What's your favorite steel?

Hashishiin said:
I agree with you but, isn't that a Buck 119 in 420HC stainless steel? It's very stainless in my experience, leaving my 119 wet and with organic materials on it, or keeping my 110 sitting in my food plate for a few hours eating a long BBQ dinner one night.

Still definitely shows it's age! It would be super cool to have a little run of these in an old school carbon steel (52100, 1075/95, Johnathan, etc) just for the cool factor and possibly a bit tougher at that hollow edge, besides I enjoy a good patina, myself.

As to the thread, I gravitate towards carbon steels. Cruwear, K390, M4....
I have had S45VN, S35VN, AUS 8, spot rust on me, BD1, BD1N, whatever Mora uses and 420HC are the only steels I would say, take out in the rain or fishing and expect to be unscathed not having to fight rust after. Note to readers, I do not do extended wet things, so I am sure 420HC is not the best choice for a fishing raft knife.

But some of my favorite models are just made in AUS10A, VG-10, XHP, 4.116 Krupp, (love SAK for sharpen/storability and ease) so... I appreciate stainless too.
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Buck’s dabbled in 5160 and I really wish they’d do more dabbling. The way they treat that steel is fantastic.

As for my favorites I’d have to say INFI for choppers, SR101 for smaller blades. I’m also a big fan of practically all carbon steels, especially tool steels. For stainless folder blades I’m a big fan of S30V, 20CV, N690Co, and VG10.
 
Hashishiin said:
I agree with you but, isn't that a Buck 119 in 420HC stainless steel? It's very stainless in my experience, leaving my 119 wet and with organic materials on it, or keeping my 110 sitting in my food plate for a few hours eating a long BBQ dinner one night.

Still definitely shows it's age! It would be super cool to have a little run of these in an old school carbon steel (52100, 1075/95, Johnathan, etc) just for the cool factor and possibly a bit tougher at that hollow edge, besides I enjoy a good patina, myself.

As to the thread, I gravitate towards carbon steels. Cruwear, K390, M4....
I have had S45VN, S35VN, AUS 8, spot rust on me, BD1, BD1N, whatever Mora uses and 420HC are the only steels I would say, take out in the rain or fishing and expect to be unscathed not having to fight rust after. Note to readers, I do not do extended wet things, so I am sure 420HC is not the best choice for a fishing raft knife.

But some of my favorite models are just made in AUS10A, VG-10, XHP, 4.116 Krupp, (love SAK for sharpen/storability and ease) so... I appreciate stainless too.
Click to expand...
Negative ghost rider. That particular bowie knife is a Pal 36 stamped rh for Remington Hunting. These knives saw action in WW II. I found this particular knife on the railroad tracks back in the early 70's. I know nothing of its history before I found her. I do know she was pretty beat up and I sent it to Scott Gossman who drilled out the pommel, removed all the stacked leather, cleaned up the tang, replied the stacked leather and replaced the pommel. Then he put a wicked edge on it. Bill Goodman made the sheath.
I'll be buried with it. :)
 
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AntDog said:
Buck’s dabbled in 5160 and I really wish they’d do more dabbling. The way they treat that steel is fantastic.

As for my favorites I’d have to say INFI for choppers, SR101 for smaller blades. I’m also a big fan of practically all carbon steels, especially tool steels. For stainless folder blades I’m a big fan of S30V, 20CV, N690Co, and VG10.
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I have a custom Buck 110 with nickel silver bolsters, elk slabs and a 5160 blade.
 
Uncle Timbo said:
Negative ghost rider. That particular bowie knife is a Pal 36 stamped th for Remington Hunting. These knives saw action in WW II. I found this particular knife on the railroad tracks back in the early 70's. I know nothing of its history before I found her. I do know she was pretty beat up and I sent it to Scott Goldman who drilled out the pommel, removed all the stacked leather, cleaned up the tang, replied the stacked leather and replaced the pommel. Then he out a wicked edge on it. Bill Goodman made the sheath.
I'll be buried with it. :)
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Oh, sweet! Excuse my ignorance. Dang, on the railroad tracks, absolutely awesome score. Love to see well used knives that have accompanied a person over decades, and who knows how much it has already served prior to being found, too? Very cool.
 
Welp. Here’s where I’ll probably get made fun of but I don’t care. I have always loved AUS8. Always wanted to try AUS10 but have never owned it. I haven’t found a steel from Buck in the 110/112 or 300 line that I do not like so I’ll say 440C, 425M, and 420HC. Ok. I REALLY like Buck 420HC. I’ve always went for the I dunno, older steel. Funny though I remember both AUS steels I mentioned being the latest greatest talk of the tactical crowd and waxed eloquently in the gun/knife/tactical magazines.

I just seen a spyderco para 3 lightweight in a magazine last night and really reminds me of the first Endura I had in the late 90s (still have), FRN handle, no steel liners. except it’s got BD1N steel and I know nothing about it but I want one so I will learn if I like it or not.

I don’t like ungodly hard steels. Maybe I’m lazy. I have an old 551 Griptilian that Benchmade put an S30V blade in. I’ve cut a lot of plastic (think motor oil bottles or milk jugs- that kind of plastic), rubber hose, blister packs, stripped automotive wire, etc with it and I only touched it up on a green DMT stone once. Once in like 5-6 months. I’m liking S30v thus far I reckon. That’s probably the newest, highest speed- lowest drag steel I have to be honest. I’m way far behind the times what can I say? I see they have an s90 and S110 steel as well and wouldn’t mind trying those one day being that I’m liking s30v.

I’ve tried reading about all the metals y’all talk about but I get a migraine trying to keep them all in straight in my head in regards of toughness, edge holding, hardness, etc. Also I free hand sharpen on diamond stones or natural stones depending on the knife so that might could be an influence on my steels of choice?

It’s comical to me that I’ve been carrying and cutting stuff with knives since I was 4-5 so … 1989ish and sharpening since the mid 1990s but I get on here and realize how much I have to learn about it all.
 
000Robert said:
My favorite steel right now is D3V. After I get an AR10 I'll start checking out knives in other steels. No.1 will be a blade in MagnaCut.
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Interesting choice of priorities.

Right now my favorite is VG10. I’ve been in a Spyderco kick recently. I’m also a fan of the older Cold Steel CTS BD1 used in my Voyager.
 
me2 said:
Interesting choice of priorities.

Right now my favorite is VG10. I’ve been in a Spyderco kick recently. I’m also a fan of the older Cold Steel CTS BD1 used in my Voyager.
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Well, my plan changed when I saw a nice Half Face Blades knife for sale. It is S35VN steel. MagnaCut will have to wait a bit.
 
I have been devloping recent appreciation for 20CV. Holds an edge better then most and, though you have to work at it, I can get spooky sharp edges on a Wicked Edge.
 
CDHumiston said:
As a knife maker I am fond of using AEB-L. It's easy to work and fairly easy to heat treat. I can get a consistent 63HRC. It also sharpens easy and holds a nice edge. It's also stainless.
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I’m not new to knives, but I am relatively new to knowing/caring about different knife steels. As someone who cares a lot about toughness and corrosion resistance, AEB-L has always appealed to me, and it seems to get almost universally high praise from knife makers. My question is, is there a powder metallurgy version of it? I think I read recently that it has a fine grain structure and even distribution of carbides, so maybe “powdering” it wouldn’t do much — but I could be so wrong about all of this. It’s just something I’ve been curious about and am using this opportunity to ask about. (By the way, this isn’t a question specifically for you, CDHumiston, it’s more a question for the universe, so no pressure on you.)

With all humility and respect for my knife elders,

- MissesMeow
 
JC972 said:
Welp. Here’s where I’ll probably get made fun of but I don’t care. I have always loved AUS8. Always wanted to try AUS10 but have never owned it. I haven’t found a steel from Buck in the 110/112 or 300 line that I do not like so I’ll say 440C, 425M, and 420HC. Ok. I REALLY like Buck 420HC. I’ve always went for the I dunno, older steel. Funny though I remember both AUS steels I mentioned being the latest greatest talk of the tactical crowd and waxed eloquently in the gun/knife/tactical magazines.

I just seen a spyderco para 3 lightweight in a magazine last night and really reminds me of the first Endura I had in the late 90s (still have), FRN handle, no steel liners. except it’s got BD1N steel and I know nothing about it but I want one so I will learn if I like it or not.

I don’t like ungodly hard steels. Maybe I’m lazy. I have an old 551 Griptilian that Benchmade put an S30V blade in. I’ve cut a lot of plastic (think motor oil bottles or milk jugs- that kind of plastic), rubber hose, blister packs, stripped automotive wire, etc with it and I only touched it up on a green DMT stone once. Once in like 5-6 months. I’m liking S30v thus far I reckon. That’s probably the newest, highest speed- lowest drag steel I have to be honest. I’m way far behind the times what can I say? I see they have an s90 and S110 steel as well and wouldn’t mind trying those one day being that I’m liking s30v.

I’ve tried reading about all the metals y’all talk about but I get a migraine trying to keep them all in straight in my head in regards of toughness, edge holding, hardness, etc. Also I free hand sharpen on diamond stones or natural stones depending on the knife so that might could be an influence on my steels of choice?

It’s comical to me that I’ve been carrying and cutting stuff with knives since I was 4-5 so … 1989ish and sharpening since the mid 1990s but I get on here and realize how much I have to learn about it all.
Click to expand...
I like your comment about getting a migraine trying to keep knife steels straight. I’m about a year into “steel obsession” and while I think it’s something worth knowing about, it also makes me feel completely insane at times. I keep this page from KnifeSteelNerds permanently open in my web browser: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2021/10...ness-edge-retention-and-corrosion-resistance/. It’s the best single page of HTML on knife steels that I’ve come across. (If anyone knows of a better one, please let me know!)
 
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