Favorite Steel

I am partial to stainless materials. So I like CPM S-60-V, CPM S-90-V, CPM S-110-V, Boker's Cera Titan, Hayne's Stellite 6 B and 6 K, Hitachi's ZDP 189, and the Buck Cote chisel sharpened ceramic coated blades which leave the 80 and 90 RWC coatings exposed on the micro edges. I also like the Carbidized coatings which are applied to steel and Titanium blades. The former are coated with Tungsten carbide, and the latter are coated with Titanium carbide. Talk about wear resistance! I am also anxious to try the friction forged D-2 from Knives of Alaska. They say that the friction forged D-2 has much more resistance to corrosion than coventional D-2.
 
440C was the supersteel of its day, which wasn't really all that long ago. And yes, I agree - it's still good stuff.
 
SR101 all they way. Tough and holds an edge. Ive only used one knife in it but S90V holds an edge for a LONGGG time and I havent had any chipping problems.
 
Damascus is a mix of various steels, heat welded together and manipulated (twisted, folded, filed....) to form a pattern. The reason it is so expensive is the labor intensive manufacturing processes. Look for the many WIP's on Damascus making done on the forum to get an idea of the work involved. Because Damascus can be made of knife and non-knife suitable steels it cannot be included in a best steels thread because every batch can have different characteristics. Take a complete weld for example- blades are often folded so that there are 300+ layers in a billet. If 1/100 layers isn't completely welded the you may have a void or inclusion on that blade and have it fail at an opportune time- say when boar hunting and trying fir the killing wound. As patterns become more intricate, the workload increases, which also increases cost.
That said- I love using Damascus from good makers (damasteel, combos of: O1, 52100, L6,5160....). Hope this helps.
 
KalEl said:
SR101 all they way. Tough and holds an edge. Ive only used one knife in it but S90V holds an edge for a LONGGG time and I havent had any chipping problems.
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I use this at work. ;)

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I'm easy to please :)

1095 and 0-1for carbon , Aus 8 for stainless. I pick these because they have worked well for me for years , hold a good edge , and are easy enough to sharpen. I haven't had any bad heat treat issues from any manufacturer yet.
 
Well I like SR-101 alot. Has a ton of toughness and takes a scary sharp edge. Also like CPM154 tough and super sharp. I am not too picky though not many steels will keep me from buying a knife.
 
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