what steel is best,AUS8,154,S30,VG10

ideal25 sog does a cyrogenic on lots of thier aus8. knarfeng & others summed it up pretty well. aus8 does have a real fine grain, whether the sog cyro has any sig. i do'nt know. would have to test 2 knives from sog.gator is right no choppers in these alloys. aus8 lacks enougn carbon or van or colbalt to hold edge long.
 
Another way of looking at the OP's question is how well you maintain the steel. If you can sharpen, and are fairly proficient at it, touching up your knives daily or as frequently as needed to maintain the optimum edge rearranges the list for me. In ease of sharpening, AUS is at the top of the list. But you will be doing it daily. Then would come 154CM, and VG10 and S30V are about equal.

Average maintenance not an issue (you are obsessed about having the sharpest razor edge you can get and keep the longest), for all around daily use, VG10 and S30V are tops. Then 154CM and AUS.
 
thanks to knarfeng, and all the other posters.. excellent explanation...that answered my question..I go back to the days when you had either carbon steel or stainless, the first took an edge easy but didnt keep it, the later was hard to sharpen, but held the edge longer...I had no clue about varying degrees of sharpness figuring into the mix.
thanks again,.Tom
 
I don't argue with whether "there is no best steel". But there's certainly a best GROUP of steels, or what's the point to keep developing more advanced new steel? This is like saying that any cheap Chinese pot steel is no worse than any advanced American or Japanese steel? Ridiculous, isn't it?
 
I never made or held quite the razor edge like I did with my benchmade M2 tool steel knives. Earlier Carbon V's from Cold Steel is my new attainable favorite. M2's are wayyy too expensive.
 
hmm, all except aus-8 are fine IMO it is neither tough nor wear resistant in my experience.

I like S30V from Strider a whole lot. Easy to sharpen, takes a great edge, keeps a working edge an amazingly long time. I seem the cpm 154cm stuff on a lot of custom knives, I think mostly because of the finish it can take. I dont know how it would perform in the real world from those guys. I had 154cm in a bunch of different Emersons, but I never used them on tough enough stuff like I do with my strider. My experience with benchmade has been d2, and with spyderco vg-10 and s30v. never really put CRK's s30v to any sort of testing at all.

Here's my thing, if you layed out 4 knives that were exactly identical except for metal, and each metal was ideally treated, I would take them in this order:

s30v
cpm154cm
vg-10
old/non powdered 154cm
.
.
.
aus-8
 
Read this:

Heat Treatment.

Blade Geometry.

Metalurgy.


Read that again.


When you can fit that into your equation, you will find your answer.



There is no "best" knife steel. :jerkit:



Big Mike
 
Well, I guess I'm the odd man out. I prefer
S30V
VG10
154CM
.
.
Aus8

Oh, no, I guess I'm like a lot of others here.

For me, the S30V in my Spydie Native is the sharpest that I've ever gotten a knife. I wish there were more production knives in the traditional genre made with it.

I'm currently stuck on Queen's D2, which also takes a great edge and holds it. And it's cheap, too.

I have some Buck 154CM that I really like. I was actually surprised how nice an edge it took with my DMT diamonds.

I have a Fallkniven VG10 laminate that is amazing. It was an absolute dream to sharpen. This is another steel that I wish had more traditional presence.

Oh, and some Fallkniven Super Gold Powder Steel which is a mystery to me, but takes and holds a great edge.

The more super steels that I collect the more I realize that for my practical uses, there isn't much difference. I can tell that some are much more abrasive resistant by how they sharpen, but not in how I use them. But I'm a light user. Shoot, I'm perfectly happy with Case stainless and GEC carbon and my Mora stainless.

You know what else? I like to sharpen my knives, so I don't mind not having a super steel. But I counter that with the fact that I am a steel snob. A guy can't stick with only carbon.

Whew. Can't wait to get to ZDP189 and some M4. :D
 
I never made or held quite the razor edge like I did with my benchmade M2 tool steel knives. Earlier Carbon V's from Cold Steel is my new attainable favorite. M2's are wayyy too expensive.
Click to expand...

Jason, if you get the chance try a CPM M4 knife from Spyderco or Benchmade ( Spyderco run slightly higher RC).

Because iof the powder steel process it takes as good, or, IMO, better edges than M2. It has more Vanadium carbides so it also has a bit better wear resistance. Of all the steels it's my current favorite and more than replaces the old M2 blades. Corrosion resistance is in the same class as M2. Joe
 
Gator97 said:
Well, if you want to compare by composition here you go - AUS8 vs 154CM vs CPM S30V vs VG-10

Otherwise, hmm, general consensus is that AUS8 is worse than the three you listed. CPM S30V will probably get more votes for being the best, followed by VG-10 and 154CM.

Although, 154Cm is being replaced by CPM 154, similar but uses CPM technology and apparently has some Vanadium in it.
Click to expand...


They are all different, designed for different purposes. If there was a miracle steel available, no one would use anything except that miracle steel.

Getting steel from a reputable manufacturer is much more important, as 154cm might not be the same as someone else's 154cm due to poor heating/cooling/tempering of the blade, and also heating it up during the factory sharpening process.

People say a general rule of thumb is, the higher the carbon content, the sharper the blade can be. The higher the vanadium content, the longer it holds an edge. Carbon blades rust, stainless vanadium blades chip.

This is obviously a gross, gross oversimplification. Metallurgy is a science, and I am no scientist.


-Freq
 
No ones mentioned my favorite!

440C rules. its easy to sharpen, holds an edge well, and its relatively cheap, i wish more companies would use it.
 
ideal25 said:
Can anyone tell me which of these steels are the best, or are they all comparable, i saw a list once on this forum listing the steels in order of quality..i would like to see it again but i cant find it.
Also i would like to know the source for such a list...not just knife owners personal bias for a favorite manufacturer
Click to expand...


I've D2, S30V , AUS 6, 420 , VG10 and a few other high carbon steel blade. But my favourite blade is VG10.
 
Uz4u said:
No ones mentioned my favorite!

440C rules. its easy to sharpen, holds an edge well, and its relatively cheap, i wish more companies would use it.
Click to expand...

Agreed! It is one of my favorite steels too. Gives a nice 'toothy' edge that makes a great 'go to' blade.

There are so many variables in heat treatment, steel melt, edge profiles and applications, that the 'best' steel is really a moot point. I have found that Buck's 420HC takes a remarkable edge that touches up easily and is very tough, which are attributes that I like. As well, AUS-8 takes a very fine edge and it too is tough. I would suggest that the OP try as many different types of steel as possible and discover his own favorite. The fun is in the search.
 
I like AUS-4 treated to a hardness of about 45. Give or take 5 points. mmmm
That's a "winner winner chicken dinner" right there.
 
we will be doing this alloy opinion forever. there are many good steels out there& really personal use perferance is probably the primal dictation for composition choice. super powdered steels are not necessary for a c.p.a. opening envelopes or aguy doing hobbies around his garage. a trapper or big game guide are going to need good edge endurance & some amount of chip resistance. a wood carver needs maximun keeness, so on & so on.i use all of them in various situations, since i'm in the heart of austin cleaning carpet but have friends & relatives with farms & ranches. if feasible i would be using very dissimilar alloys for filleting fish & cleaning hogs. when in the company of several individuals i try to have a beater since there is always one person whom needs to borrow a knife & usually doe'st know how to treat a tool. conversely when i'm around my relatives it's show off time with the alphabet super alloys running the race. all said some makers can tweek common alloys & cut up there with the cpm speedsters.
 
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