Ok, few things I want to tackle, first; carbon steel v.s. Stainless steel. What I have learnt over the years is that harder steel equals better edge retention and keener edge. Carbon is most important element at attaining high hardness on steel. Basic stuff. I can take any simple but well heat treated carbon steel blade and make it hair popping sharp in matter of seconds. Now we get to the game breaker: heat treating. I am NOT a metalurgist; I am 21yo Finnish male who has been into knives since age of 7. People often say that stainless steels are garbage and can't hold an edge and in many cases that is true. You can't have a good cake if it's made out of feces, no matter how well you bake it. But when we are talking about steel that is fairly good but is still regarded as a low quality steel, like 400-series stainless steels, and give it a good heat treat you won't end up with just a blade that can take a good edge, but which can also hold it well.
Take 420hc as an example for instant. More than often it is recognized as a low end steel. But then there are Buck and Marttiini. Every knife nut has heard about Bucks 'legendary 420hc' at some point. Personaly I have never owned a Buck knive, but I bet they are as good as rumors tell because I have quite many knives from Finnish company Marttiini. They use same stuff, 420hc, and I can tell you that it is EASY to put razor edge on Marttiinis knives AND they hold it long while, as expected from quality cutlery. While it is undeniable that there are minimum requirements that steels chemical makeup must achieve in order so it can take an edge in the first place, that aside heat treatment is the soul of the blade. Well heat treated 'lower quality' steel will out perform poorly heat treated 'super steel'. I know that this place is full of steel and sharpening experts, most of who have a lot more experience than I do. However I wanted to make this post because so often at the beginning of this hobby new knive nut is lead to believe that superior steel is all there is and anything lesser is useless. As a final verdict: the line between stainless steels and carbon steels as well as line between 'low'- and 'high' quality steels is not so black and white as it may first seem to be. You can have a delicious cake from simple materials if talented cook made it, and in the next day you will realize that it was all you needed to keep yourself saturated, even though it was made from humble ingredients.
Take 420hc as an example for instant. More than often it is recognized as a low end steel. But then there are Buck and Marttiini. Every knife nut has heard about Bucks 'legendary 420hc' at some point. Personaly I have never owned a Buck knive, but I bet they are as good as rumors tell because I have quite many knives from Finnish company Marttiini. They use same stuff, 420hc, and I can tell you that it is EASY to put razor edge on Marttiinis knives AND they hold it long while, as expected from quality cutlery. While it is undeniable that there are minimum requirements that steels chemical makeup must achieve in order so it can take an edge in the first place, that aside heat treatment is the soul of the blade. Well heat treated 'lower quality' steel will out perform poorly heat treated 'super steel'. I know that this place is full of steel and sharpening experts, most of who have a lot more experience than I do. However I wanted to make this post because so often at the beginning of this hobby new knive nut is lead to believe that superior steel is all there is and anything lesser is useless. As a final verdict: the line between stainless steels and carbon steels as well as line between 'low'- and 'high' quality steels is not so black and white as it may first seem to be. You can have a delicious cake from simple materials if talented cook made it, and in the next day you will realize that it was all you needed to keep yourself saturated, even though it was made from humble ingredients.
