What's your favorite steel?

I have 5 in my top 1 most favorites

But it’s interesting to see everyone’s answers, seems to me like the most common answer is 3V, I’ll have to keep this in mind for future... 😈

I can understand the love for 3V if you are buying from a reputable maker like Carothers. I think that makes all the difference.

The Lionsteel t6 is a big ol hunk of 3V! My Erickson is a sweet, refined knife in 3V.
The middle knife is AEB-L
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star wars?
Star Wars?
STAR WARS?

I use a Bat'Leth to skin my potatoes like any True Trekkie!

[ Before a Mod comes along like a Borg and tells us to assimilate back into the topic: I like CPM's 20CV and S45VN!]
Indeed so number 1 but who does number 2 work for?
I am really liking the 3v on my custom cold steel recon scout and the cruwear was very good on my BM adamas mini, currently the s35vn on my crk is holding up well under daily use. I look forward to trying the crk magnacut when I find one in the config I want.
 
My favorite steel for cutting performance is not steel. This tungsten carbide blade is a cutting monster. Not the sharpest and not the easiest to sharpen but, stays sharp for a long time. It is actually not too hard to sharpen after you figure out the process.

Otherwise, my favorite steel is MagnaCut, mostly because it is the latest and greatest as well as developed by one of our own. Honorable mention goes to Damascus because it pegs the cool meter.
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For slicing folders, S90V. Just getting to know 3v but very impressed so far for fixies with harder use. Quite fond of my Japanese aogami kitchen knives (they take SUCH an edge), but they are so chippy and rust prone that they're really only for knife addicts who are willing to baby them.
 
Do yourself the favor of trying a 3V blade.

I have one knife in 3V.
It’s a Bradford Guardian 3.
I‘m not sure a 3 inch knife is going to fully benefit from 3V’s virtues.

It’s still cool though. 😎



ETA: It’s good to see a few others loving on XHP. I thought I was going to be the lone man out!
 
I have one knife in 3V.
It’s a Bradford Guardian 3.
I‘m not sure a 3 inch knife is going to fully benefit from 3V’s virtues.

It’s still cool though. 😎



ETA: It’s good to see a few others loving on XHP. I thought I was going to be the lone man out!
I love XHP. Good Stuff. Takes a great edge and polish.
 
My favorite steel for cutting performance is not steel. This tungsten carbide blade is a cutting monster. Not the sharpest and not the easiest to sharpen but, stays sharp for a long time. It is actually not too hard to sharpen after you figure out the process.

Otherwise, my favorite steel is MagnaCut, mostly because it is the latest and greatest as well as developed by one of our own. Honorable mention goes to Damascus because it pegs the cool meter.
SiafRAG.jpg
How do you sharpen these? I've been interested in getting one but that's been a big sticking point for me, since I thought it needed special equipment. Would be interested to know the process.

Thanks
 
5160 is my favorite.

After lots of research here I picked it for the knives I forged myself. At the time I believe it was one of the most popular steels used by ABS Journeymen to make their test knives, as it was considered very unlikely to break in the flex test.

It’s a relatively inexpensive and widely used/available steel known for its toughness and fine grain/edges.

From what I understand it’s also comparatively forgiving to heat treat, so it’s more likely to be properly tempered. It’s a steel that I could probably scavenge from a scrap yard and make into a useful knife with minimal tools/equipment.

It rusts, but that doesn’t bother me too much.
 
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