What steel can take the thinnest edge with chipping or rolling

DeadboxHero

DeadboxHero

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Mar 22, 2014
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I'm really curious about which steel could hold the thinnest edge for high sharpness, high performance.

Such as for utility, kitchen, hunting and EDC tasks
For the sake of discussion
Geometry and heat treatment are equal in thickness grind and fine grain structure.

I've never used 3v

Does that increased toughness also translate to high strength?

Any thoughts from my fellow knifenuts?
 
If you want to avoid rolling you want strength, which will come at the expense of toughness, if you want to avoid chipping you want toughness, which will come at the expense of strength.

3V and 4V are capable of offering a very good compromise between those attributes, but determining a best would require testing the likes of which we simply don't have access to. For light use you might honestly want to err on the side of strength and look towards 10V, S110V, S90V, etc.
 
10v and funny thing about 10v is how easy it is to grind or sharpen . I took my already thin spyderco k2 and layed it as flat as I could on a belt sander without hitting to shoulders . Edge is ridiculously thin and never had a problem with it .
 
Insipid Moniker said:
If you want to avoid rolling you want strength, which will come at the expense of toughness, if you want to avoid chipping you want toughness, which will come at the expense of strength.

3V and 4V are capable of offering a very good compromise between those attributes, but determining a best would require testing the likes of which we simply don't have access to. For light use you might honestly want to err on the side of strength and look towards 10V, S110V, S90V, etc.
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Ankerson said:
From what I have personally seen it's CPM 10V.
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I have a 940-1 a d a pm2 110v

How does a 10v knife compare?


Spartan00 said:
10v and funny thing about 10v is how easy it is to grind or sharpen . I took my already thin spyderco k2 and layed it as flat as I could on a belt sander without hitting to shoulders . Edge is ridiculously thin and never had a problem with it .
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Nice!
 
personally I like Hitachi white steel for what you asked (utility, kitchen, hunting and EDC)
these are cutting slicing tasks

Although I admit I don't have any experience with the other mentioned CPM *v steels
 
You didn't ask me but I've got some s90v,s110v,. 2 things not all s90v and s10v are creates equally spyderco heat treat makes them a little better IMHO.

Compared to 10v. Nothing really compares to the stuff it's the energizer bunny of blade steels. Now only drawback is I live in the south and my 10v looks like crap. For a user though and just cutting ability it's king .
 
The thing about 10V is this from what I have seen over the years.

Having tested it in a large variety of blades of different geometry and hardness ranges it's much more versatile than people know.

There really isn't anything like it, not really.

It's incredibly strong and with reasonable geometry for the intended use of the knives it will handle anything that is remotely reasonable.

That's given a proper HT etc.

However it's not for everyone or the best choice for every use across the board so people will have to use some common sense when choosing steel.

Focus on it's strengths when designing a blade and one will have something that is truly incredible.
 
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Ankerson said:
The thing about 10V is this from what I have seen over the years.

Having tested it in a large variety of blades of different geometry and hardness ranges it's much more versatile than people know.

There really isn't anything like it, not really.

It's incredibly strong and with reasonable geometry for the intended use of the knives it will handle anything that is remotely reasonable.

That's given a proper HT etc.

However it's not for everyone or the best choice for every use across the board so people will have to use some common sense when choosing steel.

Focus on it's strengths when designing a blade and one will have something that is truly incredible.
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Jim, and what is your opinion or experience on sharpening it when dull?
 
Ankerson said:
Never had any issues with it personally.

No problem sharpening etc.

I normally use SIC or ceramics.
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I should have asked that differently :-)
I would expect you not to have any issues with it.
What I'm trying to get at is - what is your opinion on the average user sharpening it as compared to say a carbon steel?
Assumption being that the average user is not an expert sharpener....
there's many variables here, I realize that.
 
HSC /// said:
I should have asked that differently :-)
I would expect you not to have any issues with it.
What I'm trying to get at is - what is your opinion on the average user sharpening it as compared to say a carbon steel?
Assumption being that the average user is not an expert sharpener....
there's many variables here, I realize that.
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Ave user will have major issues, but then they would have major issues with anything other than typical carbon steel.

But if a user has some sharpening skills they shouldn't have too much of an issue depending on what they use to sharpen with.

If they can get S30V sharp without much of a problem then 10V shouldn't be much of a challenge.
 
Ankerson said:
Ave user will have major issues, but then they would have major issues with anything other than typical carbon steel.

But if a user has some sharpening skills they shouldn't have too much of an issue depending on what they use to sharpen with.

If they can get S30V sharp without much of a problem then 10V shouldn't be much of a challenge.
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thanks, appreciate your input
 
HSC /// said:
thanks, appreciate your input
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No problem. :)

I always get a kick out of people though, they say they can't sharpen this or that or this steel is impossible to sharpen etc.

While I can sharpen said steel (s) in seconds with a few passes on ceramics or my strop.

Try and tell them that and they look at me like I am crazy....

Then I show them how easy it really can be.

But then as you said I am not the ave. :)

Won't go an deeper into that other than to say it doesn't really take anything special to sharpen a knife.

I have been using SIC for 40 years and haven't seen a steel that I can't sharpen with it. :thumbup:
 
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DeadboxHero said:
I'm really curious about which steel could hold the thinnest edge for high sharpness, high performance.

Such as for utility, kitchen, hunting and EDC tasks
For the sake of discussion
Geometry and heat treatment are equal in thickness grind and fine grain structure.

I've never used 3v

Does that increased toughness also translate to high strength?

Any thoughts from my fellow knifenuts?
Click to expand...

I've used some mystery Japanese stainless as low as 7 to 8 degrees per side with a 10 degree microbevel cutting light metal (Al) and copper wire. I've seen people take their Japanese carbon and low alloy kitchen knives as low as 10 degrees inclusive. What do you consider low?
 
These are all sharpened with SIC at 400 grit as an example. :)

DSC_5553.JPG
 
Try different techniques and pick the one that's best for you. For me I like - a computer mouse pad and put on top a sheet of wet/dry abrasive paper . Vary the downward pressure and angle to get the convex edge you want .Go down in grit size to get the finish you want . I find it easy for me. Remember that hand finishing won't damage the HT like a machine will !!
 
me2 said:
I've used some mystery Japanese stainless as low as 7 to 8 degrees per side with a 10 degree microbevel cutting light metal (Al) and copper wire. I've seen people take their Japanese carbon and low alloy kitchen knives as low as 10 degrees inclusive. What do you consider low?
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Dang, that's low. I've only been able to I've one knife in my kitchen that low.

Is there any way to get a knife out of the kitchen at 10dps or is that beyond what steel is capable of?

I'm just curious what the limits are I personally haven't had any success going below 15dps for an outdoor knife

But I don't know what I don't know.

Perhaps its possible with the right combination?
 
I carried the mystery steel knife at work for a while. Cut hard plastic, whittled wood shavings for testing, cut the above mentioned copper wire, whittled some tie wire, etc.
 
This kind of cutting is also highly technique dependant. Using a cutting board is much easier on the edge than loop and pull cutting. I've used choppers with edges as low as 0.012" behind the edge and 12 to 15 degrees on metal soup cans. Some people could go lower, and some would mangle a 0.03" edge at 2p0 degrees per side.
 
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