toughest stainless steels

I don't have any experience with that steel.
 
Id 2nd Charlie Mike Charlie Mike from my experience with Elmax and knowledge of its properties it is one that to me shines in regards to what I consider toughness. I don't know what OP is looking for out of the steel really.

There may be more or better list of properties but I found this list, taken from knife informer, if OP would rank these properties from most important to least it would be easier to say what would work best.
Hardness
Hardness is the ability to resist deforming when subject to stress and applied forces. Hardness in knife steels is directly correlated to strength and is generally measured using the Rockwell C scale (aka “HRC”).

Toughness
Toughness is the ability to resist damage like cracks or chips when subject to impact or “sudden loads”. Chipping is a knife’s worst enemy and never easy to fix. There are a number of different ways to measure toughness (i.e. Charpy, Izod) thus it’s less standardized than hardness when it comes to knives. In general, the harder the steel the less tough it’s likely to be.

Wear Resistance
Wear resistance is the steel’s ability to withstand damage from both abrasive and adhesive wear. Abrasive wear occurs when harder particles pass over a softer surface. Adhesive wear occurs when debris is dislodged from one surface and attaches to the other. Wear resistance generally correlates with the steel’s hardness but is also heavily influenced by the specific chemistry of the steel. In steels of equal hardness, the steel with larger carbides (think microscopic, hard, wear resistant particles) will typically resist wear better. However, carbides can become brittle and crack, thus decreasing toughness.

Corrosion Resistance
Corrosion resistance is the ability to resist corrosion such as rust caused by external elements like humidity, moisture and salt. Note that a high resistance to corrosion does involve a sacrifice in the overall edge performance.

Edge Retention
Edge Retention represents how long the blade will retain its sharpness when subject to periods of use. It’s what everyone talks about these days but unfortunately the measurement of edge retention lacks any defined set of standards and so much of the data is subjective. For me, edge retention is a combination of wear resistance and an edge that resists deformation.
Click to expand...
 
Charlie Mike told you the toughest powder stainless steels -- Vanax SC and Elmax. Those are awesome steels.

AEB-L is an ingot stainless and is tougher still, but with a loss of wear resistance over Vanax and Elmax.

But you might want to consider what you're going to use the knife for, as Marcinek says. "Toughness" is the ability to resist cracks and breaks and chips, but that doesn't mean a tough knife is good for heavy use.

Here's a very, very tough knife that is not up to hard use.

2v2JVnWUSxAWtWs.jpg
 
Elmax is the first stainless that comes to mind whenever I think “tough”. It’s revered for just that. If I were looking for a heavy duty stainless blade Elmax would be my first choice, though to be fair, it’s what I have experience with. I haven’t tried out some of the newer options yet.
 
Twindog said:
Charlie Mike told you the toughest powder stainless steels -- Vanax SC and Elmax. Those are awesome steels.

AEB-L is an ingot stainless and is tougher still, but with a loss of wear resistance over Vanax and Elmax.

But you might want to consider what you're going to use the knife for, as Marcinek says. "Toughness" is the ability to resist cracks and breaks and chips, but that doesn't mean a tough knife is good for heavy use.

Here's a very, very tough knife that is not up to hard use.

2v2JVnWUSxAWtWs.jpg
Click to expand...
If the Randall is stainless, it’s probably 440-B.
 
Twindog said:
Charlie Mike told you the toughest powder stainless steels -- Vanax SC and Elmax. Those are awesome steels.

AEB-L is an ingot stainless and is tougher still, but with a loss of wear resistance over Vanax and Elmax.

But you might want to consider what you're going to use the knife for, as Marcinek says. "Toughness" is the ability to resist cracks and breaks and chips, but that doesn't mean a tough knife is good for heavy use.

Here's a very, very tough knife that is not up to hard use.

2v2JVnWUSxAWtWs.jpg
Click to expand...
Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!! Would love to hear the story behind this one.
 
sharp thoughts said:
Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!! Would love to hear the story behind this one.
Click to expand...

I bought it used on the forum, but it came with significant flaws in fit and finish. I couldn't resell it because of the flaws, so that gave me the chance to learn something about Randall knives. Even in gentle testing at first, it was apparent the the blade had little strength, making it worthless to me. So I pushed it harder, and the knife could take virtually no abuse without failing.
 
Big brown bear has a thread on s35vn, Elmax and cpm-154 toughness testing. Basically it depends on geometry of the blade, and the heat treatment also.
 
Elmax has been pretty tough in my experience. I have no experience with either, but I hear AEB-L is darn tough for stainless, as is Vanax Superclean. I would love to get my hands on some Vanax to find out...
 
More knowledgeable people have already given some recommendations on various tough steels, so I won't comment any further on the different available kinds of steel. I would, however, like to add that a good heat treatment can make or break a knife in any steel. If you are looking to buy a 'tough' knife made from 'tough' steel, don't go blindly for a certain type of steel. Also make sure the maker / brand has a good reputation for their heat treatments.
 
AEBL for a big chopper needing impact resistance.
Elmax for anything else, is my preference.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top