Your steel sweet spot

upnorth

upnorth

Joined
Nov 25, 2006
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I am far from any kind of knife steel authority, and this is an honest question. I realize that blade shape/grind angles etc. can influence a knifes cutting potential, but what steel do you find, generally, to be your preferred optimum of price, ease of sharpening, edge retention etc. There must be a steel that overall meets most of your personal parameters, most often. I have a lot of stuff like AUS8, 1095, D-2, SK-5, 5160 etc. Nothing fancy. I have moderate level sharpening skills and I tend to use my knives for wood processing. I think that I avoid higher end steels because of cost, and my often cruder use preferences. I simply accept that I have to touch up AUS8 a little more often, but I don't care because it is easy to sharpen for my skill level. What steel is your primary preference ?
 
I've played around with a lot of super steels and fairly often the designs that I like are higher end, so they come in S30V or K390 or something similar, but I've found that for my uses fine grained ingot steels are really my favorites. VG-10, n690, 14c28n and such I find that I can get screaming sharp with very little effort, keep an edge for long enough, are plenty stainless and are usually inexpensive.
 
Thank you gentlemen. I have a few in 14c28n that I have barely used yet. Let alone have any long term experience.
 
I like 154cm... clearly not a super steel but I like how easy it is to sharpen

I also had good experiences with m390 so it is always a good option IMO

When it is well done s35vn is good too but I had so many “bad” experience with it that I really stick to “premium” us manufacturer for this steel
 
As my blade usage is very limited, and because I use an EDC utility knife for cardboard and clamshells, I really don't notice a difference in the blade steels from 8Cr13MoV on up to the foo foo steels. They are all pretty much the same to me.
 
I'm not picky. I have everything from whatever recycled beer cans Victorinox uses to all the popular super steels like S90V, S110V, ZDP-189, M4, 3V, etc. My happy place is probably 440C, VG10, 14C28N and the like because they're super easy to sharpen quickly. I don't have any issues sharpening the super steels, but it does take more work to reach the same level of sharpness. I won't turn my nose up at any steel, though. I do sometimes judge the price of materials (e.g. an overly expensive knife shouldn't come with a low end steel).
 
I'm somewhat of a steel nerd with a preference for carbon steels.

I do have stainless knives and I'm fond of them. Though all my fixed blades are carbon and only some of my folders are stainless....

About as low on the scale I go is 1095 for a knife I expect to use regularly.

My primary user fixed blade is 52100, but I think d3v is going to replace it quickly. I'm really getting a kick out of how stunningly sharp this d3v gets and stays.
 
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I'm pretty happy with 3V, Cruwear and on up to 4V. If I had to any of the three will do all I need. I don't mind going up to 10V and K390 as the tradeoff aren't bad at all for the increased wear resistance unlike it would be in stainless steels of that wear resistance levels.
 
Good question,
Kinda depends on the manufacturer,
I like Buck 420 but not others
Kabar 1095
Ontairo 5160
I like to try new steel but don't have the budget for most of it.
D2 is usually good.
I shy away from most 8Cr13MoV unless I think it is HT well
 
For me it's all about striking a good balance of properties. I admit to being a steel nerd (official paying member of Knife Steel Nerds, in fact:p) and I have heat treated and tested nearly all of the steels that interest me. There's a lot of them I like very much and will use repeatedly without hesitation, so it's hard for me to narrow down below 4 or 5 frankly. A balance of edge retention, toughness, corrosion resistance, plus a little consideration for ease/difficulty of sharpening is how I reach my personal conclusions.

For me the sweet spot is CPM Cru-Wear / Z-Wear for non-stainless and Vanax for a stainless.
 
upnorth upnorth , Larrin is a steel authority, and he has indicated recently that in his opinion, the answer to your question is 14C28N, and next to it, AEB-L. It is affordable, fine grained, stable and tough, stainless, easy to grind, finish and sharpen to an extremely fine edge, and at higher hardness and acute edge angles it retains its cutting ability exceptionally well. I also love AEB-L, and it is the primary stainless steel for knives I make.
 
I love the high end steel. It is part of the hobby for me. Do I need high end steel?
No
I can keep the lesser steels sharp easier and I am not doing enough cutting to tell much difference.

Need? No
Like? Yes

Edit to add: 154cm and VG10 are kind of a sweet spot from what I own for ease of sharpening vs performance.
 
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