Favorite hunting knife steel

C

CFenton

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Dec 11, 2022
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What is your favorite blade steel for a good hunting knife? Easy enough to touch up in the field if needed , not needing touched up multiple times to skin a game animal.
 
I'm an old dinosaur. I carried my Buck 110, with 440 steel (I think), for 50 years, ever since I got it. It's gutted alot of deer, and has never left me down. After Christmas last year, I saw these 110 LTs on sale for $15 from one of the big on-line knife places, and I splurged & bought two. So now I'll be using the el dorado, super deluxe, upgraded 420HC steel this season. Woo-hoo!
 
CPM 3V, CPM D2, PGK.

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They resist abrasive materials well, hold their edge for a long time, and provide an aggressive cut.
 
CFenton said:
What is your favorite blade steel for a good hunting knife? Easy enough to touch up in the field if needed , not needing touched up multiple times to skin a game animal.
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Depends on what you’re hunting, but O1 is a great all around choice. If you’re dealing with hogs it’s worth going to 3V, 10V, K390. But I definitely prefer carbon for hunting blades.
 
Not a hunter here, but I went hunting every year with my dad up until I was about 17 and he preferred anything cheap. He carried a standard buck 110 and used it for everything. It was stamped stainless if I recall. Guessing it was the standard old 420 or similar. He liked that it was easy to touch up, and that it was cheap enough he wouldn't care about dropping and losing it. That was literally all he cared about. He never bothered with a fixed blade.
 
52100 and AEB-L are both excellent. I've recently taken a liking to Magnacut after using my new little fixed blade to cut up a wild pig. Normally, a knife in non-super steels will get chewed up by hogs (they have thick skin with thick hair caked in dried mud/sand), but the Magnacut would still shave hairs after Wilbur got chopped.

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Delta 3V is also excellent.
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M390/20CV/204P for me. Good fine edge retention, very stainless, touches up well on ceramics.

I don't usually split the pelvis in the field. Cutting is on soft tissue, hide, and sometimes through joints, and I have not had any chipping issues with that.

Been using a Benchmade 710DLC-1 in M390 for years and recently got one of the Spyderco Enduras in 20CV that I brought along last year.

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If PM "super steel" wasn't an option I'd take VG-10.
 
oldmanwilly said:
52100 and AEB-L are both excellent. I've recently taken a liking to Magnacut after using my new little fixed blade to cut up a wild pig. Normally, a knife in non-super steels will get chewed up by hogs (they have thick skin with thick hair caked in dried mud/sand), but the Magnacut would still shave hairs after Wilbur got chopped.

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Delta 3V is also excellent.
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What did you use on that last pic, a wadcutter 12ga slug? That’s the most perfectly circular hole I have ever seen in a hide.
 
In non-stainless Cruwear, W2, A2, 52100. In stainless AEB-L, S35VN, CPM154.

My favorites are Cruwear (my first choice) and AEB-L. Both are tough and very easy to touch up if needed and take really great edges.

Sandvik 13c26 and 14c28n (very similar to AEB-L) would make great hunting knives also. I really like them, but don't have hunting knives with these steels ... yet. They are tough, easy to sharpen, and very corrosion resistant.
 
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I like the medium edge wear steels like Cruwear, M4, 4V, Magancut and the like. I find AEB-L to not have a toothy enough edge for my liking for butchering.

For me what is more important is the steel has enough yield strength to not roll an edge with bone contact, I find the sweet spot to be around 62Rc.

With a Magnacut at 63 Rc I was still able to slice news print after gutting, skinning, and butchering to freezer a 540 pound pig with not touch up of the edge.
 
Seedy Lot said:
I like the medium edge wear steels like Cruwear, M4, 4V, Magancut and the like. I find AEB-L to not have a toothy enough edge for my liking for butchering.
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I thought the same with AEB-L at first, but found it will take a toothy edge if it has a good heat treat. I usually finish on a 400 or maybe 600 on most knives but on my AEB-L I finish on a 320 Shapton and it has good bite.

I will agree it isn't the same bite Cruwear has with a toothy edge though. I've not tried Magnacut for hunting yet, but like how it's performed for me in other blades so far and think it will make a good hunter.
 
BJE said:
What did you use on that last pic, a wadcutter 12ga slug? That’s the most perfectly circular hole I have ever seen in a hide.
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.308 FMJ soft point, probably 150 grain, if I remember correctly. Wasn't hunting ammo, but it's what I had and the deer apparently couldn't tell the difference.

I also used a vintage Marbles Woodcraft that day on another deer and whatever steel they used back then (probably 1095) did very well.

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I can't speak to flint, but I hear good things.

Seedy Lot said:
For me what is more important is the steel has enough yield strength to not roll an edge with bone contact, I find the sweet spot to be around 62Rc.
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Great point, and I think AEB-L excels in this aspect.
 
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CPM-3V is my preferred, but can still get the job done with pretty much any other type.

Most hunters use sorta junky "hunting" knives made from questionable alloys and it serves them ok.

It's important to know how to sharpen what ya got.
 
JJ_Colt45 said:
I thought the same with AEB-L at first, but found it will take a toothy edge if it has a good heat treat. I usually finish on a 400 or maybe 600 on most knives but on my AEB-L I finish on a 320 Shapton and it has good bite.

I will agree it isn't the same bite Cruwear has with a toothy edge though. I've not tried Magnacut for hunting yet, but like how it's performed for me in other blades so far and think it will make a good hunter.
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That makes sense sharpening the AEB-L on lower grit stone for toothy performance but I can not help myself when sharpening and like to finish on Spyderco'a fine ceramic stone.

I was testing some ingot D2 and man with those big chunky carbides it sure was a fierce cutting edge.
 
bladerunner01 said:
Not a hunter here, but I went hunting every year with my dad up until I was about 17 and he preferred anything cheap. He carried a standard buck 110 and used it for everything. It was stamped stainless if I recall. Guessing it was the standard old 420 or similar. He liked that it was easy to touch up, and that it was cheap enough he wouldn't care about dropping and losing it. That was literally all he cared about. He never bothered with a fixed blade.
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Depends on when the knife was made. Up until ~1985 Buck used 440C for their 110's. Speaking of which...
I used to use a Buck Pathfinder in 440C. I never needed to sharpen it in the field, but it would have been easy enough with a pocket aluminum oxide stone (Today would use diamond).

To the OP:
You can either use a knife with blade steel that you won't need to sharpen (CPM alloys) or one with steel that you will need to sharpen (carbon steel, alloy steel) and know how to sharpen it. It all works.
 
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