What are your go-to knife steels?

I feel sad for not having "go to's" after this many years on BF. What BF has given me is a penchant for some not to go to's - 420, CrMoV, surgical, totally unknown, no name stainless (except Vic) and maybe some others. Before my time here, I had heard of stainless and carbon steels, but never thought twice about the difference, except the stains. So I can say "thanks knuts".
 
abcdef said:
I feel sad for not having "go to's" after this many years on BF. What BF has given me is a penchant for some not to go to's - 420, CrMoV, surgical, totally unknown, no name stainless (except Vic) and maybe some others. Before my time here, I had heard of stainless and carbon steels, but never thought twice about the difference, except the stains. So I can say "thanks knuts".
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That’s totally fine man, nothing to be sad about. As long as your knives work well for you and are safe to use, that’s really all that matters. Before I joined BF, I didn’t know about carbon steels and I thought stainless steels were limited to dining utensils and butter knives LOL.
 
When I was younger, I chased super steels like many other knife fans and looked down on more "pedestrian" steels. However, these days I've got an appreciation for all quality steels. I carry knives most commonly in the following steels ("super" or not):

S30v
S35vn
1095
VG-10
D2
154CM
20CV
M390
CPM-XHP
ZDP-189 (knew I was forgetting one!)

I own or have owned knives in other steels like:

3V
D3V
M4
CPM154
S90v
S110v

Probably more I'm forgetting. In any case, I love them all. The secret is that no matter what steel it is, if you keep it touched up, the knife will do the job. I have to say that I'm with @not2sharp these days, steel is going to be my last major decision factor. I don't buy Chinese (or very inexpensive) knives, so all of the bottom rung steels don't really come into that decision process, so it's fine. Now, if I were for some reason looking for a new knife to fit a certain role, such as a hard use knife to put in a bag for whatever emergency use might come up, steel choice would become a more relevant factor. However, if it's just a new knife that "scratches the itch", the factors that are more important are those others have already mentioned: being a product from a quality manufacturer that has features and appearance that I like. Not super complicated.
 
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For me, the question should be, what steels are you equipped to sharpen and does the knife design compliment the steel choice?

I find that far too many people get all googley eyed over steel nomenclatures and don't have a single bit of sharpening equipment. Steel type should not be a factor for anyone until you have a good understanding blade and edge geometry and a modest sharpening method (not pull-throughs).

The only steel I have encountered that is hard for me to sharpen is ZDP-189. It produces a very slight burr and I struggle with it. Others find it incredibly easy to sharpen. But steels like S90V aren't any more difficult to sharpen than 420HC. You just need the right equipment.

You will never get the most out of any steel, or knife for that matter, if you don't have a way to sharpen and maintain them. That's when you start to see differences. I wish this was stressed more and got half as much attention as the steel type.

Also, I don't see them so much as "budget" or "high end" or "super steels". I just see them as different steels with different traits that fill different roles.
 
I enjoy the higher-end powder steels but don't ignore traditional steels. My current EDC is a Manly Wasp in 12C27, high thin grind takes a fantastic edge with very little effort and @ 60 HRC holds it a long time. Ditto my latest acquisition, Benchmade 200 puukko in 3V -- very easy to put a hair popping edge on it.
 
I like Case's steel. I like Spyderco's S30V. I like Buck's 420 and their BOS CPM154

I find D2 hard to sharpen, but I'm pretty new to sharpening.

Supersteels... dunno.
 
I'm a heat treat dude.. S30v at 59-60 is more exciting than at 58.
Otherwise: BG42, ATS 34, 420hc(Buck) the S35vn cuz it's heated 59-60
 
I don't have "go to" steels but I do have steels I stay away from. I'm usually not interested in non-stainless blades and would never buy an expensive knife made from it.
 
1095 usually does it for me. 5160. The only steel where I even think I notice a difference in performance is 80CR V2, and that may be illusory, or due to factors other than the steel.
 
I'm more of a budget guy. There are certain stainless steels I've come to enjoy relative to price. While not in a precise order, here are some good ones:

Acuto 440 - Kizer uses this steel in their Tangram line, which offers a decent knife for $20-something. I'm not alone in finding value with this Japanese budget steel. It's an excellent alternative to 8Cr13Mov (etc) in this price tier. Check out Pete's review at Cedric & Ada for more information.

12C27 - This steel has been around a long time and continues to be "decent". While it's been okay on more expensive knives like the early $52 Bestechs, it really shines on stuff like Sanrenmu's $20-something knives. Outpost76 had some fun testing one of those recently and his experiences mirror my own.

14C28N - This is a fine budget steel. I've enjoyed this on American-made Kershaws and more recent budget knives from Ruike.

9Cr18Mov - This steel gets a bad rap due to association with lesser XCrYMov steels and the poor heat treatment it's seen from companies like Schrade. Civivi has since shown the world that 9Cr18Mov can be a solid choice for EDC. I also have a Real Steel Receptor in this steel that has been excellent.

N690 - Kizer has been using this in some of their Vanguard or Bladesmith series. I don't have much experience with it so far but I like what I've seen.

VG-10 - This is another classic that's good to go. It tends to come in slightly more expensive knives but still finds a lot of use in the sub-$100 range. I'd like to see more VG-10 from WE and Civivi.
 
Whatever Buck, Benchmade, Victorinox are using for the knives I'm looking at. I'm not a hard user of knives so super steels don't mean anything to me. Design and function for my tasks are first and foremost. I know I have three different steels on my Benchmades, 154CM, S30V, and D2. All my Bucks seem to be 420HC, no idea what the steel is on the myriad SAKs I have. I have a couple other brands (Fallkniven, Opinel, Mora, and Muela) and have no idea what they are. One of the Opinels is carbon steel the other is stainless. The Moras are one of each too. The Muela is stainless. I forget what steel in on my Fallknivens.
 
I was and sorta am a steel snob... however, I now think I notice "bad" steels far more then minor differences in good steels and I have chilled out and carry multiple steel types happily.

I had a zt0808 that I carried for a few years and loved... but the s35vn on it sucked... I found out after the fact that they had issues with the HT on some of their s35vn...

That process was what pushed me into being more of a steel snob... but it actually was negative experience with bad steel... I had assumed that was s35vn as a whole.

When I tried the s35vn on a CRK, it was an entirely different experience... and it encouraged me to branch out and I have been happy with most of the steels I have tried.

I carry on folders:
S30
S35vn
20CV
M390
154CM

Fixed blades:
3V
A2
O1
S45VN
S35VN
1095
Mora Carbon

All work fine... my favorites are probably 20CV/M390 for folders and 3V for fixed but I do think most modern steels that are properly heat treated are plenty sufficient anymore.

back in the day, I had a bunch of 440, 420J2, AUS-6, AUS-8, 420HC etc... and the newer steels are a major improvement to steels of 15-20 years ago IMO.
 
Other than for specialized use, steel is the last consideration for me. As long as the knife is coming from a reputable maker, the performance of the steel is sufficient. Design, ergonomics, cost, aesthetics, interesting mechanisms, etc hold way more weight for me.

A recent example of this for me is the hype around some of the Spyderco PM2 new steel sprints vs the recent exclusive for a Waved PM2. The former had zero appeal to me, especially with the hype behind it driving up secondary market prices. That steel hype made it such that the online interest to buy the Waved PM2s were relatively low in that part of the community, which worked out for me since it was easy to buy the waved PM2 at a reasonable price. In scenarios like this, I'd pick the the latter over the former every time. S30V will do anything I can want from a user steel. There's no performance increase I'll get from like a V4 that will matter for the way I use knives.
 
1. Valyrian steel - Remains sharp forever. Light weight, you can wield a 3 foot blade with one hand like it was a chopstick. Beautiful damascus like pattern.
2. Adamantium - it's unbreakable. If it's good enough for the Titan Kronos and Zeus it must be good. The Elven Lady Galadriel even had a ring made out of it.
3. Vibranium - real tough, the greater the impact the stronger it gets. Capt. America wouldn't trust his shield to be made of any other material.

Also worth mentioning:
4. Dwarven steel - very tough and suitable for axes, but I steer clear of their stuff due to their draconian work culture.
5. Eleven steel - curvy grinds and very pretty scroll work but all the GITD stuff is just a gimmick.
 
It's about heat treatment, build quality, and grind to me. As long as a steel is capable of achieving a sufficient hardness and it performs well enough I will be fine with it, but I do appreciate higher end steels. I complain more often about crappy lockup, rickety construction, broken parts, and horrible action than I do about having to touch up the edge occasionally. They'll all dull eventually anyway.

I have used a lot of Buck 420HC, 8Cr13MoV, AUS-8, VG-10, and a few simple 1% carbon steels. There were differences between them but when done well by a reputable company none of them were all that far apart overall in real world use. I can tell a noticeable difference between the steels I mentioned and steels like S30V and M390, probably has something to do with the grain/carbide structure.

I've been carrying a Para3 LW in CTS-BD1N since I got it, and it sits in a sweet spot right in the middle. Good edge retention and high sharpness. I think I like it as much as VG-10 or maybe a little more.
 
The best balanced steel I've found for an EDC is Vanax SuperClean.

It holds a super keen, fine-grained edge, is easy to sharpen, is plenty tough, virtually rustproof. Awesome steel.
 
M390 is a probable favorite lately but more importantly is who made it and do I trust their heat treat. A properly done knife in D2 or CPM154 is better that a M390 or whatever you choose steel that is not properly heat treated. Unfortunately it is difficult to tell if a knife has a proper heat treatment without testing equipment. So just buy from a reputable maker and then use it and hope for the best.
 
My "go to" knife steels?
The "obsolete" 1095, 440A, 425HC, and whatever Mora's "Carbone" steel is.
Why? Those are the steels the knives I like (traditionals) are made with, and they cut for what I need a knife to cut.
 
Steel doesn't matter much to me, as long as the price is in line with the materials and craftsmanship. For example, I like D2 just fine, but if you're $500+ for a knife it should have better materials (e.g. Medford).

I have most of the popular "super" steels and for any common purpose I don't see how ZDP-189 or S90V improve my life at all compared to 440C/VG-10/AUS-8/etc. in actual practice. My favorite thing about people paying a premium for fancy blade steel is knowing that if you tell the average knife-using person (e.g. as one of the reasons why a particular knife is so expensive) that a knife has a blade made from S90V/3V/Vanax/whatever they just stare at you blankly and nod politely as if they don't think you're a spastic mall ninja. This doesn't stop me from buying knives in fancy steels, but it does amuse me frequently when people on here are arguing about some steel not being good enough to carry. If you only sharpen your knife once a month, doubling edge retention just means that instead of spending two minutes once a month you only have to spend two minutes every other month--hardly life changing.
 
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