Stainless steel choices

[Ian Fifelski]

Morning all.

Is there a good chart out there of stainless steels toughness/hardness/corrosion resistance/chipping resistance etc.? Or could somebody make a list up for me? I've been having a hard time wrapping my head around the chemical make up of stainless steels and what each is good for. With carbon steels it is pretty simple, especially 10xx steels, to know what they are good for and what hardness you can get out of them, but when I am seeing 2.80% carbon and all that other stuff in stainless, I get lost. It would be great if someone could bring things down to my level in a: s30v- good for ____ not good for ____ , suggested hardness
sort of way

Looking through other threads I can see that many of you have that steel "know how" of what is good for what size, style and use. Please share it! (I assume like many other things similar, there is no one answer, but Imma ask anyway)


Thanks!

 

[kuraki]

I can give you what I'm familiar with or what I use them for.

416- easy to machine because of the sulphur content. Used mostly for guards, bolsters and fittings.
410, 420- grinds relatively easily and used in stainless san mai
AEB-L- basically the 10xx of stainless. Tough, keen edge knives.
Elmax- Less toughness than AEB-L but tough for a PM stainless, good wear resistance and corrosion resistance