Your Favorite Steel?

TAH

TAH

Joined
Jul 3, 2001
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Bottom line, all things considered (and no whining about, "well that depends on how I'm going to use it?").....what is your favorite steel and why? I'm going to have to go with D-2 for edge placement and retention, ease of resharpening, and being fairly stain resistant.
 
Well, considering I do not have that many different blade steels (until I buy more stuff from Les:D ), I would have to say BG-42 or D-2. I like the corrision resistance and sharpening capabilities. But Tom, I am just an amatuer. I have heard many wonderful things about Stellite and Talonite, but I yet to have anything of these, so they can not be my favorites. Speaking of steels, does anyone think the world of 3V?
 
So if all my knives had to be made of one steel?
INFI. For all the reasons you listed for D2 along with being incredibly tough to boot.
Edit: sorry, I wasn't paying attention, and thought this was the general discussion forum.
Haven't tried it yet, but S30V sounds good, and my next custom will be in that.
Those that I own are in BG-42, D2M, 420V, and 10V. I actually like all of these steels, but wouldn't want all of my knives made of any one of them, I don't think (of those, D2M, though).
 
52100, because it is tough, holds an edge and is really easy to sharpen. As far as I am concerned, when 52100 is forged by someone that knows the steel, it is about as good as it gets.
 
I like 154CM. I think it's an all around great steel. Rade Hawkins recommended it to me at a meeting of the Flint River Knife Club. I'm also a fan of D2.
 
Definitely 52100. I have knives in D2, A2, ATS34, 3V, BG42 plus a couple more, but there's just something about forged 52100 that floats my boat high in the water. Perhaps it's the irony in how a steel so easy to touch up and sharpen can hold an edge for so long. It seems that these properties should be mutually exclusive, but Mastersmiths, and I suppose I'm speaking of Ed Fowler here, just seem to bring these unique qualities out, through seemingly tireless experimentation in the quest for the ultimate using blade. I, for one don't much care for how "stainless", or "maintainence free" a given steel is. I more than willing to trade a little extra attention for a great deal of performance. Just my 2 sense....

AL
 
ATS-34/154CM is my favorite steel. Others have superior edge retention, but 154CM is pretty easy to maintain. Also, it way cheaper than the various CPM steels, not to mention Talonite/Stellite 6K. It is no longer exotic or cutting edge, but it is still quite practical to me. VG-10 would also be a favorite if it were common among customs since it takes such a fine edge.
 
I'm going to have to confess to being a member of the 52100 Fan Club. It seems to hit the sweet spot between edge-holding and ease of sharpening better than anything else I've used. It also takes the finest edge. The staining doesn't bother me because I like the patina a well-used carbon steel blade develops over time.

If I had to pick a stainless, it would be VG-10.
 
My choice is definitely 52100. I used it for my journey smith performance test, won two cutting contests, and came in second in the third one (John Fitch was first) last year. It holds an edge, is easy to sharpen, stays sharp longer, and I think it is the best. I guess that is about all I can say about that.
 
Right now if I had to only pick just ONE steel, S30-V. The more I use it the more I like it. It is my opinion it is the best balanced stainless obtainable at this time. There are tougher steels, steels that will hold an edge longer, have better corrosion resistance etc, but S30-V performs extremely well in all these areas! This steel is easy to heat treat, not tough to work, and was developed primarily for cutlery.
 
I'm gonna have to pick both BG-42 and CPM-440V. I have had my best experiences with these two steels. I have no problem sharpening the CPM stuff, and BG-42 is a joy to use. I'm not sure about the corrosion resistance as I am an avid Tuf-cloth user. I don't want to find out though.
 
as tom said, it depends. i am going to get some of the s30v to try. in my five years of knife making i still have yet to find a better steel than paul bos, cryo treated 440c for culinary/kitchen knives. with ATS-34/154cm a close second. my reason for this is that most of my customers here in s,cal like the corosion resistance and that it is fairly easy to keep the edge by using a steel. for field/camp ATS-34/154cm works great. then BG-42 for skining and carry blades around 4 inch's and a few in D2.
 
I would have to say BG-42,S30V,S60V and the best of them all Sharpfusion 6K Stellite.This is actually an Alloy with lots of colbalt and tungston carbides..................
 
with proper heat treat ATS-34/154cm/bg-42 are all great stainless steels. D2 is not semi-stainless in my book. needs maintenance just like carbon steels...

like my custom 440v but never tried 420v. would like to try a s30v blade in the future.

my favorites are not steels at all, stellite 6k and talonite. stay sharp a long time and are easy to sharpen....not a combination you see often.
 
I also prefer Stellite. For my purposes it serves me well. I like the zero maintenance. It cuts great and doesn't rust.
 
S30-V is very good,but like S90-V its a pain to get a good polish on it.But they tell us it's recomendid to poloish for maximum stain resistance.We all know (ALL) steel will oxidize on its way back to its natural state.Obsidion is the sharpest and gold the most ductile niether of whitch would make a good choice for an E.D.C. knife.There are a meriad of choices in between,good luck trying to find any two people to agree on one best alloy for all things.Considering price,machine/grindability and performance S30-V is my favorite for now.
 
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