of me
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top