How blade steel affects your buying

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I’ve got one S30V blade which supposedly holds an edge for nearly forever (and so far it has), but it feels like it’s gonna be a bear to sharpen when the time comes. Also have a M390 and a CPM154 that have great edges that I haven’t had to touch yet, so I don’t know what to expect there. Got a couple with 8Cr13MoV that perform well enough for my easy needs and seem to sharpen up nicely. And there’s the obligatory pile o’ SAKS made of who knows what that just work. I’d like to get something with S35VN, which I think would be my sweet spot for chip resistance, edge retention, ease of sharpening, and cost, but I haven’t found anything yet that checks enough boxes.
 
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If a knife is offered in multiple steels, I'll choose the one I prefer. I used to pass on any knife with S30V, but I've gotten a couple that perform well, so all is good with that one.

The knives that I've been trying lately are the Hitachi White and Blue. Got a neck knife from Murray Carter, and it is very impressive. Easy to sharpen, and it holds it's edge zipping through cardboard within a respectable range of some of my high carbide steels. I just received an FS1 from him in the Blue steel, but haven't yet had the chance to put it through it's paces.
 
OH - to answer OP’s question, I usually don’t go looking for a specific steel, but I have passed on a few blades that might have otherwise interested me because the steel was garbage. Anything labeled as stainless steel or D2 is out. I do have a few in 8Cr13MoV, which is about the lowest I’ll go, but only if I really like the knife. Anything else within my budget, I can usually recognize a decent blade steel, but I’m nowhere near familiar enough to recognize and remember all of them, so I will look it up first before making a decision. I’m not a heavy-duty knife user, so the first thing I look at is handle design and blade shape. It’s gotta look sexy, and look like it will feel good to hold and use. Then if it fits my modest budget and the steel falls at least in the middle of the charts on toughness, edge retention, and sharpenability, it’ll be strongly considered.
 
I look at it this way.

There’s not just one best steel for knives. My reasoning is that there are many different uses, materials and environments that different steels will do better than others in that particular use and vice-versa. Could one particular steel do about anything? Yes. Will it be the best in every category ? Probably not.

I have for my work edc a Buck vantage pro in 20cv it performs excellent in that particular use because I work around a lot of harsh chemicals, corrosive elements and some abrasive elements that can reduce an ordinary stainless steel to a rounded edge in short time. I’ve had to cut a lot of tough nasty stuff like twisted canvas tarps with mud, ice, sand, dirt and who knows what else mixed in and the 20cv just kept cutting. Now it may not have the fine hair splitting edge after a few cuts but it keeps a real good working edge.

For my off duty/ weekend edc I like the s35vn version because it takes a nice keen edge that is so nice to use whittling and making precise cuts. But I do use it on some tough dirty hay bale poly twine, feed sacks and cardboard boxes and it does the job without any problems. I just don’t have the more corrosive elements to worry about.

Then for camping and fishing I have my favorite users in 420hc, 3V and my 110 sport in s30v as my pocket knife of choice. So for the different uses I have different favorites for those particular use.
 
YaArArYa said:
If its D2 , I stay clear.
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D2 is getting a horrid rap these days, mostly due to the influx of cheap and poorly heat treated Chinese D2.

Quality D2 (typically from domestic sources) is absolutely fine - Ontario/Randall probably being the best example of D2 done right. My D2 Rat 3 is one of my preferred go-to knives.
 
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Just yesterday , I received a Spyderco Manix 2 Lightweight in CTS BD1N, DLC coated black blade .

I wanted to try the light Manix 2 and the CBBL because I've never had one . I like DLC .

I found one for ~$115 in the listed steel above and bought based on the price .

Plenty good enough steel, if HT done right , for my limited uses of this type light/medium duty folder .

I could have paid a lot more for a more super steel ; but probably would have just not been willing to buy the knife at all , for so much $$$ .
 
I have knives in all sorts of steel. INFI, Busse 52100, 3V, S7, Cruwear, D2, S30V, S35VN, 5160, 420HC and of course 1095. Steel isn’t usually a deciding factor, design and reputation usually are. I just happen to coincidentally own a healthy and diverse mix lol.
 
I only have 2 of so called super steels.

My favorite steel is CPM-3V.
I'm still so stoked about it that I'm not even thinking about Magnacut or whatever is latest rage.

Tough as hell, stainless enough for me as it won't rust unless neglected badly, easy to get sharp and holds an edge even longer than I need it to. So I just love my CPM-3V knife and see no need to buy anything else.


And today I added yet another "super steel" to my humble collection - K390. I'll see how it holds up for my EDC needs.
 
If you know how to use the knife according to it's intended purpose and you are decent at sharpening, then most of the steels would be OK. But we are knife people, so we need all the reasons to justify "the next purchase". However, there are certain situations where particular steels excel. It does not mean that other steels can not do it, they can but probably not as good.
 
Lesknife said:
I look at it this way.
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And that is pretty much how I look at it, too.

Lesknife said:
I’ve had to cut a lot of tough nasty stuff like twisted canvas tarps with mud, ice, sand, dirt and who knows what else mixed in
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We don't have so much ice here in Florida, but, yeah, twisted tarps are awful, especially when you have a 150-pound ram dangling by the neck from one.

I like to carry at least one blade with excellent toughness, at least one with excellent edge retention, and at least one that will cut an inch-thick twisted tarp. That means at least two different steels, but there are lots to choose from.
 
When I didn't know anything about knives I thought there was basically just carbon and stainless. Then I started getting very into the different steels and buying knives just because of the steel they were in. Nowadays, I find that, for my uses, I'm mostly back to figuring out if I want carbon or stainless for whatever I'm gonna do with the knife.
 
Afterthought to my earlier comment: Blade shape and geometry, good heat treat is probably an order of magnitude more important to me than (decent!) steel chemistry. Sometimes stainless is important as well, though not too often.
 
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