Steel types?

[8BALL_99]

ok can anyone explain, or tell me where I can find out what the basic differnce is between all the differnt steel types used in Knifes and swords.. I've always liked knifes and I love swords but I don't really know that much about all the differnt steels.
I.E. 420-J2 stainless
ATS-34, Aus-6m, Aus-8A, BG-42, 440A Stainless, 440C Stainless 420-HC stainless,, then some knifes just say 440 or 420 stainless .

I know that Stainless steel blades tend to be harder to sharpen but there supose to hold an edge better right? all these types kinda of just confuse me and NO one explains them really, I've read alot on this forum and found out alot of usefull info thats why I joined. but I still haven't really seen any posts that explain the differnce between most of the blade types just one or 2 and most of them are about ATS-34, Most small (small=about 4" closed) folders I've seen and liked or made out of the other types of steel. Plus what ever knife I carry I don't want to worry about messing it up so I really don't want to have 100+ in it.

 

[Emanuel]

Try this :

http://www.scblades.com/blade_glosery.htm

Good luck,
Emanuel

 

[92degrees]

BladeForums has an excellent FAQ section:
http://www.bladeforums.com/features/faqsteel.shtml

 

[Keith Montgomery]

You will want to check out this site.

http://www.engnath.com/public/manframe.htm

This site has a tremendous amount of fantastic info on knives.

 

[8BALL_99]

Tys guys that helped alot,,Not all the sites had the same info on the same type of steel..but I got the general idea tys again

 

[Elwin]

Just a quick note about the composition tables you are bound to run into. Unless the steel is manufactured by only one company, like ats-34 and hitachi, or the cpm steels and Crucible, then the content will vary from mill to mill. Of course, even proprietary steels can be made different if the same company has more than one mill.