Stainless & Carbon comparable at the same RC hardness?

[shqxk]

while I can't speak to the steels you mentioned, I can speak to 1095 and 440C. At the same(similar) hardness, my 440C blades held an edge much longer than 1095. But that is likely due to the alloying elements in 440C. Certainly increased wear resistance makes a difference in a higher alloyed steel than a simple carbon steel.

Now lets do comparison between 440C and SR-101.

SR-101 is just a lower carbon content carbon steel than 1095 with slightly add of chromium and manganese, with proprietary HT of course. From my experience SR-101, 52100, 1095 will hold an edge significantly better than 440C.

I think you know HT is the main factor on these subject even same steel at the exactly same hardness can behave differently.

From my experience well done carbon steel always outperform well done stainless steel. YMMV

 

[Jhansenak47]

At the same hardness, say 57RC, what makes, say 1080, superior to, say 5Cr13MoV???

Conventional wisdom is that carbon steel will be tougher and rust easier at the same hardness relative to stainless.
That is a generalized oversimplification though.
Since you specified fine grained I would suggest reading the vast literature on carbon vs stainless straight razors.
Be careful not to step in the BS or drink the kool aid, especially when it comes to straight razors. Lots of good info and lots of idiots.

 

[Cobalt]

Now lets do comparison between 440C and SR-101.

SR-101 is just a lower carbon content carbon steel than 1095 with slightly add of chromium and manganese, with proprietary HT of course. From my experience SR-101, 52100, 1095 will hold an edge significantly better than 440C.

I think you know HT is the main factor on these subject even same steel at the exactly same hardness can behave differently.

From my experience well done carbon steel always outperform well done stainless steel. YMMV

So, SR101 is the same basically as 52100 which is slightly higher in Carbon(0.98- 1.1 C) than both 1095 and 440C which are both right at 1% C. For all intents and purposes you can assume the difference in Carbon in all three is insignificant, but it is certainly not lower. I agree with you that 52100 and SR101 hold a better edge than 440C. They both also hold a much better edge than 1095 as well. WE can agree that HT is everything as well, and I think this is where 1095 holds an edge over 440C. With outfits like Tops, Rowan and more doing excellent HT for 1095, you can certainly see 1095 doing better than 440C in many cases. But properly HT'd 440C will not hold a back seat in edge holding to 1095. Not in my experience.