Top 5 favorite steels

A few of my favorites, in no particular order:

1. CPM S30V at RC 58-59 - One of the few "high tech" steels I have tried. Excellent balance between wear resistance, toughness, edge retention, and corrosion resistance.

2. 154CM at RC 57-59 - An oldy but goody. Similar to S30V, but with a little less wear resistance. Very fine grained and easy to get a high polish on the bevel.

2. D2 at RC 60 - Another oldy but goody. Generally, I prefer stainless, but I'll make an exception for D2 (It's almost stainless anyway ;)). Unusually tough at RC60 (tougher than a lot of stainless steels) and takes a toothy edge due to the large carbides in the grain structure. It won't do push cuts with the same ease as finer grained steels, but it makes for an excellent slicer.
 
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CPM154 - A tough steel that takes a good edge. See Bass Pro 110.

154CM/ATS34 - A classic that continues to perform well. See Benchmade.

VG-10 - Great general purpose steel that takes a great edge and holds it well. See Spyderco.

BG-42 - A tough steel with excellent edge holding and wear resistance. See Spyderco and Buck Custom.

420HC - Possibly the most underrated steel. It has excellent corrosion resistance and takes a very fine edge. Easy to sharpen.
 
In order:

VG-10
CMP S30V
CPM D2
ZDP-189
S90V
BG-42

(Sorry, had to mentioon 6)

I like the "mid-level" steels (although I think that is disrepectful to VG-10 and CPM S30V) for everyday carry and value.

I have all shaving sharp knives, edge profile and thickness notwithstanding, but my VG-10 blades are about as wicked sharp as you can get for an EDC. I get goose bumps when I run my thumb across some of my Mcustas.
 
Buck's 420HC
Case' CV
1095
52100
440C

If I'm wanting to sacrifice ease of sharpening for edge retention, then D2.
Nothing new, nothing fancy, these older steels still work just fine.
 
1095 -- sharp, strong, looks good on a working knife, easy to maintain
VG-10 -- takes a super sharp edge, stainless, holds an edge well
D2 -- once sharp, it lasts and lasts, decently corrosion resistant
154CM/ATS-34 -- my first high quality stainless blades back in the day, works well all around
Sandvik 12C27 -- nice stainless that I've just recently started using, gets nice and sharp and holds an edge quite well

I'm looking forward to trying a Koster Bushcraft in CPM3V someday too.
 
This thread shows the best and worst of Bladeforums. Roughly 3 dozen steels have been listed, depending on how you count (154CM/CPM 154, etc.). It's a wealth of information and too much information at the same time.

The most popular steels so far are VG10, 154CM, D2 and S30V.
 
154CM and its cousins: ATS34 and 14-4CrMo
VG10
N690
AUS10
440C
 
I am doing some formal edge retention testing. Some results are quite surprizing.

http://playground.sun.com/~vasya/Manila-Rope-Results.html

If I roughly summirize results it may looks like this (as good as possible to compare arrays of results for different number of cuts):

1. Dozier heat treated D2.
2. SwampRat SR101 (52100)
3. J.P.Holmes CPM 10V
4. Yuna knives ZDP189
5. Fehrman R3V (CPM 3V)
6. G-Sakai SRS15
7. Kershaw CPM S30V
8. Busse INIFI
9. Benchmade M2
10. Kiku Matsuda OU31
11. Diamond Knives Friction Forged D2.
12. Kershaw Sandvic 1326
13. Fallkniven 3G (SGPS)
14. RosArms 110x18
15. CRKT AUS8
16. Kershaw SG2
17. Benchmade D2

Thanks, Vassili.

P.S. More steel in testing queue, so this is not complete list yet...
 
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