What is important to you about steel selection?

not2sharp

not2sharp

Platinum Member
Joined
Jun 29, 1999
Messages
20,462
I suspect that most of us rarely work hard with our knives and even when we do, that we are not working under pressure to beat the clock. Most of us are not depending on our knives at a meat processing plant, where taking the time to frequently resharpen our knives can be the difference between making our quota and earning that bonus. So why are we so sensitive to the blade steel?

As a collector I can understand the desire to collect knives made with rarer (pricier) premium steels. But, as a user, I would have a tough time justifying the premium paid for those better steels on a purely performance basis. No matter how good the steel, all blades need to be periodically sharpened and the premium steels often make the process just that much harder.

Lets talk about some of the tasks that have thought you appreciate the better steels.

n2s
 
Frankly I don't care "much" about the super steels any more. I'm still interested, but it is becoming more of a knowledge thing for me. Some medium grade steel (S35VN or something) is fine with me for a using knife. I like to try stuff out, but if I like the knife, the steel is not the most important thing that makes me buy as long as it isn't 440A on a modern knife. 440A or 1095 is fine on my slippies. I don't mind sharpening them and it usually only takes a couple minutes with these small knives.

Clearly I am not a steel junkee since my most used knives are Vic SAKs. Been using a small Rough Ryder Pipe knife & tool with a wharncliffe blade (440A) and it seems to do just fine.

Tasks? I use a knife when I need it and seldom have any really hard use. It is not like I'm trying to cut conveyor belts, tires, or something.
 
not2sharp said:
I suspect that most of us rarely work hard with our knives and even when we do, that we are not working under pressure to beat the clock. Most of us are not depending on our knives at a meat processing plant, where taking the time to frequently resharpen our knives can be the difference between making our quota and earning that bonus. So why are we so sensitive to the blade steel?

As a collector I can understand the desire to collect knives made with rarer (pricier) premium steels. But, as a user, I would have a tough time justifying the premium paid for those better steels on a purely performance basis. No matter how good the steel, all blades need to be periodically sharpened and the premium steels often make the process just that much harder.

Lets talk about some of the tasks that have thought you appreciate the better steels.

n2s
Click to expand...
You suspect wrong.
 
The places where I use my knives the hardest are in the kitchen (breakfast, lunch, and dinner nearly every day), field dressing game, and butchering game (same 4-8 deer and/or antelope a year plus ducks, rabbits, squirrels, etc.).

The knives I enjoy using the most for those tasks are made of XC75 at RC54 or so, Bucks 420HC at RC58 (IIRC), and whatever stainless and hardness F. Dick uses in their blue handled boning knives.

None of those steels are exceptionally hard, none are super steels. Somehow I still manage to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and field dress deer (not every day obviously), and butcher deer, antelope, rabbits, ducks, and squirrels. I sharpen my kitchen knives a couple of times a year and steel them before use. I sharpen my boning knives whenever they don't respond well to a steel. I sharpen my hunting knives whenever they need it. Nothing I have is hard to sharpen, and sharpening doesn't take long.

So when it comes down to it, I guess I like easy to sharpen steels that react well to steeling before or after use.
 
I'm mainly a knife collector, not a user. So, it doesn't matter to me.

I buy a knife mainly because of its design, not the steel used. Have lots of knives w/8Cr13Mov, AUS-8 & VG10 as well as M390, 20CV, S90V, Elmax, etc. Never cut anything w/them. On the other hand, I've got a lot of carbon/stainless steel kitchen knives, several Swiss Army knives, box cutters, utility knives and a couple of junk Chinese made knives (steel unknown) that I use to cut stuff w/all the time.

I have a full array of sharpening devices/stones at my disposal which I've used on my kitchen/utility knives and to touch up a few of the knives in my collection (mostly softer steels and better steels up only to S30V/S35VN). I've never actually tried to sharpen a premium steel blade but (based on what I've read) they're a PITA to sharpen by hand and better done w/the proper mechanical equipment.

So, if I were to actually use any of the knives in my collection, I would prefer to use those w/a softer and easier to sharpen steel than a harder premium steel. One that has a reasonable amount of durability for the task at hand that would be easy to resharpen on the spot w/a pocket stone, such as AUS-8 or VG10 which have been used in folding knives made by Spyderco and other companies for decades.
 
Last edited:
I do a fair bit of food prep and yard/garden work with my knives when at home. For those knives I prefer a knife with very corrosion resistant steel and internal parts. So in that respect the steel (and the rest of the knife parts) is important to me. Last night I cut a bunch or romaine with a Spyderco Caribbean and after I was done there was lettuce all in and around the pivot area. I flushed it with the faucet and back into my pocket it went.

When I am working (office worker here) or out running around the steel is not real important to me. I look much more for a knife that is a joy to carry and use for simple everyday tasks or that is appropriate for the days activities. Many of those come in "Super Steels" but it is never the deciding factor for my purchase. Right now at work I have a a Spyderco UKPK with 110v steel. I bought it because I wanted a one hand slip joint, good slicer, lightweight, not intimidating and I like the color. The steel had nothing to do with it.
 
To tell the truth, CTS-XHP is my favorite, followed by CPM-S35VN. I no longer feel the need to have the latest and greatest. I'm absolutely trrbl (Charles Barkley pronunciation) at sharpening, so I send them out.

My current stable includes the aforementioned, as as CPM--90V, CPM-M4, CPM-154, D2, and S30V.
 
not2sharp said:
I suspect that most of us rarely work hard with our knives and even when we do, that we are not working under pressure to beat the clock. Most of us are not depending on our knives at a meat processing plant, where taking the time to frequently resharpen our knives can be the difference between making our quota and earning that bonus. So why are we so sensitive to the blade steel?

As a collector I can understand the desire to collect knives made with rarer (pricier) premium steels. But, as a user, I would have a tough time justifying the premium paid for those better steels on a purely performance basis. No matter how good the steel, all blades need to be periodically sharpened and the premium steels often make the process just that much harder.

Lets talk about some of the tasks that have thought you appreciate the better steels.

n2s
Click to expand...

I’m kind of over my I have to try every steel phase. I know which steels I like now and those are the ones I prefer to get.

I tend to like a steel that sharpens up easy enough to be user friendly. 154cm/n690/vg10 tier are some of my favourite. Elmax/s35vn are other favourites. I also like m390/m4/ZDP. These are steels I like in folders which is mostly what I buy and carry.

I am still always interested in trying new steels, especially if it is on a knife I want. However I am done buying knives just to try out a new steel.
 
craytab said:
You suspect wrong.
Click to expand...
How's that? :D

I used to field dress game often in the fall/winter. Now I don't hunt or haven't in about 5 years. Might change that, but it is such a pain in the butt to find places to hunt these days unless you have deep pockets. A deer or three simply isn't worth spending $500 or $1000 for. You can buy a lot of meat at the grocery store for that.

I would consider butchering several deer at the same time pretty heavy use (not hard use). I used to trap and have skinned a lot of animals and sharp knives were very important to be good at it.
 
I really have no use for a blade steel that I can't hone to hair-popping with nothing more than an arkansas stone/ceramic stick and a strop. S35VN is about the bee's knees for me. Anything most super-duper than that, and I get frustrated. I don't mind having to sharpen my knife. LIKE to sharpen my knife. I just don't want to have it fight me.

I can get along great with any soft steel. Case in point, this morning my wife asked me to cut up some peppers for her lunch. We had been gifted a set of very ho-hum cheap kitchen knives by my mom and stepdad for Christmas. You know the type, $35 for a set of solid stainless mystery steel serrated monstrosities, but the set did come with a couple of handy paring knives. The one I selected to dissect the pepper needed a touch up. I spent 3 minutes on my large arkansas stone I keep in the kitchen and followed that with about 2 minutes of stropping on a piece of leather loaded with scratch polishing compound. In less than 5 minutes the edge was mirror polished and would scare the hair off my arms. I might need to touch it up again in a month.

I prefer a slightly harder steel for my EDC folder, but S35VN seems to hold up well and the damage the edge takes is easy to smooth out. I'm good with that or VG10 or even a well done 440HC in some applications. Super steels, for me, are purely academic.
 
Doesn't matter to me, as long as it is decent. At least 8cr13mov. The best steels I have are s30 and 35. I keep them touched up on a sharpmaker, and have stones and a lansky if I need heavy duty sharpening. If it cuts open my mail or boxes, meat, fruit and veggies, and can strip cables it's good to me.
 
As long as the blade doesn't break when I open a box or envelope, I'm happy! Seriously though, I quit using my knives as pry bars decades ago. My fixed blades see harder work than any of my folders. Blade steel doesn't matter to me...
 
I want a blade that won't chip or roll when I'm putting it to use while practicing bushcraft. I want a blade that is ridiculously hard and has good edge retention. I want a knife that is easy to sharpen to a super sharp edge so I can slice veggies sub-millimeter thick. I want it all.

So which steel? Whatever meets those needs and there is no metal which will allow me to drive a sushi knife through a branch and come out unscathed. The right geometry combined with the right metal in a properly sized knife is what is required and is why we users often have many knives. Since figuring that out having a "magic metal" isn't so important, although I am interested in the technology and state of the art.
 
I like good all around steels but most importantly look for designs I like. I’m mostly into traditional knives these days anyways and any Carbon will do and anything from Schrade+ steel up to cpm154 is fine with me. Only have 2 modern knives both XM-18s in s35vn which is one of the best HTed ones out there my 3” wasn’t cutting paper that well and not shaving hair at all 20 passes on the strop back to shaving hair.

Most of the time I use a traditional with their super thin geometry so they cut great and have a long cutting lifetime before needing sharpened so even with “outdated” steels they will preform excellent.

Normal traditional folder uses : cutting plastics, straps, tape, any kind of fine tasks

What I use my XM-18 for : when I’m too lazy to get my slip out, hard cutting, and light prying
 
It really depends on how I intend to use the knife. Most are EDC which get used for basic tasks like opening envelopes & boxes and breaking down a box on occasion along with other random light cutting. The majority it is about corrosion and edge holding firstly. If the knife is intended for some other uses then I might look to more into different properties. I do favor a well rounded steel like M390 for my EDC needs. I also am just interested in the experience any steel can offer so I want to try most any knife in most every steel.
 
For the kind of life I live it's true I don't really need 20cv, m390, s30v, s35vn, etc. but I've become kind of a steel snob. I'm just not happy with 8cr or any steels in that range of performance. I had a kershaw atmos and while I thought the design was great and the fit and finish was good I couldn't get past the 8cr13mov blade steel. I really don't mind spending a few extra minutes to sharpen a high end steel that will last much longer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top