The subject of knife steels really fascinates me. I'm not really sure why, but I just really like to learn about them. I've been looking at various steels, their compositions, and all that, but it doesn't really give me a good understanding on how they compare to each other, their uses, etc. I'm really interested in some of the following steels as they seem to be very high quality, but I can't find a lot of knives that offer them. Can anyone list the uses, characteristics and knives that some of these steels can be found in?
Also, if I was to ever want browse knives categorized by steel used, is there a good website for doing that? I'd like to try some of these for myself some day.
This is what I know about them so far...
H1 - "True Stainless" steel that apparently doesn't rust. I've only seen it available in Spyderco's "Atlantic Salt". I don't know anything more about it.
M2 - High-speed tool steel, don't know much about its characteristics other than its used for high speed cutting, only know of a few Benchmade and Bark River models that use it and apparently it's very tough stuff.
M4 -- Spyerco Gayle Bradley uses this, and according to them "six times the wear resistance of D2 at the same hardness"
M390 -- I don't know anything about this one except it seems to be able to be hardened quite a bit, and is available in Benchmade's 755 MPR and knifework's 710 exclusive
3V/9V/10V - A line of Crucible steels that are apparently very tough and wear resistant. Don't know much else, or any knives that have them.
S60V/S90/S125V -- Apparently versions of S30V with higher percentages of carbon and vanadium. Most reputations I've seen for them is wear resistance, once again I don't know of any knives that use them.
INFI -- I know virtually nothing about this except that it's very tough and used for "chopping" applications.
Any that I left out that others can think of? From what I've been able to find so far M4 and M390 don't seem to be so hard to find, where as lot of offerings of M2 that I've seen are just in knives I have no need for and probably couldn't afford.
I'll probably save up for the Gayle Bradley to try out M4. It looks like a pretty nice knife anyway. Any other recommendations of knife to try for each steel? Or maybe some more steel/knife recommendations I missed?
P.S.
There's no real practical reason behind this, I'm just curious about these steels, and I can always resell the knives later if I don't like them.
Also, if I was to ever want browse knives categorized by steel used, is there a good website for doing that? I'd like to try some of these for myself some day.
This is what I know about them so far...
H1 - "True Stainless" steel that apparently doesn't rust. I've only seen it available in Spyderco's "Atlantic Salt". I don't know anything more about it.
M2 - High-speed tool steel, don't know much about its characteristics other than its used for high speed cutting, only know of a few Benchmade and Bark River models that use it and apparently it's very tough stuff.
M4 -- Spyerco Gayle Bradley uses this, and according to them "six times the wear resistance of D2 at the same hardness"
M390 -- I don't know anything about this one except it seems to be able to be hardened quite a bit, and is available in Benchmade's 755 MPR and knifework's 710 exclusive
3V/9V/10V - A line of Crucible steels that are apparently very tough and wear resistant. Don't know much else, or any knives that have them.
S60V/S90/S125V -- Apparently versions of S30V with higher percentages of carbon and vanadium. Most reputations I've seen for them is wear resistance, once again I don't know of any knives that use them.
INFI -- I know virtually nothing about this except that it's very tough and used for "chopping" applications.
Any that I left out that others can think of? From what I've been able to find so far M4 and M390 don't seem to be so hard to find, where as lot of offerings of M2 that I've seen are just in knives I have no need for and probably couldn't afford.
I'll probably save up for the Gayle Bradley to try out M4. It looks like a pretty nice knife anyway. Any other recommendations of knife to try for each steel? Or maybe some more steel/knife recommendations I missed?
P.S.
There's no real practical reason behind this, I'm just curious about these steels, and I can always resell the knives later if I don't like them.
