Favorite knife steel

eugenechia1989 said:
CTS-XHP. I like it because it's a high-end powdered steel with darn good edge retention, yet it's decently tough and it has so little Vanadium in it that carbide tear-out is not a concern. I also like how it retains cutting aggression even with a polished edge.
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Agreed !
+ 1
 
Got my first CTS-XHP..CS Swift. Like it so far. No hard use yet though.
M390 next.
 
For me is ZDP . The caly3.5 is one of my most carried knife sharpened it maybe twice the knife holds its edge really well . Can't say the same for M4 and S90V . I do like M390 but haven't used it much . .
 
M390 and it's American counterparts hands down, for the obvious reasons and the fact that it just gets ridiculously sharp.
 
I like S110V...I know I am probably in the minority but it's stainless abilities and the very aggressive edge that it holds for a very long time keeps me coming back to it for everyday use.
 
52100 is hard to beat for sharpening, awesome patina, and takes a nice edge.
But you can't go wrong with M390 either.
 
INFI, ztuff, d3v for big blades. Really high impact resistance, busse's maybe a little bit easier to fix when things go too much south.

Zwear, cruwear, 4v for the medium blades.

Elmax, aeb-l, for the small ones.

Hard to choose one, but if I really had to, for how I use mostly my blades and based on where I live, I would go with infi.... Or d3v :p
 
For big ones: K600, NZ3, Ultrafort (Maraging steel), A8mod, Infi, 5160, 6150, any well heat treated high impact steel, although I have some Vanadis 4 extra big choppers with a thicker geometry that won’t break.
Medium: Vanadis 4 extra, 52100, 3v, 10xx Carbon steels
Small: Vanadis 4 extra

Steel I wouldn’t mind to try: properly forged and heat treated Aermet 100 or Ferrium M54, in a big chopper.

Another steel I think can handle anything: AEB-L.
 
Well...being a bit ignorant and such of all the lastest uber duber super steels and such. If I could afford a good lot of them I wouldn't be very ignorant on them.

5160 is my favorite for my general use fixed working blades/tools so I rarely now have to worry about a fail, of which I had only one fail the usual test I did on them to make sure they won't fail me when needed. It was an older model and the rest NEVER failed me from well...other people would call abuse if they saw me do some things with them. But then its steel on wood what I do mostly and I expect Steel to win every time!

A few other steels...well the yesteryear steel of 154CM works well on a few folders I recently got and used. The Buck 110 in S30V...oi its a mini light saber! On expeditions I pair the more higher grade steel folders with a 420HC steel blade of the same model for their easier to sharpen ability and more abusel work and well back ups are life savers I find. The higher grade steels got their bushy tasks I put them through when needed, and do the finer critter cutting.
 
I'll go by what I own the most. VG10, D2, S30V, 154CM, and CTS XHP.

Unless I win the lotto, I will probably never see Maxamet, Cruwear, Vanadis, etc. I just won't spend that kind of $ on a knife to get those steels and I'm ok with that.

If someone walked up and said I could only carry my Delicas or Enduras in VG10 the rest of my life, I'd be just fine.
 
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