Toughest stainless steel ?

[elena86]

What are your thoughts ?

[Bloke]

H1? :)

[elena86]

H1? :)

Stainless steel not stainproof alloy :) I would not consider Nitrogen based alloys with no or less than 1% Carbon as steels. This quest is easy if we do: we have H1 and Z-FiNit. My best bet would be : AEB-L/12C27/13C26 or 420HC.

[Bloke]

Fair enough. :)

... 12C27 ... I’ve punished it in cheap Moras because I could and found it to be fairly tough plus it takes a great edge and holds it well, sharpens more like carbon steel than typical stainless and fair to say I like it.

[Sumdumguy]

S110V is unnaturally strong. It gets my vote.

[npad69]

h1 for me.
feels something like 1070 carbon steel

[Skidoosh]

S90V

[Bodog]

Doesn't elmax get the highest charpy numbers?

[The Meat man]

How about M390/CPM 20CV/CTS 204P? How do these steels compare to, say, CPM S110V?

[elena86]

How about M390/CPM 20CV/CTS 204P? How do these steels compare to, say, CPM S110V?

These are not tough steels....

[Sjucaveman]

Probably one of the 400 steels.

[Eli Chaps]

I don't know if it is the toughest as I just don't have enough experience to say that, but Wusthof's X50CrMoV15 is pretty darned tough at 56 and 58 HRC. I've put this steel through a lot over the years and my knives come right back up to excellent sharpness. I've de-boned a couple 20+lbs turkeys with the little utility and pairing knives. No chips or dents despite the knuckles and tendons. I don't really even get any significant rolling from the board during normal use. The edge might blunt after a while if I don't maintain it but again, super easy to bring right back up.

For that matter, 8Cr13MoV is pretty tough.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Let's put it this way: Which stainless knife blade steel can you bend into a U shape and then bend back straight and it functions as if the U bending had never happened, and, which if needed can be used to drive nails and cut through modern steel nails without nicks and damage to the edge?

That may be an extreme parameter. I have found that the stainless steel used on the Byrd line of knives is pretty tough.

[The Meat man]

Let's put it this way: Which stainless knife blade steel can you bend into a U shape and then bend back straight and it functions as if the U bending had never happened, and, which if needed can be used to drive nails and cut through modern steel nails without nicks and damage to the edge?

That may be an extreme parameter. I have found that the stainless steel used on the Byrd line of knives is pretty tough.

Since I try not to use my knife for prying, I'd be more interested in the second, although of course not to the extreme of cutting nails. :)

I think of toughness primarily as the ability to hit hard objects like staples without edge damage (or at the least, rolling instead of chipping), and the ability to cut and carve hard materials like hardwood and tough plastic without chipping.

[TomAiello]

What about Nitro V?

https://youtu.be/V7dibia2ECM

https://youtu.be/4bNOKdCz3r8

[TomAiello]

This is a good video of a toughness test for CPM 154, CPM s35vn and Elmax;

https://youtu.be/lpOQeH-W17Y

In this test Elmax looks like the toughest of these three.

[TomAiello]

Let's put it this way: Which stainless knife blade steel can you bend into a U shape and then bend back straight and it functions as if the U bending had never happened, and, which if needed can be used to drive nails and cut through modern steel nails without nicks and damage to the edge?

There are some bend test photos of a Nitro V machete in this thread: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/nit ... s.1503847/

[Germinalphrase]

It would be great to have a sticky thread that defines toughness, strength, wear resistance, etc. and associated blade materials/uses.

It would be a helpful cheat sheet for members.

[JD Spydo]

Not sure how they measure the toughness factors in steel. But I can say by using and by experience that the old Crucible 440V is what I would personally call "tough". It is not only a great steel for Spyderedges but it's also a monster to sharpen. Of all the Spyders I've had with 440V I've never once had any chipping problems or cracks at all.

It's an interesting topic because I've noticed the blade steels that seem to be great for Spyderedges have more of a toughness factor than being super on the Rockwell scale. There are dozens of examples. Again I don't know how metallurgists measure toughness.

[shunsui]

The manufacturers don't make it easy to figure out.

If I wanted a tough stainless knife, I'd probably place a bet on a Busse ELMAX knife.

That they've actually made a few is a good clue.