Help with steel decision

[Fixall]

Where would be a better place to look?

I’d recommend KnifeSteelNerds.com

Larrin had blades of all different kinds of steel made so the edge geometry would be more or less exactly the same on all the blades tested. His book has a really handy chart that ranks the different steels from 1-10 in the various categories. I think that info is about as accurate as any available.

 

[Dergyll]

LC200N or 20CV. Both should do you fine. H1 is really soft. I don't mean this to be rude, but I almost wore the serrations off my Salt 1 on just cardboard in like 7 months. I had to sharpen it every night after work. I do not like H1.

It's a very unpopular opinion for some reason, but I agree with you. H1 is very very soft...my first pacific salt in H1 rolled its edge my first fishing trip...after the first...5 fish? Edge holding is pretty damn bad.

Then theres my waterway, after 90-ish mackerel that thing is still going. I even hacked a few heads off and fed it to the gulls, VERY surprisingly good toughness too considering the 11degree factory edge.

Neither rusted even a little, and both are easy to sharpen. I gave the PS2 away lol, hated it.

 

[J85909266]

It's a very unpopular opinion for some reason, but I agree with you. H1 is very very soft...my first pacific salt in H1 rolled its edge my first fishing trip...after the first...5 fish? Edge holding is pretty damn bad.

Then theres my waterway, after 90-ish mackerel that thing is still going. I even hacked a few heads off and fed it to the gulls, VERY surprisingly good toughness too considering the 11degree factory edge.

Neither rusted even a little, and both are easy to sharpen. I gave the PS2 away lol, hated it.

Yeah, I have even butted heads with Sal Glesser directly about how I feel about H1 in the past here. I'm not sure why it is such a controversial opinion when 8Cr gets roasted and holds up way better than H1 in my experience. Again, no hate or disrespect intended. The edge is just too soft for my uses.

 

[NPT]

I’d recommend KnifeSteelNerds.com

Larrin had blades of all different kinds of steel made so the edge geometry would be more or less exactly the same on all the blades tested. His book has a really handy chart that ranks the different steels from 1-10 in the various categories. I think that info is about as accurate as any available.

I just spent 20 minutes looking through that site. Can you point more directly to that chart?

 

[Fixall]

I just spent 20 minutes looking through that site. Can you point more directly to that chart?

The chart with the 1 - 10 rankings is in his book. The chart is really handy, and the book is invaluable if you have any interest in knife steel and edge geometry in my opinion. You can find it for sale here if you wanted to check it out.

Most of the raw data from the chart can be found in these two articles though. You'd just have to spend the time to sort/rank them different steels based on the testing.

Testing the Edge Retention of 48 Knife Steels - Knife Steel Nerds

I tested the edge retention of 48 knife steels using the same knife design and sharpening. Which steels cut the longest? Which are the most balanced?

knifesteelnerds.com

Edge Retention Testing of Seven More Steels - XHP, SPY27, Maxamet, Rex 45, 420, T15, Rex 76 - Knife Steel Nerds

More edge retention testing on a range of high speed and stainless steels. Rex 45 vs M4, Maxamet vs everthing else.

knifesteelnerds.com