Most Underestimated Steel.

[ladybug93]

i would agree with vivi that h1 is underrated. i'm not sure it's the most underrated though. steels like bd1 and vg10 are looked down upon because everyone around here wants to break down 1,000 boxes before needing to strop their knives back to shaving sharp, but really, they're perfectly adequate for most people and touch up easier than super steels. also, around here, s30v gets dumped on a lot, but it's really a great steel that is pretty well-rounded. i think most people just want their knife to be engraved with something that everyone else doesn't have.

[S-3 ranch]

H1.

Ditto.

H1 is vastly underrated.

H1 comments
https://www.everydaycommentary.com/www. ... or-z-finit
It’s a paper weight unless serrated IMO , and even being in the maritime industry I don’t have any

[S-3 ranch]

i would agree with vivi that h1 is underrated. i'm not sure it's the most underrated though. steels like bd1 and vg10 are looked down upon because everyone around here wants to break down 1,000 boxes before needing to strop their knives back to shaving sharp, but really, they're perfectly adequate for most people and touch up easier than super steels. also, around here, s30v gets dumped on a lot, but it's really a great steel that is pretty well-rounded. i think most people just want their knife to be engraved with something that everyone else doesn't have.

I would agree on everything except the H1 ,

[ladybug93]

i would agree with vivi that h1 is underrated. i'm not sure it's the most underrated though. steels like bd1 and vg10 are looked down upon because everyone around here wants to break down 1,000 boxes before needing to strop their knives back to shaving sharp, but really, they're perfectly adequate for most people and touch up easier than super steels. also, around here, s30v gets dumped on a lot, but it's really a great steel that is pretty well-rounded. i think most people just want their knife to be engraved with something that everyone else doesn't have.

I would agree on everything except the H1 ,

i actually love my h1 knives. i think i even prefer the hollow ground h1 pac salt se to my flat ground lc200n caribbean sheepsfoot se. the blade of the pac salt feels more robust than that of the caribbean, but handle and lockup are the reverse, so i typically carry the caribbean.

[bearfacedkiller]

ZDP gets no love.

Looking at Larrin’s wear resistance chart it looks like it still holds its own and is still an edge retention powerhouse after all these years.

[TomAiello]

H1.

Ditto.

H1 is vastly underrated.

H1 comments
https://www.everydaycommentary.com/www. ... or-z-finit
It’s a paper weight unless serrated IMO , and even being in the maritime industry I don’t have any

My experience has been that serrated H-1 will perform routine cutting chores pretty much forever, with almost zero maintenance. No rust, sharpen every blue moon or so, and just keep going. It's good stuff.

H-1 is also very tough--like bend it sideways and then bend it back and keep going.


I think that PE H-1 doesn't measure up to PE LC200n, but it does compare favorably to things like 420HC, which has been used by loads of knife companies for a long time. The primary strength of PE H-1 is obviously corrosion resistance, but it's also absurdly easy to get super sharp--it's just that it's also absurdly easy to get super dull. So if you want the easiest knife to get super sharp for a short task, it's actually quite good. I won't use it for EDC (I need EDC blades to keep cutting longer than that), but I can see how it would have it's place.

I have owned PE H-1, and never carry it. On the other hand, the only knife that I carry every day is SE H-1. Everything else rotates, but that knife (LB HB) is always in my pocket.

[skeeg11]

I hate to say it, but among our little band of brothers and sisters it seems that 8Cr13MoV gets dumped on the most. I'm sure that Sal wouldn't use it if it wasn't worth a darn.

[Fireman]

LC200N
Won’t rust
Tough
Good edge retention
Easy to sharpen
Almost the perfect steel for many applications.

[eventhorizon]

I hate to say it, but among our little band of brothers and sisters it seems that 8Cr13MoV gets dumped on the most. I'm sure that Sal wouldn't use it if it wasn't worth a darn.

https://youtu.be/E3OSGl1 ... L&index=21

:cool:

[eventhorizon]

LC200N
Won’t rust
Tough
Good edge retention
Easy to sharpen
Almost the perfect steel for many applications.

I actually don't see where LC200N is underestimated... most knife guys are pretty much aware of it's potential

[Matus]

I think it is fine when the companies and users move in their preferences towards a new or improved materials. It is just more often than not that the improvement is not even half as large as the hype that will surround it may make one believe. There are better 'basic' steels than 8Cr13MoV, better middle class stainless steels like VG-10 and better high end stainless steels like S30V. But it is still for the most part just an evolution. Big jumps in performance in given material category happen rarely - like for example the flexible ceramic knives or the upcoming MagnaCut.

[eventhorizon]

Steels are recipes basically... if the chef messes up in the making, the outcome is dumpster stuff, regardless of the potential of the recipe.

[p_atrick]

I'm liking AEB-L more and more. I laid back the angles on my Urban and that thing can slice.

[TomAiello]

I actually don't see where LC200N is underestimated... most knife guys are pretty much aware of it's potential

That's what I was thinking. LC200N gets well deserved respect from most of the knife people I know.

[M Sea]

H1.

Ditto.

H1 is vastly underrated.

Another Ditto, H1

[spoonrobot]

H1, especially PE, almost nobody in the hobbyist sphere rates the steel properly. There seems to be this idea that as steels advanced; the older steels - and those newer steels with lower relative edge retention - suddenly got worse.

The fact that Rex 121 holds an edge essentially forever, doesn't change the actual performance of H1 or 440c or D2 or S30V.

I like to rate the edge retention of H1 like this

If you cut clean cardboard until it's dull, it's not that great compared to S30V
If you cut dirty cardboard until it's dull, it's pretty well compared to S30V
If you cut wet, dirty cardboard until it's dull, it's better than S30V

Often, I can cut open a bag of concrete or aggregate with my H1 knife and then finish out the day without noticing much cutting ability loss. Something like S30V, 154CM, S35VN at the same task would definitely have more and varied edge damage and I'd probably waste time finding something else to use to cut open the bag or be bothered enough to hone the edge.

I am biased, H1 was on of the first named steels I ever used and over the decades I've been using it I've found it to be one of my favorites.

[TomAiello]

If you just need a 'non knife person' level of sharpness, PE H-1 isn't bad. I think it gets a bad reputation with knife people because we just want a higher level of sharpness.

I'm still a lot more of an H-1 fan in SE, though. There are genuinely some applications where I think SE H-1 is the best choice at any price point.

[spoonrobot]

H1 is “easier” to take to a high level of sharpness because of how relatively soft it is and high grind-ability it has. Polishing various steels with micron diamond spray, H1 takes significantly less strokes than pretty much anything else I’ve tried to get to the level of splitting individual hairs. How well it retains that edge, is another story.

I don’t think relative sharpness exists in the sense that evaluating between different steels is possible, by itself. A 0.25 micron edge is a 0.25 micron edge. As long as the composition allows for the steel to remain stable, which I believe is true for all modern steels. The ability to get to the polish level, apex width, scratch pattern, and so on create the tangible impression of high or low sharpness.

[JD Spydo]

It seems like in the past two years I've had people tend to look down their nose at me when I compliment the fine properties of good ol' VG-10. I still own and use quite a few Spyders with VG-10 and I even like it better than I do S30V or many of the other popular standard production blade steels.

Now another one that I truly don't think gets the respect it deserves is M390. When I got an M390 Military model in a trade about 4 and a half years ago I so impressed with it's performance that I immediately made it my primary EDC folder. And I EDCed that folder just until recently when I switched over to one of my C-60 Ayoob models ( VG-10 blade steel).

Oh I'm sure many of you can make claims that there are a lot of steels that can outperform M390 but I personally had excellent results with it.

And I'll probably keep most of my VG-10 Spyders for quite some time. To me I think VG-10 is way under-appreciated.

[TomAiello]

I actually think VG-10 is great in a lot of applications. I'd love to have the kitchen utility knives in VG-10, for example, but I know the price bump would make them non-sellers.

I agree that it is suffering from a 'been there done that' effect among knife people that isn't very fair to it.