Pick your favorite steel for a custom build

I've had 6 knives with CTS-XHP and so far I've been really satisfied with it. Sharpens easy and takes a very sharp, aggressive edge that eats food, cardboard, and most EDC materials I encounter.

It's also highly corrosion resistant (something I value a lot in an EDC folder) and hasn't ever chipped on me
 
Those are some interesting steels available. Not too many makers who offer that many different steel choices, many of which need somewhat exotic heat treat processes. But I suppose that can just go out to Peters or wherever, too.

Tell us more about this folder design. Honestly for an EDC folder all those steels are fine. But if we have some idea of design and use, it'll be easier to narrow it down. OK, it'll mostly be easier to argue about it and not narrow it down at all, but you get the idea.
 
M390 Hands down. Gotta love that little splash of Chromium in the metallurgy process to give the steel that true mirror finish. That is ..if you care about something like this.
 
Great looking knives from the. Never handled one. The carboquartz scales he does are sweet looking
 
JimJones said:
As far as sharpening is concerned I can get a really nice razor edge on VG 10 and HAP 40 with my edge pro. I also have no problem getting a nice mirror polished edge on S 30v but it just doesn’t seem as sharp as the Japanese steels. I recently sharpened a Manix 2 in S90v and that thing took me several hours to get a mirror polished razor edge but it didn’t seem to stay shaving sharp very long.
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The Crucible SXXV series steels seem to like toothy edges over polished ones. I imagine you're getting carbide tearout with the mirror edges on them.
 
Of your choices I would suggest M390 or 20CV.

My favorites would be S110V or S3V, depending on what type of knife it was going to be.
 
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Hey the Mastiff, you mentioned in post number 11 that s35vn is tougher than m390. i have been looking for info comparing the two in toughness for a while with no success. i know bohler claims elmax to be tougher than s35vn, even at higher hardness. I kind of think that m390 is somewhat similar to elmax and is claimed to have "third generation" Powder metal tech which is supposed to have finer grain. so i kind of came to a personal conclusion that m390 and s35 are may be equal in toughness even though the m390m has more alloy. I am not disputing your post at all, this is just something that i would really be happy to find a solid answer to. Thanks. and for this post, i agree that m390 is the best overall choice due to its superior corrosion resistance and edge retention and probably better than average toughness compared to higher alloys like s90 and s110. the thing is, i would want the m390 at 60-61 harness, not the maximum 62. S35 was my favorite until i got m390. The m390 holds a razor like edge longer. i just did a cut test with s35 and s30 and after the test, i have come to prefer s30 of s35 due to its more agressive cutting nature; it just digs into fibrous material so well.
 
Microtech85, I am not an expert on either steel. I only have a couple knives in each and haven't pushed either very hard or thinned it out for test purposes like I have some other steels. You might be dead on. When people tell me they have experience with a steel that differs from "common knowledge" or book results I tend to pay attention and give credence to actual results over anything else.

Elmax should be tougher than M390 due to the composition of the steel. Higher carbide fraction. M390 should be more wear resistant because of the same thing. Are they close enough in performance that one having a high heat treat and one having a lower temp treat will affect the results? I don't know but I know it will in some cases with other steels. These type reasons are why I try not to equivalently claim X steel will do Y better than SXX steel unless I have good experience telling me it's true.

Bohler Uddelhom used to have some CATRA test results listed online possibly with these comparisons but the copy I had died along with my old computer. If I can find them again I'll post them.

Joe
 
JimJones said:
Hello
I’m getting my first custom and i have a choice between the following steels
N690
CTSB90
S35vn
ZFinit
CTS-XHP
M390
AEB-L
B75P
20CV
I spent a sometime on Google doing a little research but figured i would put out a post and see what everybody thinks mostly because i don’t have the time or the desire to do PhD level research in this matter

I’m tempted to go with the m390 just because of its popularity on the forums but from the brief reading i did on this subject some people were saying that AEB- L takes a laser beam like edge and is easier to sharpen than the "super" steels but it seems like this steel is more popular for kitchen knives. I have never sharpened any of these steels so i have no personal experience.


So what do you guys say what would you pick and why? And if you had the opportunity to spec the heat treat what would you spec?

The knife will be a EDC folder
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What did you end up picking?
 
I like balance; that said, for a custom would choose elmax, s35v, 3v, damasteel or 440c with a quality heat+cryo treatment, followed by a hand forged blade from a solid carbon steel or damascus because I do appreciate the elbow grease involved.
 
Since your use seems to be pretty casual, I suspect that most of these steels will suit you okay. It appears as though you like the polished edges, and they are fun to do. I have an Edge Pro also, and have polished several blades to a mirror finish, but am quite happy these days with 600 grit or 1000 grit edge. It leaves a bit of toothiness which handles my casual cutting chores perfectly.
For my latest smaller fixed blade, I've chosen CPM-20CV as it's a fine stainless super-steel that will hold a good edge for a long time.
 
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Umm, I would say it all depends on the use of the knife. The perfect bladesteel for everything doesn't exist. That said some steels are decidedly not a good option for certain knives.

M390 and 20cv are spectacular steels. That said personally I would love to try Zfinit which I have never tried.
 
Lapedog is correct, in my opinion. I could be quite happy with M390/20CV and CPM-3V...depending on the proposed use.
 
M390/20CV

Maker probably put CTS-B90 in there just for those safe queen people. Maker will have a very high profit margin with B90...

CTS-B90
 
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