Sharpeners...What is your favorite Steel to sharpen ?

S90v and S30v both are super-easy to get wicked sharp on my belt sander w/leather belt and lee valley green compound.

My fave's for ease of sharpening to cleanly slicing newsprint level:

wife's mini manix 2 carbon fiber -S90v
wife's thomas haslinger custom chef knife -s30v
george tichbourne custom chef knife -440c
zt302 -s30v
james emmons custom bowie -01 tool steel
old cold steel kukri -Carbon V
busse nmfbm -infi
 
VG-10 because it sharpens quickly.

ZDP-189 because it doesn't burr easily, and when it does, it's easy to remove.
 
For me the best steel to sharpen is either nice thin carbon steels like in old slippies (especially Imperial's stuff and Case CV) and also the japanese white and blue carbon steels. The slippies i love because it takes so little time and effort to get an AMAZING edge that I like doing it often. Japanese carbon steels are hard and slow to grind but seem to refine very quickly, and they too take a wicked edge. Most carbon steels are like that but those are the two that stand out for me, stainless is a huge PITA to sharpen up IMO. I sharpen up my dad's Stryker that he was issued about 8 years ago whenever i go home and lemme tell ya that ATS-34 or 154 seems to take so much more time to grind down than what i usually use. If i get a stainless knife it's 12c27, 440A/B, or the higher end chinese steels like that rough rider uses.
 
M2 in the form of used power hacksaw blades and 12C27 for stainless. My Griptillian in 154CM is very easy to get a hair whittling edge on, but that's the only sample of that steel I have.
 
D2 hands down, it takes a fantastic high polished edge (8000 + chromium oxide), absolutely my prefered steel.
 
H1 for me, it gets silly sharp with hardly any effort. Retention is not the best but with the ease of sharpening, it's a good trade off:)
 
I freehand with arkansas stones and wet and dry sandpaper. 1095 and AUS8 are both by far my favorite to work with.
 
1095 or any other non-stainless alloy.
They take a razor edge without fancy equipment.
 
Here's where we are to this point:

VG 10 --- 8
CPM 154 --- 5
CPM M-4 --- 5
1095 --- 5
CPM D2 --- 5
154 CM --- 4
12c27 --- 4
13C26 --- 3
Plain D2 --- 2
Takufei SG2 --- 2
BG-42 --- 2
52100 --- 2
[FONT=&quot]AUS-8 --- 2[/FONT]
S30V --- 2
Infi --- 2
M2 --- 2
ZDP-189 --- 2
Case's chrome vanadium -- 2
Any carbon steel --- 2
[FONT=&quot]O1 --- 2[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
Aogami 1

Shirogami 1
Aritsugu Gokinko
[FONT=&quot]ATS-34 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
S90V
440 C
440 A
440 B
Carbon V
Japanese white carbon steel
Japanese blue carbon steel
[FONT=&quot]VG-1[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
SR-101 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]H-1[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
14c28
Schrade's carbon steel
 
Well, add another to VG10. I found it easy to get a great edge on.

And I'll throw a bone to Spyderco's S30V.

I enjoy sharpening both of those because I know the results are going to be good and will last.
 
You should put 52100 and SR-101 together.
 
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