What steel are you guys using for chef's knives?

Exotic materials do have a lot of cache. I do enjoy trying something new now and then, but it can get old filling custom orders from people chasing along after the new "ultimate" material. I prefer much more to stick with the carbon steels I can heat treat personally, and that I know still more than hold their own with the new-and-flashy.

Hitachi white and blue are my "grail" steels I have yet to try for chef knives.
 
Great info here.
The questions really are, what kind of knife do you WANT to make?
And, What kind of knife do the people around you WANT to buy?

I could sell a whole raft of $100-200 chef knives locally, but don't because most of the steels I'm working with cost too much.
There's also a market for what I'd call top of the line knives, though those folks don't tend to shop for knives in the local kitchen stores.
 
I've used Becut stainless from Bestar Steel in Remscheid for years. It's a patented alloy developed for machine knives in industrial food processing equipment and at HRC 58 is one of the toughest steels I know. You won't chip these blades.

The key to good kitchen cutlery is edge geometry and durability. I think toughness is more important than hardness in kitchen knives. I've seen a lot of high end Japanese knives with big chips broken out of the cutting edges. (This is mostly due to user error than a bad design but the knife is still broken and the owner unhappy.)

Kitchen knives need to be very thin so there's not much steel behind the edge. Come down on a piece of bone or a frozen pea and that can be enough to damage the edge. It's better if the edge is just dulled than if it chips out.

People preparing food want to eat, not baby their kitchen knives. This is why most people will not buy a carbon steel knife and want a knife they can sharpen. Becut is more difficult to sharpen than knives made from 1.4116 (which is the standard in Solingen for kitchen cutlery) but it's not that difficult and Becut will hold an edge a LOT longer than 4116. I've made carbon knives in the past but doubt I will ever make anymore. Modern stainless rules in the kitchen cutlery market and for commercial applications, stainless is required.
 
I know a few makers are currently using 12C27 or 12C27M from Sandvik.

http://www.smt.sandvik.com/en/products/strip-steel/strip-products/knife-steel/sandvik-knife-steels/

12C27
http://www.smt.sandvik.com/en/produ...ife-steel/sandvik-knife-steels/sandvik-12c27/

12C27M
http://www.smt.sandvik.com/en/produ...fe-steel/sandvik-knife-steels/sandvik-12c27m/

This is also a good read where steels such as high carbide, PM and fine carbide steels are compared.

http://www.smt.sandvik.com/en/produ.../knife-steel-knowledge/different-steel-types/

At the end. It is up to the maker and customer about what they want or expect the performance of a knife should be.
 
I've used a lot (too much?) S30V, but will be switching to S35VN when the S30V runs out for all the obvious reasons. For more price sensitive customers, I use AEB-L. For less price sensitive customers, Devin Thomas or Rob Thomas stainless damascus (AEB-L). Started playing with W2 with clay quench for stunning sujihikis. Good results on all, but the S30V has excelled.

Cheers!
Mike
 
I've heard good thing about 154cm. I don't have any experiences with it for food prep. but I know it take a razor edge.
 
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