Your steel sweet spot

Insipid Moniker said:
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.
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VG10 and n690 are not at all fine grained ingot steels. In fact they are on the edge of the range where you start to benefit from the powered metallurgy process. Fine grained ingot steels typically have much smaller carbides like those (as you mentioned) 14c28n, 12c27, aeb-l/13c26 and a few other stainless steels. I am not sure the size (micron wise) of the carbides in vg10 or similar steels but it is relatively large. They sit in this strange area in fact where they are not fine grained enough to be super tough, not forming massive carbides to benefit from the powered metal process.

All that being said...vg10 is one kickass steel!
 
Dr Rez said:
VG10 and n690 are not at all fine grained ingot steels. In fact they are on the edge of the range where you start to benefit from the powered metallurgy process. Fine grained ingot steels typically have much smaller carbides like those (as you mentioned) 14c28n, 12c27, aeb-l/13c26 and a few other stainless steels. I am not sure the size (micron wise) of the carbides in vg10 or similar steels but it is relatively large. They sit in this strange area in fact where they are not fine grained enough to be super tough, not forming massive carbides to benefit from the powered metal process.

All that being said...vg10 is one kickass steel!
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Good to know! I'm far from a steel expert, but I knew 14c28n fell into that category and assumed the others did due to the fact that I've gotten similar performance from them. Goes to show I shouldn't assume!
 
David Mary said:
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.
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The problem however is that most companies seem to put 14c28n at 57-58 where you do not get the primary benefits of being able to retain toughness at higher hardness. I suppose custom makers do pretty often, but I hope one day production knives move past this high 50's standard that seems to be set for it.
 
Dr Rez said:
most companies seem to put 14c28n at 57-58 where you do not get the primary benefits of being able to retain toughness at higher hardness. I suppose custom makers do pretty often, but I hope one day production knives move past this high 50's standard that seems to be set for it.
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I like to have my AEB-L processed within the range of 60-63; 60 for machetes and super hard use knives, 61-62 for most things, and 63 for the chefs and neckers. That being said, I would have no problem owning and using a an AEB-L knife in thin stock (like 3/32") for hard EDC tasks, even with a pointy tip profile. The only caveat is that I would grind the tip so that it is a bit thicker at the edge to avoid possible breakage, like I did on this one which tested at RC 62-63:

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For 61 or softer, I would would be more inclined to keep the edge geometry all the way to the tip. But who knows, my philosophy is evolving, and I may change my opinion down the road. But so far this has seemed to work quite well.
 
I send my blades out for heat treatment. So for me it's like a trip to the post office. ;)
 
I don't think there is anything a person can spend money on where economy is not improved with batching.
 
David Mary said:
I don't think there is anything a person can spend money on where economy is not improved with batching.
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I agree however that is not what I asked. Is it economical to do them 1 by 1, or do you only find it worth it in batches. I ask because I have some a knife in a steel I cannot heat treat at my shitty home forge and was wondering about sending it out or waiting until I had 2 or 3 to send.
 
I recommend contacting heat treaters and the postal services directly, figure out their rates, and determine your own "economical" and "worth it".
 
I like a well made knife, so damn the steel. That being said I EDC a Gayle Bradley M4 where all the parts just come together nicely. I have a couple of other knives made from ZDP-189 and Maxamet to fuss around with if I'm bored, but the GB M4 is what I use on a daily basis.
 
There are several steels that I have used and like but S30v and S35v seem to be a great balance between edge holding and ease of sharpening.
 
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