Steels You Wish Were More Ubiquitous?

Eli Chaps

Eli Chaps

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Apr 20, 2018
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What steels do you wish were used more and more readily available in the knives you like? Doesn't have to just be folders or fixed but kitchen too. I'm far from a steel geek but I do know some steels I really like.

For me, it has to be BD1N and CTS-XHP. I find both of these steels to give really nice performance and especially wish they were more widely used in kitchen cutlery. They sharpen up easily, have respectable hardness, and hold up without being overly chippy.

So what say you?
 
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AEB-L in production knives would be the big one, though 14c28n is close enough (and with a lot better stain resistance) that I can't complain much.

I don't have as much of a problem with S30V as many do, but I like S35VN better and don't entirely understand why it hasn't become more standard.
 
I'm also interested in the CTS alloy. My reasoning might sound odd. I have never seen, felt, carried, touched or heard a recommendation for this alloy or the folder by anyone at any time. I cannot say that for most of the usual cutlery attributes. I'd just like to try it.
 
They’ve already been mentioned.
XHP
Elmax

Sadly I only have one Elmax blade. I really like it.
I have a couple XHP Spyderco’s, one of which gets used daily. It sharpens very easily for the amount of edge retention it holds.
 
52100 is a cool one.
Surface rust turns to a cool patina and it has a really good balance between ease of sharpening, edge holding, and toughness.

Elmax and 204P are a couple others I'd like to see more of as well.
 
I can't get over how smooth and fine of an edge carbon steel takes. I know stainless is so much easier to take care of but I wish more production makers gave a 1095 option on modern knives.
 
I have seen some nice ones mentioned that I can certainly agree with

BD1N is a nice budget steel that I don't see used too often so definitely on my list
AEB-L is a steel I hear about but never seen on production knives so it would be nice to see on some production knives
Elmax I have 1 knife with this and I love it so give me more of it
CTS-XHP it seems like a great steel but since CS dropped it for S35VN it is much harder to find a blade using it
BG-42 honestly I missed getting to experience this steel so would love to see some knives run in it that I could use
Sleipner it seems like an interesting steel but outside of LionSteel no one seems to use it
 
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