favorite blade material?

daveyburt

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...almost titled it Favorite Steel but, with the use of composites and ceramic, figured I'd open it up wide.

I've had some stainless stuff but, now have carbon/tool steel. I found the stainless stuff to time consuming to hone/sharpen and the edge retention no better than Std. tool steel. Besides the corrosion protection, I saw no benefit.

Curious to others opinions (and why) as well as any experience with ceramics and the such.

Thought the discussion may be informative for all readers.
 
Depends on what the blade is going to be used for. There are some high quality stainless steels out there and being used in blades. Things like VG10, S30V, etc. For folders, I prefer one of those steels (currently at least). For kitchen knives, VG10 core blades is what I have (Shun and such). But I'm making a 6" chef's knife (for mom) out of 5160. I'll have to remind her to NOT do her 'normal' cleanup treatment to this one. Mainly, she cleans them, then puts them in the dish rack wet. :( She's going to have to wash, then dry, the blade before putting it away.
 
in steel it is all about the heat treat you can not compare one steel to another unless they are made by the same hand , same grind , same geometry ect. 99.99 % of people who are knife people will never ever be able to push a knife to the performance that they will notice a difference in steels , that said 440 ss properly heat treated is a damn fine steel unfortunately 99.99 % of makers fail to properly heat treat it
 
For a cheap beater I like the sandvik that kershaw is currently using. It’s fairly easy to sharpen, is stainless, and a step above 8cr13mov and aus8 as far as edge retention.

For a well used bushcrafting blade D2 is strong, easy to sharpen and retains a nice edge even after taking a beating. Plus it’s not to expensive. Just need to make sure to not put it away wet since it’s not stainless.

For my edc I currently have and love an Elmax blade. It has a lot of the qualities of a carbon steel, but is stainless. It has one of the highest wear and corrosion resistances of any steel and is one of the easiest to get hair popping sharp since it’s a powder steel.

If you have the money you can’t go wrong with any style knife in Elmax or M390. Even at a lower Rockwell hardness Elmax performs well. There is a reason some call them super steels.
 
in steel it is all about the heat treat you can not compare one steel to another unless they are made by the same hand , same grind , same geometry ect. 99.99 % of people who are knife people will never ever be able to push a knife to the performance that they will notice a difference in steels , that said 440 ss properly heat treated is a damn fine steel unfortunately 99.99 % of makers fail to properly heat treat it

I really like the 420HC that Buck USA uses. It is heat treated using the Paul Bos method and it is a very good working steel.
No complaints.

Not all of Buck's blades get this treatment though. Look for this seal:

SVG_420HC.png


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From Buck USA's website about the steels they use:

TYPES OF BLADES STEELS
No matter how good the blade steel, there are always trade-offs. Corrosion-resistance vs. edge-retention. Edge-retention vs. sharpening ability.

Take S30V Steel. It provides the very best in edge retention and tensile strength, but is more difficult to re-sharpen and needs proper care. 17-7PH Steel resists extreme corrosion like salt water, but can’t match the edge retention of harder steels.

SVG_5160.png

5160 Steel
Commonly known as spring steel, 5160 has excellent shock absorbing properties making it resilient to shattering and extremely durable as a knife steel. We harden to 57-58 Rc to maximize its performance.

SVG_13C26.png

13C26 SANDVIK
Provides great edge retention and hardness for wear resistance and strength. Also difficult to resharpen yourself, but is a great steel choice. For best performance, we harden to a standard Rc 58-60.

SVG_420HC.png

420HC Steel
This is Buck's standard blade material because it approaches the wear resistance of high carbon alloys while delivering the corrosion resistance of chromium stainless steels. Add our exclusive heat-treat process and you have a very user-friendly combination of superior corrosion resistance with excellent strength for wear resistance and durability. You also have a blade that is easy to resharpen. For best performance we harden to a Rockwell hardness of Rc 58.

SVG_S30V.png

S30V Steel
This advanced steel, S30V, contains carbon as well as high amounts of Chromium, Molybdenum and Vanadium. This steel combines fantastic edge retention and high ductility combined with corrosion resistance. Double-tempered - it can be hardened to a Rockwell hardness of Rc 59.5-61. However, it is difficult to resharpen yourself, but we do offer sharpening services for a nominal fee.

SVG_154CM.png

154CM Steel
This steel is ideal for excellent edge retention, great corrosion resistance and for heavy cutting applications. For best performance, we harden to a standard Rc 59-61.
 
BTW, I still have some ATS34 bar stock that I bought years back. At some point I'll make something from it (two sizes). :) I might send that out for HT&T, unless I have better equipment to do the job properly by then (probably not).
 
For no reason other than sentimentality, I prefer 5160. It's easy to hammer, easy to grind, relatively forgiving in heat treatment, easy to finish, and easy to maintain. And it ages well, with just the right carbon steel patina, but not quick to rust.

1095 is cool for turning files and rasps into knives, but it requires more anti-rust care.

For industrially-produced kitchen knives, AUS-8 is a pretty good compromise.
 
There are some many good steels now.
Everything has an application.
CPM3V for stoopid toughness.
CPM110V for stoopid wear resistance.
I agree that to compare one steel to another requires the same geometry and the same test media. They used to use a CATRA or some name cutting tester that would cut sheets of a goven material to see what steel would cut longer.

Real world scenario even with 110V you’re going to run into a dirty box or dirty rope long before you would wear the edge out anyway.
Now I don’t mean dirt caked mess because who would use a nice knife for cutting that. I mean any nasty stuff you encounter like the hidden staple in a cardboard box or the fact that you drop your blade on the concrete on accident.

Any of the modern blade steels properly heat treated will make a damn fine serviceable knife beyond any of the chinesium crap you find in the cheapo blades.

There was mention of 440 in this thread. There are a few type of 440 and some are good and some suck.
Like anything else there are variations on alloys and variations from different manufacturers. Some D2 is traditionally smelted. Some D2 is powdered.
Same goes for 154CM and CPM154.
Same composition just cleaner more consistent method of manufacture that respond better to heat treat and has a better grain structure with more evenly distributed alloy.
 
Do not have any yet, but looking forward to trying S35V. Supposed to be easier to maintain than 30, but all the same benefits.
 
I love S30V and S35V but I'd argue they are so close that it comes down then the specific blade/maker.
My Spyderco Sage 2 with S30V seems harder than my Kizer with S35V. Could be the Spydie's full-flat grind.
 
My favorite is Stellite/6K (like Talonite) - sort of $$$, won't rust and holds edge a long time. No clue one modern blade materials, but D2 has always been great for dressing deer & not too hard to touch up and keep on slicing. 440C is nice as well. Yeah, old school stuff. I have a folder with S30V and it's fine for cutting up cardboard boxes, etc. YMMV.
 
I have been collecting random steel along with parts for a gas furnace to try my hand at making a few knives.
i have chunks of leaf springs , files , random stainless chunks from god knows what.
Used to make knives out of files with my uncle as kids. He would get the wood stove cranking with coal to do the annealing/heat treating.
No idea if he did it right but we made many throwing knives and they did not bend or break and stayed sharp most of the summer. Wish I knew what happened to all those knives.
How does one know what type of steel they have and what would be the favorite?
 
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