Nice article. I hate when people recommend a super steel simply based on the number in the name as far as a rank. Like S110V is a better super steel than S90V or given the choice of steels they would choose CPM 4V over CPM 3V when they most likely don’t even have experience with either.
Most of the "experts" are honor graduates of Google U, and have quoted the favored quotes, referred to charts posted here, and joined the herd in their steel preference. They don't go buy a new $250 - $500 knives for test trials every time a new steel is put into the market for manufacture. They don't buy new knives with the latest and greatest from different manufacturers just to compare the steel heat treat across several different manufacturers so they have a valid data set. I don't think anyone could keep up with the amount of steels coming out these days, much less perform valid tests on same steels to measure their performance from different manufacturers.
The worst part is to take steel recommendations from a guy with a high forum post count, thinking he has steel knowledge.
But... high post counts mean knowledge, right? I thought that checking here three times a day and posting your opinion (that in many times simply concurs with the group's) made you an expert by osmosis...
Always choose your steel based on how you will use them and what is important to you. Edge retention, corrosion resistance or resharpening ability to keep it very simple when it comes to folders.
No doubt there are a lot of smart guys here, and no doubt there is a ton of good information here. BF makes a great jumping off point when researching particular knives and steels. But after a few years of seeing a new steel introduced every six months and having the group feel that is the new baseline, it is wearying.
I don't think the term "super steel" was invented here, but a lot of the faux intellectual knowledge and snobbery seem to be well rooted here. Steels that were "super steels" just a few years ago are dismissed by the experts as "good for the price","good steel on a budget knife", "OK for my young son who might lose his knife", "good when I don't want to use my *
fill in blank with newest super steel*.
I agree that it is important to purchase the steels that you want in a knife that do what you want them to do. We have a lot of choices these days and you can pretty much tailor your steel to your activities and while some manufacturers do steel better than others, most steels in quality knives these days are more than adequate for the average user.
Robert
