Good steel for edge retention an corrosion resistance

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TexasDude13

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Sep 24, 2015
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I'm just getting into knife making and have made 4 blades so far that need to go to heat treat. They are made out of 440-C stainless steel. I know it doesn't hold an edge for very long and would like yall's opinion on steels that have corrosion resistance and edge retention. I just can't have it be super expensive. I am doing stock removal. Thanks,

Kayden
 
The 440-C should work well and is a good edge holding steel. Increases in quality always cost more.
Frank
 
440c is a completely respectable steel with good qualities across the board. For better performance, you should consider CPM 154. It's chemically very similar to 440c but has undergone the powder metal process, which gives it a finer grain and the increased hardness and toughness that comes with that. Another choice would be D2 or CPM D2. Both are very wear resistant and tough steel, though they are considered semi stainless rather than fully stainless
 
If you are so new that you will be still learning to get good bevels and so forth, get yourself some mild steel and practice on it.
Frank
 
CPM-S35VN - It is very wear resistant and takes a very fine edge. Highly corrosion resistant, too.
 
440-C is a good respectable steel, but like any complex stainless it needs a good heat treat to really do well. For a little bit better, CPM 154 has an all around great combination of qualities.
 
If cost is an issue, I think S35VN is pretty inexpensive. Certainly not as cheap as AEB-L, but better wear resistance.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
440-C is a good respectable steel, but like any complex stainless it needs a good heat treat to really do well. For a little bit better, CPM 154 has an all around great combination of qualities.
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Nathan wins!
What part of Texas you in.
 
Cool, welcome, check out Texas Knifemakers Guild on Facebook. Lot of good maker around you.
 
cpm 20cv is stainless and high wear resistance
 
If you can find it and heat treat it properly nitrogen steels like vanax 35, vanax 37, nitrobe 77, z-finit and cronidur 30 are top in corrosion resistance and have good/great wear resistance. Vanax will be the most wear resistant buf others are no slouches, I'm loving my Carson Griffin in N77 at 62-63 hrc. But those steels are hard to find and can be pricey plus heat treat is very important (especially N77). For a more available steel I'd recommend Aeb-l/13c26 (though to get the best out of it you need a deep cryo) at 60-62 hrc, s35vn at the same hardness and elmax and m390/20cv/cts 204p at 61-63 hrc. Cts xhp at 62-64 is a fantastic steel to but to hit the high numbers on all of those steels need you need to deep cryo and a good oven that goes to 2100F. On the cheap and simpler heat treats, properly done 440 series, sandvick steels and cts bd1 class of steels do very good.
 
He mentioned that he don't want to go expensive route. I think 440C or AEB-L should be the best bet.
 
I use CPM 154 for most of my stainless blades now but I will stick up for 440-C any time. I have made some of my favorite knives from 440-C. As always a good heat treatment makes all the difference. I think all of the above suggestions will produce a fine blade. I have never used AEB-l I must admit but it sure is a popular choice as is S35VN. Just my opinion again. Larry
 
Frank Niro said:
If you are so new that you will be still learning to get good bevels and so forth, get yourself some mild steel and practice on it.
Frank
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not a fan of this
ugly grinds but good steel can still be a good knife but no matter how nice the grinds in mild steel its will never be anything more then a letter opener
i made alot of knives in CPM154 when it got hard to find some years back i switched to XHP and have never seen a reason for me to look back
 
butcher_block said:
not a fan of this
ugly grinds but good steel can still be a good knife but no matter how nice the grinds in mild steel its will never be anything more then a letter opener
i made alot of knives in CPM154 when it got hard to find some years back i switched to XHP and have never seen a reason for me to look back
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One steel that I do not see mentioned very much in this type of discussions is S90V and have wondered why?
 
CTS-xhp is top on my list. Aebl/14c28N/13c26 closely second, it supports keener edge (smaller apex radius) and inexpensive. 3rd list(by order of preference): Elmax; cpm-154; m390/20cv.

Walt2 - S90V is low in toughness because it has 20+% carbide volume fraction. IME + IMHO - steels with CV > 18% threshold don't support moderate impacts due to insufficient toughness.
 
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