Which mid price steel offers best compromise?

MTHall720

MTHall720

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Sep 21, 2010
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I have been looking at a lot of factors in my next purchases but after putting in some time sharpening lately I now am trying to decide which mid priced steels (blades about $150.00 street price, and less) offer a good compromise between time/difficulty in sharpening, and edge retention with light to medium duty usage.

All thoughts appreciated.
 
AUS-8. Killer ease of sharpening/price/edge retention quotient. Not a very "sexy" steel though. But it's cheap, it cuts stuff, and it's easy to work with.
 
I agree that AUS-8 is a good mid-range steel, but for your budget of $150 you also have the option of getting some really top-notch steels. For example: M390 (Benchmade 755 & 581), CPM-M4 (Spyderco Gayle Bradley), ZDP-189 (a bunch of Spydies), and CTS-20CP (if you can get your hands on one of the Gray Para 2 sprints direct from a dealer). Out of those steels, M390 probably best satisfies your criterion of reasonable sharpening time/difficulty, but to be honest if you have an Edge Pro, DMT (or other diamond-based setup), etc. none of those should present too much of a difficulty in terms of sharpening. (This is especially true if you're just wanting to keep the factory-set bevel sharp rather than lowering the bevel.)

And, of course, commonly used mid-to-high range steels such as CPM-S30V, VG-10, and 154CM would also do an excellent job of satisfying your criteria.
 
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marcinek said:
AUS-8. Killer ease of sharpening/price/edge retention quotient. Not a very "sexy" steel though. But it's cheap, it cuts stuff, and it's easy to work with.
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Is this made in the U.S.A.? Does Chinese or Taiwanese come in as second rate in comparison?
 
MTHall720 said:
Thanks for the quick reply. I like Japanese, but am not sure what to think about Chinese stuff
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The Chinese steel that's very similar to AUS-8 is 8Cr13MoV, and it's a good mid-range steel, too. I've used it quite a bit on my Kershaw Nerve and Spyderco Tenacious, and the performance has been very comparable to the AUS-8 on my Ontario RAT-1.

Also, I realized that I left out a couple steels in my above list. One from the "top-notch" group has already been mentioned by another poster: Elmax (which can be found on the Kershaw Speedform II for around $75). I'd also add D2 to the mid-to-high range list.
 
I'd recommend trying the following knives:

Cold Steel Recon 1 Clip Point - Has AUS8 steel, it's probably the best knife I've ever used with AUS8 steel. $55
Kershaw Rake - The composite blade has a CPM-D2 cutting edge and the 14C28back. Excellent performance and edge retention. $80
Spyderco Endura or Stretch - If you can pick up the ZDP-189 blade steel model you would not be disappointed. The Endura would be my choice. $90-$110
ESEE Izula2 - 1095 carbon steel done right. Rowen foes a really good heat treat on this steel $75

I have a little experience with the Chinese steels (8Cr13Mov, etc). If the heat treat is right, I'm sure they function well too. Just don't expect the same performance as the above knives.
 
Is D2 a bit tougher to sharpen, or similar to the rest? Right now I use a two step sharpening process: First Diamond Stone, Second Sharpmaker.
 
MTHall720 said:
Is D2 a bit tougher to sharpen, or similar to the rest? Right now I use a two step sharpening process: First Diamond Stone, Second Sharpmaker.
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It depends on the heat treat. As long as you maintain your angles it's alright. If you want to reprofile, it will take a bit longer. I have no problems sharpening it.
 
The ease of sharpening of a particular steel will of course depend on the heat treat, but leaving that source of variation aside, I'd put D2 between VG-10/154CM and S30V in terms of ease of sharpening. With your diamond stone, it shouldn't be a problem.

EDIT: Doh, RevDevil beat me to it. :(
 
neuron said:
I agree that AUS-8 is a good mid-range steel, but for your budget of $150 you also have the option of getting some really top-notch steels. For example: M390 (Benchmade 755 & 581), CPM-M4 (Spyderco Gayle Bradley), ZDP-189 (a bunch of Spydies), and CTS-20CP (if you can get your hands on one of the Gray Para 2 sprints direct from a dealer). Out of those steels, M390 probably best satisfies your criterion of reasonable sharpening time/difficulty, but to be honest if you have an Edge Pro, DMT (or other diamond-based setup), etc. none of those should present too much of a difficulty in terms of sharpening. (This is especially true if you're just wanting to keep the factory-set bevel sharp rather than lowering the bevel.)

And, of course, commonly used mid-to-high range steels such as CPM-S30V, VG-10, and 154CM would also do an excellent job of satisfying your criteria.
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Very true, neuron! I guess it all depends on what one considers "mid-range." I'm pretty cheap, so my "mid-range" might be different! $150's pretty "exotic supersteel" territory for me. :D
 
Sandvick 14c28 is a great steel for the price (I had a skyline that I paid less than 30$ for, for example). I like it much better than AUS-8 or 440C and it's a big improvement over 8cr13alphabetsoup imho.

Then again for 150$ you can easily get a blade with 154CM, S30V, D2, M4, ZDP-189... all manner of very high-end steels.
 
To me mid price is $50-80 bucks and in that range I really like Kershaws 14c28 steel. It will get super razor sharp without much difficulty. I also like 154cm as it has similar traits but doesn't seem to get quite as sharp. If you are willing to go up to $150 you should be able to get most any steel. Some of the super steels might be a little harder to sharpen unless you have diamonds or are good with power equipment like paper wheels or a sander with a bunch of different belts. M4 is pretty awesome stuff especially if hardened around 64 hrc. It gets really sharp surprisingly easy for how well it holds its edge. You just have to be prepared for it to get a patina and don't put it away wet because it can get red rust if you don't take care of it.
 
MTHall720 said:
I have been looking at a lot of factors in my next purchases but after putting in some time sharpening lately I now am trying to decide which mid priced steels (blades about $150.00 street price, and less) offer a good compromise between time/difficulty in sharpening, and edge retention with light to medium duty usage.

All thoughts appreciated.
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At $150 you are no longer paying for alloy unless you want something exotic. You are paying for fit and finish. I'm partial to anything with 1% Carbon, whether melt or PM. You could choose
S30V
154CM
CPM154
ATS-34
N690
VG10
AUS10

lots of stuff to choose in that price range.
 
Well, say what you want about SOG but they really make a great AUS-8 steel. I find it to perform very impressively.
 
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