Which steels holds its razor edge longest?

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yepimonfire

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Nov 7, 2013
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I know things like s30v will hold a working edge for an extremely long time, but it seems to lose that hair popping edge at about the same rate as standard stainless. If you were to pick one steel that would outperform at maintaining that hair splitting edge the longest, what would it be?
 
I don't know, but I do know that Rockstead knives are famous for it.
 
I would not expect the type of steel to have much effect at that scale.

A hair popping razor edge has a width of about 0.1 micron, while the carbides that contribute to wear-resistance are typically 1 micron or more. For a working edge (typically 1-2 micron width) the carbides are of similar size and should dominate the edge holding ability.
 
I would say it would have to be one of the steels used for razor blades such as 13c26
 
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ToddS said:
I would not expect the type of steel to have much effect at that scale.

A hair popping razor edge has a width of about 0.1 micron, while the carbides that contribute to wear-resistance are typically 1 micron or more. For a working edge (typically 1-2 micron width) the carbides are of similar size and should dominate the edge holding ability.
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So I'm probably better off just sticking to simpler steels and honing/stropping often?
 
I'd guess 13C26 or 14C28N hardened above 60HRC. I don't know how high they can go without losing a lot of toughness, but I know 13C26 can be run considerably harder than the 57-59HRC that's common in production knives and I think I've heard 14C28N can go even higher. Both of these have very fine grain structures, finer than any other stainless steel I'm aware of, and so should excel at edge stability and retention when talking about very fine edges.

I know 1095 can be taken up to like 63HRC while retaining its toughness, and its grain structure is again very good for taking a really fine edge, but I think the Sandviks would outperform it in edge retention at those higher HRCs.
 
yepimonfire said:
So I'm probably better off just sticking to simpler steels and honing/stropping often?
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Would depend on what you want or need in the end and how you use your knives.

Something that holds an edge longer beyond the 1st 1% to 3% of the dullness curve or something that you would want to have to sharpen a lot.

Since they will be basically the same in the 1st percentage. ;)
 
In the super steel category I'm liking 10v in the Spyderco K2.

I use a 400 grit diamond plate followed by 1 micron diamond on my denim strop. This actually leaves a pretty refined edge that's very sharp and stays that way for a long while with occasional stropping.

M4 is another steel that holds its razor edge a bit longer.
 
Jason B. said:
In the super steel category I'm liking 10v in the Spyderco K2.

I use a 400 grit diamond plate followed by 1 micron diamond on my denim strop. This actually leaves a pretty refined edge that's very sharp and stays that way for a long while with occasional stropping.

M4 is another steel that holds its razor edge a bit longer.
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10V is pretty good stuff huh? :D
 
Ankerson said:
10V is pretty good stuff huh? :D
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I was underwhelmed at first, had a lot of burring issues for some reason and it still seems to take a bit of stropping but when it's good, it's real good :)
 
Jason B. said:
I was underwhelmed at first, had a lot of burring issues for some reason and it still seems to take a bit of stropping but when it's good, it's real good :)
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Once the bur is gone it's awesome. :) :thumbup:
 
I was very impressed with N77 but its very hard to find. I sold my small Griffin because it was just too small fod my hands but was lucky enough to find a large one with N77 and I jumped on it. It also takes an extremely keen edge from my experience, I found that steels like m390, 3v, cts xhp, 13c26 and few others take a sharpef edge than others, not by much but I could "feel" and see the difference in cutting fine things lije tissue paper and hair. But N77 and vanax 75 seemed to be a lil bit ahead (maybe its just me) in hiw sharp I was able to get them. It could be the nitrites in tbe steel help the ecge get finer, if I remember nitrites are finer than carbides or maybe I just had a good day behind the edge pro when sharpening those steels, its hard to know. I am excited to get a N77 knife again and ill have to play around with it maybe send it to Jim fir tests if he's interested.
 
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