What's the "lowest" steel you use?

Stainless ... 420j2? Or is 4116 Krupp "lower"?
Carbon steel ... Not sure. Probably a 10xx, or equivalent (Mora and Opinel) at any rate.

My "high end" steels are 440C, D2, and CPM-154.

I don't worry or really care about what steel my knives use. They all work for what I need them to do.
 
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Whatever they use in Vic SAKs. Rc 54? Pretty soft, but 100% stainless. That gives me an excuse to use it solely as a back up blade, and get a good folder after that...
 
1095 or 440. I prefer better stainless but I'm not for whats todays super steel. Most are well above most peoples needs anyway.
 
I think the lowest that I normally use are Kershaw's Sandvik 14C and Benchmade's 154CM. Kershaw's Sandvik is one of my all time favorite budget steels.

Lately, I've had a Cutco folder in my pocket because I've been too lazy to trade it out for something else. Not really sure what steel it is; I think maybe it's 440A. It really does not hold an edge very long. I find that I do enjoy the thumb hole to deploy the blade, though.

I also have a CRKT Prowler in AUS6. Not the best steel or heat treatment but the knife offers one of best sets of ergonomics I have ever found. Very basic. Reminds me of some Emersons. The only reason this knife does not see much pocket time is because of my Benchmades. In fact, if I ever loose my Griptilian, the Prowler is next in line.

I own about six fixed blade knives. Most are of unknown steel. The one I reach for the most is made from S30v.
 
The most relevant answer is to say that S35VN is the least prestigious steel I carry, because my favorite knives are in S35VN, M390, or 20CV. I don’t stick to those to be a snob. It’s just what’s there.

If I picked up a Tashi Bharucha design, I’d rock the hell out of RWL-34.
 
Smaug said:
Whatever they use in Vic SAKs. Rc 54? Pretty soft, but 100% stainless. That gives me an excuse to use it solely as a back up blade, and get a good folder after that...
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The knife blades in Vic SAKs are at Rc 56. The other SAK tools are at various different hardness depending on the implements, but are at lower hardness than the knife blades.

IME, the SAK blades are so rust-resistant because of the high polish. They are very stainless but can rust, just not as easily as most other stain-less steels.

Jim
 
Bob6794 said:
Quite surprising it looks like we have more people willing to use steels like 420hc and such than I thought with how often we talk about premium steels.
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Premium steels have their benefits. You won’t see me saying 8Cr is better than CPM154.

That said, what we will accept and use is often different from what we prefer. Form and function often win over materials, but that doesn’t mean a material improvement wouldn’t be appreciated. Do I like the Cold Steel Tuff Lite? Absolutely - it’s a knife I would not be too upset to use as my sole knife forevermore. Would I rather it had tip-up carry, liners, washers, and XHP steel? Absolutely and without doubt.

Blade steel is but one aspect of a knife. If I paid $6 for an otherwise high-quality knife, I will not begrudge it for having potmetal blade steel and it will find its place in my carry rotation. Maybe it’ll just be on cuticle trimming duty or for around-the-house light use - it still has its value if it is comfortable, priced well, and can take a good edge.
 
RBid said:
The most relevant answer is to say that S35VN is the least prestigious steel I carry, because my favorite knives are in S35VN, M390, or 20CV. I don’t stick to those to be a snob. It’s just what’s there.

If I picked up a Tashi Bharucha design, I’d rock the hell out of RWL-34.
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Pretty much this for me. Once you start valuing quality construction and warranty service, you generally end up with a higher tier of materials across the board.

Not to say there aren’t exceptions dependant on your tastes, however. My favorite knife right now has marbled carbon fiber handles and a CPM-4V blade, but I still enjoy my mystery “440 stainless” Boker Plus Peanut.
 
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Bob6794 said:
Quite surprising it looks like we have more people willing to use steels like 420hc and such than I thought with how often we talk about premium steels.
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Meh, I just want something that cuts when I want it to cut and sharpens easily.

My most used knife is my chef knife, a carbon steel K Sabatier (XC75 steel at like 54 RC). I use it every single day, multiple times a day. I get out the waterstones and sharpen it 3-4 times a year (if that). Otherwise I just steel it before I use it, or if its dragging but not quite dull yet I might give it a swipe or two over my diamond coated steel.

I tried using a Shun in VG10 but found that it didn't respond to steeling well and sharpening took longer.

For my real world uses in a kitchen I'd just as soon have a soft, easy to sharpen steel that responds well to steeling than some super steel that would require me to spend a bunch of time on the stones whenever it got dull.

I use my kitchen knife more than most people on this forum use their pocket knives, and my experience with my kitchen knives carries over to my preferences in pocket and hunting knives.
 
GEC 1095 or Case Tru Sharp (420HC).
Edge lasts long enough when sharpened at #150.

GEC_edge.JPG
 
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83Rambo said:
In my folders right now 154cm. I’m hard in knives so I go higher end. My lowest being the 154.
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That's actually the interesting part on the less wear resistant steels you typically find on the lower end. I find they excel at hard use if your doing stuff that will ruin the edge as it's trivial to put an edge back on, and less time consuming to repair.

My main go too knife for jobs I'm really going to jack up the knife is a Cold Steel Kudu. A $5 knife with 4116 Krupp steel
NapalmCheese said:
Meh, I just want something that cuts when I want it to cut and sharpens easily.

My most used knife is my chef knife, a carbon steel K Sabatier (XC75 steel at like 54 RC). I use it every single day, multiple times a day. I get out the waterstones and sharpen it 3-4 times a year (if that). Otherwise I just steel it before I use it, or if its dragging but not quite dull yet I might give it a swipe or two over my diamond coated steel.

I tried using a Shun in VG10 but found that it didn't respond to steeling well and sharpening took longer.

For my real world uses in a kitchen I'd just as soon have a soft, easy to sharpen steel that responds well to steeling than some super steel that would require me to spend a bunch of time on the stones whenever it got dull.

I use my kitchen knife more than most people on this forum use their pocket knives, and my experience with my kitchen knives carries over to my preferences in pocket and hunting knives.
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That is why I bought Kai Luna knives, easy to sharpen 1.14116 steel I've used it extensively in a Cold Steel Kudu. I was impressed that the knives came out of the box capable of slicing paper towels, more than I ever dared to ask for from a $10 chef knife.

I actually looked at Shuns and decided against it as I figured the vg10 would be a bigger pain to deal with as my wife will cut food in baking pans or plates and the steel won't matter much at that point it's getting damaged. And between getting on her case for improper knife care and no one being happy I think I just settle for cheaper easy to sharpen beaters that I don't really care too much about.
 
Most used by me non super steels are 12C27N , VG10 and 8/9cr13/14mov for folders and moras , AUS8 and 440C for most kitchen knives and D2 , 14C28N for non kitchen Fixed knives. I want really to try O1 steel fixed but can't find anything affordable with this steel.
 
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pinnah said:
I dislike 420HC as done by Case but love as done by Buck. I dislike Victorinox stainless for the same basic reason. I find it too soft and too gummy on a stone to hone cleanly. I like Sandvik 12C27 by both Mora and Opinel. I don't love Opinel's 1086 Carbone but I do love old Schrade USA 1095.

IMO, the issue is more the heat treat and less the steel itself. For the fine grained stainless steels, I prefer the RC in the 58 range and find that at 56, edge holding and honing get worse.
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Interesting. I've never had a problem getting a screaming sharp edge on a vic sak. And this is with all sorts of sharpening media from a $20 Norton double side to dmt. Even easier to maintain.

For me, a lot of steel choice comes down to the price and company producing it. Sorry crkt, I'm not paying $100 for a folder in 8cr when I can do much better with other companies for the price. I've also had bad 8cr even though the the price was good, the company producing it was not (for many reasons, SRM). The stuff chipped all to hell.

Kitchen knives aside, the lowest I go, where I think the value is there will be a victorinox SAK. Such a useful tool. For a one blade modern knife that will be used, 8cr from a quality company at the right price and style.
 
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Bob6794 said:
So we have all these talks on super steels and other high end steels in our knives. Now my question is what is the lowest you go for knife you find acceptable.

There will be people who state that all steels are just tradeoffs in characteristics and there is no bad steel. Just bad heat treats, geometry, and application of it. And truth be told I agree with the. For the most part but I'm curious what most of our community finds accepable.

For me I will take 440a, 1.14116, 420hc, etc as long as these are done right. I draw the line at 420j2 and I don't want to deal with that one.
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Vg-10/n690co are good enough if I like the model and its priced accordingly. I prefer s30v and up but if I'm being honest they're not necessary.

14c28n is fine,1095 is fine, on the right knife at the right price.
 
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:) I can sharpen about anything freehand and fast , good enough to work . So I'm not real concerned with super edge retention .

What does concern me is toughness , especially in longer knives that might see hard use in chopping hardwood , etc . I've had overly brittle stainless completely break apart . This results in a useless knife and may even cause injury . I try to avoid this !

The "bleeding edge" newest super steels are always interesting to me , but they're not worth the premium price differential for my uses . I can wait .

I do have several Spyderco H-1 for corrosion resistance . And CTS-XHP Cold Steel folders . And plenty of other mid grade steels .

At the low end , I don't even know . I have lots of older knives that have no specific steel labeled or advertised . I still use them and they do the job ! :cool::thumbsup:
 
I agree with DocJD, if I need something tough, I stay between 0.5%-0.8% carbon, so 1050-1080 or 80crv2 is awesome, as is 5160 etc
Same with stainless variants, but for stainless knives, I like to use 12c27 a lot, or even 420hc, both are really meant to be tough

I don't often use D2 or something that is on the high end of carbon, I know it can hold a great edge, but I find I don't need edge holding that much. If I suddenly needed to cut miles of 2" thick rope for some nautical adventure, yea, D2 would come in handy... For something like that, I'd rather jump to the real premium steels like 20cv variants, m390 etc
 
Victorinox. I've come to the conclusion that I either want steel which rarely needs sharpening or is really really easy to resharpen. It's the in between ones which are annoying.
 
My Endura in VG-10 is probably my "least super" steel that gets used. Mostly I'm a 154CM, S35VN or M390/CTS204P user.
 
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