Guide to the Best Knife Steel

[snapshot2017]

This is a great guide to the best knife steels, if it has been posted before i apologize.
http://knifeinformer.com/discovering-th ... ife-steel/

[Evil D]

In before the debate :D


Let me just be the first to say, "all good, just different".

[bearfacedkiller]

They forgot toughness.

[Sharp Guy]

That one's been posted a few times. I book marked it a couple years ago. I think it's a good general reference for those who are new to the knife hobby.

[Sharp Guy]

They forgot toughness.

Yeah they mention toughness in the beginning but then they didn't provide a ranking for it when discussion the individual steel types.

[bearfacedkiller]

Edge stability? :D

[Bodog]

This is a great guide to the best knife steels, if it has been posted before i apologize.
http://knifeinformer.com/discovering-th ... ife-steel/

That's a great guide for those looking for a summary of the cutlery steel world. Well balanced and grounded without seeming to push any agenda.

[Evil D]

Edge stability? :D

Blade grind? Behind the edge thickness? Bevel angle? Edge finish? HRC? So many variables..

[kodai78]

Blade geometry and the Heat treat are possibly as important as steel type for an individual design. I have blades in VG 10 which I love but I prefer more exotic materials at this point. I think any steel guide really is just a starting point for discussion. I find that Spyderco is using steels that aren’t in these guides such as the one you linked too, and there are others of course. Nice to have knowledgeable people to talk to about this stuff.

[snapshot2017]

Blade geometry and the Heat treat are possibly as important as steel type for an individual design. I have blades in VG 10 which I love but I prefer more exotic materials at this point. I think any steel guide really is just a starting point for discussion. I find that Spyderco is using steels that aren’t in these guides such as the one you linked too, and there are others of course. Nice to have knowledgeable people to talk to about this stuff.

You can find the steel Mfg.s working sheets on line for all the steels listed, they give detailed heat treating and hardness data.
Example: http://www.crucible.com/PDFs/DataSheets ... v12010.pdf

[blues]

In line with the best knife steels chart...the knife steel composition chart:

http://knifeinformer.com/knife-steel-composition-chart/


Useful for a quick way to look at some of the more popular steels.

[snapshot2017]

In line with the best knife steels chart...the knife steel composition chart:

http://knifeinformer.com/knife-steel-composition-chart/


Useful for a quick way to look at some of the more popular steels.

A very good addition thanks for posting it.

[blues]

Thanks. Least I could do after deciding to register and de-cloak after these many years.

(Of course, I blame Shawn in any case. :p )

[TomAiello]

I think it's a good general reference for those who are new to the knife hobby.

I agree. It's not at the level of most of the discussions on this forum (or others) but it's a good beginning "primer" for someone who's in the fairly early stages of knives, and is trying to figure stuff out.

[koenigsegg]

Any of you guys patreons for knife steel nerds? New related article going public soon if not

[sal]

Hi Blues,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[blues]

Hi Blues,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

Thanks, Sal. Same old "Blues" from bladeforums and blade shows past.

Thanks for the welcome, my friend. Figured it was about time. :p

(Lovin' what you're puttin' out there these days.)

[snapshot2017]

Well after reading the forum and reviewing the s110v data sheet, and watching a 2016 Blade show interview video with Sal and his son Erick they spoke about the choices of steel they use in their knives.
I placed an order today for the Spyderco C101GPDBL2 Manix 2 with s110v steel blade and i am really happy to be getting it soon.

[Evil D]

Blade geometry and the Heat treat are possibly as important as steel type for an individual design. I have blades in VG 10 which I love but I prefer more exotic materials at this point. I think any steel guide really is just a starting point for discussion. I find that Spyderco is using steels that aren’t in these guides such as the one you linked too, and there are others of course. Nice to have knowledgeable people to talk to about this stuff.

You can find the steel Mfg.s working sheets on line for all the steels listed, they give detailed heat treating and hardness data.
Example: http://www.crucible.com/PDFs/DataSheets ... v12010.pdf

Not so sure they're giving the numbers that knife companies are actually using. Steel X at Spyderco may very well be a different hardness than Steel X at Benchmade, and neither may be what that website says it should be because a lot of these steels are designed for industrial use and the hardness they use for those applications may vary from knife applications.

[snapshot2017]

Blade geometry and the Heat treat are possibly as important as steel type for an individual design. I have blades in VG 10 which I love but I prefer more exotic materials at this point. I think any steel guide really is just a starting point for discussion. I find that Spyderco is using steels that aren’t in these guides such as the one you linked too, and there are others of course. Nice to have knowledgeable people to talk to about this stuff.

You can find the steel Mfg.s working sheets on line for all the steels listed, they give detailed heat treating and hardness data.
Example: http://www.crucible.com/PDFs/DataSheets ... v12010.pdf

Not so sure they're giving the numbers that knife companies are actually using. Steel X at Spyderco may very well be a different hardness than Steel X at Benchmade, and neither may be what that website says it should be because a lot of these steels are designed for industrial use and the hardness they use for those applications may vary from knife applications.

What the Mfg.s of the blades do with their heat treating process is a very tightly held secret, this is why one Mfg. of a knife using a brand X steel for their blades, will not render the same type blade as another Knife Mfg. using the exact same brand X steel.
Heat treating is a little science a little magic and a little VoDo, along with a lot of trials of the process's.