I Know, Here We Go Again! What’s Your Favorite Steel, Carbon Or Stainless?

G

Gene

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Oct 2, 1998
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With all these NEW wonder steels coming out…AGAIN and AGAIN, what’s your favorite carbon and stainless steels?

Please let me start with this thread with this off subject rant. This world of knives nowadays that is great but with all these new wonder steels being produced, let’s be honest, most knives are collected and not many used but folks will tell you that they use them hard and then show a little use on the blade where they might have sliced a apple or a tomato or whatever.

Okay, no condemnation or criticism here. With carbon tool steel blades, I like 1095, O1 and 52100 ball bearing steel. They are easy to sharpen and good steels but can rust in a heartbeat if you don’t take care of them. Nothing wrong with that if you’re willing to take the time to prevent the rust or maybe you like “Patina”.

With stainless steels, I’m a fan. I love how when they’re in my pocket and even if I sweat, they don’t rust to where you can hardly open the blade. They are harder to sharpen of course but if you sharpen them correctly, they will stay sharp for a long time. My favorite stainless steel blades are NONE of the new “WONDER STEELS” My favorites are, (and some will disagree), ATS-34, 440C, and really my all time favorites, AUS-6 and AUS-8!

I do love ATS-34 and 44C but they are a little more expensive but worth the price especially if they are treated properly but all of them should be but it’s still a gamble.

WHY do I like old fashion stainless steels like AUS-6 and AUS-8? Because they’ve proven to be good stainless steel's over many decades, easy to sharpen and have excellent stainless properties. What’s not to like?
 
for me it all depends on what the knife is used for and how it is used. After a certain basic threshold steel is generally not one of primary factors in what makes one knife good or not. There is of course endless nuance and ways to talk about it because you also have the steel itself but how it's treated, how it's formed, how its grinded, all of these things. It's hard to really talk about it without narrowing down variables. Let me say it this way though, if you have the same exact knife used the same way, the difference between lets say vg10 and 154cm/ats34 is really not anything to worry about. The steel itself only really becomes relevant in extreme cases, like say make a small edc knife that is used for a lot of abrasive tasks and it's made out of 52100 or something. Changing the steel to s90v or whatever is going to change how the tool can and likely will be used. This is also something that has to be a balance. At that point it becomes obvious to the end user that the steel itself is a limiting factor that takes precedence over other concerns like ergonomics and the blade shape and whatnot. In a kitchen knife you can use thinness to make up for a lack of abrasion resistance but only to a certain limit. The lack of "bite" which is just basically a measure of apex acuity, becomes an issue. The best blade steels are well balanced in a logical way related to how the tool will be used and maintained. The difference between does this same exact knife for the same exact use have xhp or magnacut, generally without some specific need that one material happens to cover, is not something to waste brain cycles on. Even more drastic differences are not ultimately that relevant in most uses, especially compared to other factors.

As far as preferences for steels, the issue there is it's all theoretical and thus basically useless, unless you are knife maker yourself. In the real world we have actual products that exist and are available for consumer to purchase. So I could wish for this or that to be made from this or that, but if it doesn't exist then it doesn't matter. Gotta work with what is real.

As far as what makes steel "good" for a knife blade, in the real world is a balance of factors that affect each other, but ideally in theory you would want attributes to be linearly exceptional other than one attribute, and that one attribute is the thing most knife consumers overly focus on which is abrasion resistance. Generally, more stainless is better. Finer grain is better. Tougher is better. Theoretically harder is also better. The one thing that is not so straightforward is abrasion resistance. This really just depends on the use and how it will be used. There's a reason the knives in meat packing plants aren't using s110v and it's not just economics or availability, there's actually a logic to it. In reality these attributes are in balance. If you want a knife to cut, then you want the steel to be as hard and tough as it can be so that it can be made as thin as possible. It needs some abrasion resistance, but it's not as important as many seem to think.

focusing on the abrasion thing, lets say one steel can hold a keen edge twice as long as another steel but it takes 4 times as long to do maintenance when it inevitably does go dull from abrasive wear. Which is better? It depends. That's basically the answer to everything. It depends. And the real issue is up until Larrin's blog, there really was no empirically based public sources of information about it. Like if you go to google and click on any result other than his site, chances are the "info" you see will be comically wrong, unless it's sourced from his data. Not all the info on his site is totally the last word 100% accurate either, but it's all actually based in empirical evidence and more than good enough to be used for general guidelines. Sometimes I see folks get hung up on the fact that it's only 99.9% accurate and not like 99.999% accurate thus they miss the point.
 
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With the abundance of different stainless steels with different properties, why would I choose something that could easily rust?

Yeah, I know. Oil your steel. Well, I do! It's just about having a nice hedge when it is definitely an option.
 
Carbon steel:
I have 1095 ESEE knives and I love it.
80CrV2 is something I like too, I had 80CrV2 puukko by Terava, I liked it - but sold it because I did not like the knife itself.
SK5 is also pretty good.

Tool steels:
CPM-3V, I have a one 3V knife it for a long time now and I love it and I use it a lot.
D2 - I like it, though I sold all but one D2 knife, and I'm not using that knife either.
- tool steels are in my opinion a group itself, not true carbon or stainless, but something between

Stainless steels:
I have only AUS8 and S35VN folders, and I'm happy with both for their respective purposes. Also 8Cr13MoV CRKT minimalist spear point that I'm yet to even use for anything...
I think stainless steel is good just for folders, diving knives and knives for non knife people.

I would probably like Magnacut, but with current pricing and given the fact I already have 3V that is itself overkill for me, I just don't see it happening. Especially considering the pricing.


All in all, I heavily gravitate towards simple carbon steels and tool steels. I just don't like the way stainless steel behaves. Easy to chip/roll or damage, hard to sharpen, hard to deburr, and feels different when sharpening.

Given the option to keep only one - I'd go with ESEE 1095. Tough, easy to sharpen and I know how it'll behave.
 
Both , for different uses and environments .

I have H1, for worry free fun , even in salt water ( or blood ) . Very convenient , where and when it's a PITA to clean and oil .

Old kitchen knives, in secret old steels, that can literally rust while preparing a meal . But very easy to hone before use and clean up after , if you're in the kitchen .

And everything in-between those extremes .
 
I don't cut much sissal rope or cardboard, most of my knife duties are in wood and food prep. I have quite a lot of modern steels ("super steels") but favour older carbon and stainless steels on the tougher side. Even my latest acquisition a Buck has surprised me as their 420hc is more than adequate sharpens easily and to a very fine edge and holds it well enough for my needs.

Depends on the duties involved although if/when I'm cutting up boxes I use an s90v folder.

Stainless or carbon I don't really care although I don't live in a hot humid country, a lot of my uses involve chopping/shaping larger pieces of wood where its uncommon to find Axes etc... made in stainless so Hults Bruks and Gransfors 1050/1055 does just fine. For fixed blades I don't have a preference although obviously stainless for a folder, for carving a high carbon steel such as Moras carbon or Rosellis UHC or even their W75 is excellent as it sharpens up beautifully and easily and gives a very fine edge.
 
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I’m more interested in the maker/model than the steel BUT I’m a sucker for 3v, CPMD2, or XHP
 
Yes. I collect them all. I value toughness and good edge holding, so I have more knives in 3V than in any other steel. But Maxamet, M4, K390, Rex45, XHP and S90V, S110V, Spy27 are also my favorites. I don't pay too much attention to corrosion resistance, but have a few good LC200N, H1 and S110V knives for corrosive situations.
 
I usually only keep a handful of different steels around, tool steel I carry m4 and Rex45, stainless 20CV. That rounds out my needs.
 
Only considering my EDC Manix 2:

I've used S30V the most. I like how easy it is to polish.
I prefer to use S110V.

Edge sharpness and retention are paramount.
 
I like the S35v on my CRK Mnandi but I just picked up a Spyderco with a laminate blade consisting of SUS410 and Super Blue steel and I REALLY like the Super Blue steel! It is SUPER easy to sharpen to a scary sharp edge. It is almost like this steel WANTS to get sharp. I am not too worried about edge retention because it sharpens up so easily and quickly!
I think I have become a Super Blue fan.
 
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Good to see you're still hanging around, G Gene

(On topic: I like a lot of steels. These days: M4, Cru-Wear and 3v on the tool side...and currently MagnaCut on the stainless side. But many more are worthy.)
 
S90V and S110V have worked very well for me, and my knives in those steels are my go-to knives for EDC
They are folders however, but I'm looking at small fixed blade in those steels and might be getting one soon.
I also have a couple of AEBL knives with new heat treat that I foresee getting a lot of use while camping/hiking.
Custom Santoku in Magnacut is also being worked on.
I also have a lot of folders with M390/20CV, Elmax, XHP, 10V, Maxamet, K390 that I use fairly often, but I prefer S90V over any of those and haven't gotten any production knives in anything less than M390.

That said, I also have custom knives in carbon and tool steels like REX121, W2, CPM-D2, 4V, 3V, 1095, choppers in S7, SR-101, and 5160 and they do see regular use except for the W2 (got it just for the hamon, but the maker did EDC it often before letting it go to me).

To summarize, my preferred knives are in S90V, but I do use carbon and tool steel fixed blades.
 
Love 3v especially delta. Cruwear has impressed me the most recently. I like it better than magnacut but I haven’t used magnacut with optimized hardness yet

I live in the high desert so stainlessness isn’t something I prioritize
 
Another Shepherd said:
I like having a variety of steels, but I think that 14C28N is the best value for the money.
Click to expand...

This is certainly a sweet spot. Edge retention is at least decent. Corrosion resistance is excellent. It's one of the toughest stainless blade steels and tough enough to give most any carbon a run for its money.
 
Chronovore said:
It's one of the toughest stainless blade steels and tough enough to give most any carbon a run for its money.
Click to expand...
A lot of them are, on paper... then watch video of some madman such as JoeX bash 3V knives and they break easily... or DBK guys that damage their edge...

All while JoeX has hardest time breaking carbon steels and there's several carbon steel knives that had no edge damage even after hitting metal...

Such a strange coincidence...
 
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