What is your favorite Stainless Steel?

ATS-34.

My ATS-34 REKAT folders are sharp as a razor, easy to keep that way, and there are no signs of "rusting" or discoloration on the blades.
 
I'm a big fan of BG-42 and S90V. The wear resistance on the S90V is incredible.

I wish Crucible would hurry up and get that stainless 3V on the market.
 
BG42 or 154CM as a close second. Good heat treatment is probably at least as important as the choice of steel, IMHO.
 
154-CM/ATS-34; these are great steels that are the best for the money. I would probably like BG-42 better if I could afford a knife with it.
 
S90V, the steel formerly known as CPM420V. Tough as anything else stainless, holds an edge twice as long as anything else stainless. Super steel.
 
What Steve Harvey said.
CPM-420V (S90V) has impressed me greatly.
It ain't normal:eek:
 
VG-10. AUS8. And whatever my SAK is. Good working steels. The VG-10 takes and holds a scary edge as good as Carbon V and has a 'bite' to it I haven't found with any other stainless. AUS8 sharpens more easily, holds an edge more than acceptably well (on a CS Voyager) and is tough. The SAK takes a superb edge, doesn't hold it as long as the others but is easiest to sharpen of the three. Sorry, haven't tried BG-42 or the other exotics yet.
 
VG-10 is as exotic as any steel I'll ever want. The stuff is amazing. As I've said before, it's affecting my knife purchases the way that the new, really good locks have been: it's swaying my decisions almost disproportionately because it's that good.
 
Truthfully, I prefer the 420 series to other stainless steels. 420 seems to give me the best balance between taking a decent edge, and holding that edge over extended periods of storage in a damp or wet or humid environment. My boat, car , truck and yard tractor knives are all either 420 or AUS6. Since they're used little, and stored lots, I'm more interested in something that I know is going to be as close to as sharp as the day it was stowed away than anything else. Nothing against the so called *better* stainless steels, but if I want stainless, I want STAINLESS. For overall use, I much prefer the "rusty" steels.
 
Talonite :)
I'm quite impressed by BG 42. I'm underwhelmed by 440V.
But you know, 440C, if done well like George Tichbourne, is quite an excellent steel.
 
I’m blown away by the performance of BG-42. I have BG-42 on my large Sebenza, and some Paul Bos heat-treated BG-42 on my Buck 110 and Buck 560. Believe it or not, I’m much more impressed by the Buck BG-42 than the Sebenza BG-42. Does Chris Reeve heat-treat the BG-42 himself? If you want to try out a deadly cutter some day, try out my partially serrated BG-42 Buck 110. Between the exceptional steel and the good serrations, there isn’t anything I can’t through with it.

I thought I would like 154CM more, but it just doesn’t grab me as being that much better than my Buck 420HC blades. I have a bunch of 154CM blades from a number of manufacturers.

I was not blown away by 440V on my Spyderco Military, but it’s not bad. It’s a bitch to put an edge on, for some reason, but it is quite stainless. My Military is always around water, and hasn’t developed a speck of rust yet. I’d take the 440V over my Camillus and Benchmade 154CM blades, but it isn’t even close to good BG-42.

I have some Dozier D2 on the way. Does that fall into the category of stainless?
 
For me these days it is AUS-8, and here's why:

I am a po' starving student (so Po' I can't afford the other letters to spell 'poor" properly!) and I have to weigh each purchase carefully. I like my ATS blades, but the geometries of those blades aren't perfect fopr utility. So recently I have been looking for a new blade, and I am at the point that a blade with a grind I like in ATS or 154 costs so much (to me) that I may as well save up and get a real performer liek 420V or talonite or something like that. But, i don't have that kind of money.

Then I remembered the Outdoor Edge Magna. Kit Carson design, nice high grind line for utility, etc. Blade is AUS-8. I've been carrying around my CRKT M-16 in AUS-8 (hmm... another Kit Carson design? Who is this Kit Carson guy? Must be a robot or an alien...). For my daily "open mail, cut some string, trim a finger nail, slice a bit of cardboard" chores, AUS-8 goes a while before needing a touch-up, and touch-ups take seconds. AUS-8 will serve me well for now, until I can afford them customs! Gee, maybe my first cutom will have to be a ...... KIT CARSON!! :)
 
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