your top 3 steels?

Basic knives;
440c
ELMAX
s30v

They are all great "all around" steels... None excel as "the best" in any one area, but all 3 do a bit of everything rather well. s30v falls to 3rd for me simply because it's tougher and more time consuming then ELMAX to sharpen, but I do love the way it holds that working edge for longer periods.

Honorable mention;
Sandvik 14c27n - love the edges it takes
N690co/vg10 - another solid well balanced option
"Swedish steel" - ie. Mora, the edges on 'em (for the price) never ceases to amaze me. It's like they get their carbon from crushed unicorn bones or something.
CTS-XHP - I only own one cold steel with it, which I've only owned for a couple mos. now, so limited experience by comparison, but I am really liking it so far, just not enough (yet) to leap frog any others at this point.

Hard Choppers excluded as the 10 series and spring steels/tool steels really excel here

Vintage Solingen, Sheffield, and US carbon for straight razors. (Not as big a fan of the vintage Swedish or French steels for shaving, and "others" don't even get consideration).
 
So far I really like:

1) 3V - tough as nails, takes a sinister edge, and holds on to it like a hungry dog its bone.
2) CPM-154 - my current favorite stainless; again, holds its edge very well and seems to have enough toughness to get a wide variety of jobs done.
3) 52100 - with the HT done well this is excellent stuff / I also can't complain about M390 :)
 
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Of the steels I use and own:

Sandvik 14 series- favorite budget steel

S30v- favorite steel for fixed blade knife

N680- for saltwater use.
 
CPM-3V. Stoopid high toughness even at high hardness, very good edge-holding, decent corrosion-resistance. The one alloy I would choose for every type of knife, if I could never work with another.

ELMAX. Very tough when treated properly, very high edge-holding, really good corrosion-resistance.

52100. For fans of "carbon" steels. High toughness, pretty decent edge-stability. No corrosion-resistance at all really, but really easy to put a lovely edge on.

Other fine options (and there are a lot of great alloys available today, for sure):
For stainless... CPM-154 and S35VN are pretty darn good, especially for knives that don't really require massive toughness. Not my first choice for a big chopper, but for almost anything else they work very nicely.
For carbon... W2, O1, L6, even boring old 1095 and 1084 have proven to perform really well for many, many people. They all work just fine for anything from razors to swords.
Another fave is AEB-L... I like to call it "The stain-resistant steel for people who don't like 'stainless steel' ". It really does have the toughness, ease of sharpening and edge-holding of good 'carbon' steel while exhibiting high corrosion-resistance. My only real problem with it is that it's not available in thicker stock.
 
1. Victorinox's proprietary X50CrMO. I love this stuff for everyday use. I only need to use my spyderco ultra fines every few days to keep it sharp, and in a pinch i can use a honing steel at work.

2. D2. Just love it in queen slipjoint. Stays crazy sharp noticeably longer than everything other than my zdp 189 knife. If only victorinox made a spartan or pioneer in it.

3. Sugimoto's "chromium molybdenum" is my absolute favourite kitchen knife steel. It's rated pretty hard, but still seems pretty chip resistant.
 
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S35VN for all around use.

1095 - Specifically ESEE's for hard use.

And Hitachi White #1 by Murray Carter when I want something really sharp!

(and all three are relatively easy to sharpen. lately I've been moving away from the super high hardness steels. just too much work)
 
M4 for hard-use folders (tough with great edge holding)

CTS204P/M390 for EDC folders (great edge holding)

1095 for fixed bades (tough and easy to sharpen)
 
Wow, after reading all these I've just decided I need more knife steels.

1. S35VN
2. S30V
3. Tie for CPM-M4 and D2. Haven't used the M4 enough but so far seems promising.

I only own maybe 10 different and these are my "top end" ones lol :D
 
1. M390 - Love it with many different finishes.
2. CPM154 - Love it with a 400 grit edge, maybe stropped lightly.
3. Was CTS-XHP, but I'm starting to lean more towards VG10 for polished edges. Haven't tried both steels in the same blade geometry though. Maybe I need to buy a few more knives to be sure :)
 
So far it's:
Vanadis 4E for work
PSF27 for edc
Elmax for stainless

And on the other end just for S and G:
S110V
S30V
Anything with a shoddy heat treat or thats too thick behind the edge.
 
From what I have:
S90V- gets insanely sharp and holds that level of sharpness for a long time!
cpm3v- gets super sharp and tough stuff! Sharpest knife I own right now is in 3v
D2- Great mix between the two above!

Honorable mention- Damascus

(not a steel) Stellite 6K- love this stuff. Ease of sharpening, corrosion resistance, edge holding, etc.


Getting a knife in each soon, so I know my list will change
S110v
SM-100
K390
Can not wait for those Three!!
 
1095 Love esee and beckers.
Vg10
3v so far, I'm quite impressed with the edge retention
 
Of the steels I've used, s30v is a great all around stainless, 1095 because it just works, and then elmax
 
I really like Elmax/S35v/S30V/CPM154 I find them for normal intents almost the exact same steel in that they sharpen easily and retain an edge for a fairly long amount of time.

By and large they are fairly common and you don't have to pay a whole lot extra to get them. VG10 is a fan favorite, easy to sharpen and maintain and I really like 440a for basic utility knives (traditionals) and kitchen knives so long as the heat treats are on point.
 
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