Which steel takes the keenest edge? Finest grain structure?

I've had good luck with VG-10. I wish I could find some in the States to try and make a knife with.
 
jimnolimit said:
Most of the cutting performance of a scalpel, razor, even a box cutter is in the blade design. Super thin blades cut better by design and the steel's toughness becomes more important than overall wear resistance. I'm betting that the stainless razor steels like AEB-L or 13c26 are probably used in most scalpels.
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This is true. I have a little Boker Double Tree slip joint that gets insanely sharp. It's just 440C, but the blade's only .075" at the spine, and there's something about a really thin blade like that that turns "sharp" into "scary sharp" pretty quickly. Razors and scalpels, of course, are even thinner yet.
 
Samael said:
This is true. I have a little Boker Double Tree slip joint that gets insanely sharp. It's just 440C, but the blade's only .075" at the spine, and there's something about a really thin blade like that that turns "sharp" into "scary sharp" pretty quickly. Razors and scalpels, of course, are even thinner yet.
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Yep, nothing quite like a really thin blade to cut with, they just fall right through stuff or cut through so easy it's like you are cutting air.

Add a really high end steel to that and now we really have something. :thumbup:
 
Unfortunately, it's cut through my fingers like it's cutting air a couple of times too. And those cuts are like paper cuts - just nasty.

Oh well, that sorta goes with the territory.
 
Samael said:
Unfortunately, it's cut through my fingers like it's cutting air a couple of times too. And those cuts are like paper cuts - just nasty.

Oh well, that sorta goes with the territory.
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Not supposed to cut your fingers. LOL

I nicked myself the other day when checking for burrs on one of mine, I am taking about just barely touching the edge and it nicked me. ROFL
 
Well, like I always say, if it didn't require a trip to the emergency room, it doesn't count.:D
 
Samael said:
Well, like I always say, if it didn't require a trip to the emergency room, it doesn't count.:D
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Yes, very true. :D

It still hurt for a second though. LOL

S110V is so aggressive, have to watch it. :eek:
 
I bled all over the counter at the Spyderco factory outlet about a year ago after running my thumb along the edge of an S90V knife. They were like "no biggie, it happens all the time."
 
Samael said:
I bled all over the counter at the Spyderco factory outlet about a year ago after running my thumb along the edge of an S90V knife. They were like "no biggie, it happens all the time."
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I bet it does, S110V and S90V are EXTREMELY aggressive and VERY dangerous, they bite very hard.. :D

That's why I love them so much. :)
 
I have found that well done AUS8 (think Beretta/Moki) and the Sandvik used in the stainless Moras can take an extremely fine edge. For carbon steels I've been really impressed with 52100 and just plain ol' 1095.
 
I was thinking Beretta (specifically the Loveless) when I made that comment about AUS8 earlier. Hell of a knife.
 
The original question was what steel gets the sharpest not what do we think gets the sharpest. To be able to correctly answer this question steel make-up must be considered and its ability to take a extremely fine cutting edge is the other major factor. It would also require the study of submicron sharpened edges across a broad range of steels.
 
True enough. But unless you happen to know a metallurgist with an SEM, this will have to do.
 
Samael said:
This is true. I have a little Boker Double Tree slip joint that gets insanely sharp. It's just 440C, but the blade's only .075" at the spine, and there's something about a really thin blade like that that turns "sharp" into "scary sharp" pretty quickly. Razors and scalpels, of course, are even thinner yet.
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Ankerson said:
Yep, nothing quite like a really thin blade to cut with, they just fall right through stuff or cut through so easy it's like you are cutting air.

Add a really high end steel to that and now we really have something. :thumbup:
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I used my San Mai Santoku knife (hitachi blue core) to make dinner just before. The knife is about 1.8mm-1.9mm at the thickest part of the spine and it tappers down to a very thin cutting edge. Because the hitachi blue is a low alloy high carbon steel, it can take a really fine edge. That knife glides through food like it's barely there.

Jim, that's why you are a big fan of Phil Wilson, he combines super steels with great blade geometry and produces slicing machines.
 
knifenut1013 said:
The original question was what steel gets the sharpest not what do we think gets the sharpest. To be able to correctly answer this question steel make-up must be considered and its ability to take a extremely fine cutting edge is the other major factor. It would also require the study of submicron sharpened edges across a broad range of steels.
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It seems like alot of people are just calling out any steel they have, that they put a good edge on.

High alloy steels have lots of carbides suspended in the steel matrix. Even though carbide particles come in different sizes, they still act like aggregate in concrete. When you are dealing with very pure, basic high carbon steels (like 1080), there really is no "aggregate" in the steel matrix, just the crystalline steel. I doubt you can get a finer edge than Just using the crystalline steel with no other particles in it.
 
jimnolimit said:
I used my San Mai Santoku knife (hitachi blue core) to make dinner just before. The knife is about 1.8mm-1.9mm at the thickest part of the spine and it tappers down to a very thin cutting edge. Because the hitachi blue is a low alloy high carbon steel, it can take a really fine edge. That knife glides through food like it's barely there.

Jim, that's why you are a big fan of Phil Wilson, he combines super steels with great blade geometry and produces slicing machines.
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Yes, his knives are truly incredible. :D
 
BLADEFORUMS IS DONE WITH UPGRADES THANK GOD *WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS FADE* sorry I had lots of free time earlier :D and aus8 takes a scary sharp age from experience
 
The M390 I've sharpened took an awesome edge. Better than other steels I've sharpened with the same effort. Very fine, biting edge.

Another factor I haven't seen come up is the ability of a steel to be taken down to a thin angle at the edge & still be usable.
 
Lagrangian said:
I think "glassy metals" like LiquidMetal(tm) are completely glassy and have no micro-structure (ie: no grain). Presumably, they would take the keenest edge, but I don't know if they would have the correct toughness and hardness for a practical knife.

Just for fun:

According to Prof. Verhoeven, a modern sharp razor has an edge of 0.4 microns.
http://mse.iastate.edu/fileadmin/www.mse.iastate.edu/static/files/verhoeven/KnifeShExps.pdf

Diamond coated razors can have an edge of 0.05 microns.
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/25988/

Diamond microtome knife has an edge of 0.005 microns.
http://www.tedpella.com/diamond_html/diamondk.htm

Concoidally fractured obsidian has an edge of 0.003 microns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian

Tips for atomic-force-microscopes and scanning-tunneling-electron-microscopes can be sharp as a single atom.
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Awesome links, thanks for sharing. :thumbup:
 
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