How do you find your favorite type of steel? (School Project)

[JS_KnifeNerd]

JS_KnifeNerd here,
I need some help with another school project. My project is personal preferences in steel vs needs in steel. My question is how do you find your favorite steel without trying every different type of steel? One reason I decided to do this project is that personally, I have not yet found my favorite steel.
Thank you so much!!! :)
You guys did a really good job of answering my last school project question :)

[SF Native]

Hey JS,
Nice that you are still with us.
Opinions on steel are based on personal needs first and experience second.
If you live in a wet area and need high corrosion resistance, then that will limit the options. If you are tough on your tools or frequently break things, that might limit your choices. This is what I mean by personal need.
After that it’s a matter of personal preferences. Sharpening can be make or break time. Some of the steels can get a really fine edge pretty easily. That’s a joy. I’m thinking of tool steels like k390, 52100, etc. Those steels move up the list pretty fast. Some steels seem to be better with a toothy edge. I’m thinking D2, xhp, LC200n. I like these a lot. Others seem to do better with a finely polished edge. Some guys like that. Not my thing. Any sharp object will cut. It’s the sharpening process that wins hearts in My opinion.

[Sharp Guy]

Nice project JS_KN! Good luck with this one. I have pretty much all the steels that Spyderco's made in recent years and I do not have a favorite type. Honestly...I like them all. I guess if someone told me (the God of Knives?) that I had to pick one type and only use that I'd have to assess my needs and environment and find a steel that best suits. Probably a stainless steel that's reasonably tough, takes a decent edge, and holds it for a reasonable amount of time. For me that would be S35VN.

[Woodpuppy]

1. Identify what you need to cut, and what sort of edge will perform. What sorts of hazards might the edge encounter? Big gnarly staples hidden under opaque packing tape? Wire? Hard bone or a broken-off broadhead blade? Abrasives?

2. environment- arid or humid, salt air?

3. Sharpening - are you proficient now? be honest with yourself, but know that you can develop/improve your skill. Already proficient? Do you like it, or is it a chore? Are you willing to carry a stone with you or do you want something to stay “sharp enough” for a while between touchups?

4. Size - while not about performance, legality or preference plays a part in what is available.

You’ll find you like different steels for different tasks, from edc to kitchen to camp / outdoors. You’ll have preferences for folders vs fixed. For precision work vs. coarse. It’s fun once you get over the dizzying array of choices!

[Evil D]

You can science the heck out of this, because it's very similar to natural selection if you think about it since the steels with the qualities you want will "survive" and move on while maybe the steels you've sampled that didn't meet expectations are sold and never bought again (become extinct).

So, let's say a person starts off with 440, and they decide they like that it's corrosion resistant and reasonably tough. You can then choose other steels that are known to have those qualities and try them out. You can also evaluate your uses and realistic needs and pair them to the traits of the steel.

This process is only as good as the sample size. If you start with 3 steels, then yeah you can narrow that down to a favorite but if you start with 30 steels it will broaden your perspective and experience.


Unfortunately (fortunately?) we live in a world where information is so readily available that we can form opinions based on the experiences of others. It isn't hard to read about the preferences of others and compare them to your own and just pick what they picked. I guess to answer your question, how do you pick a favorite without owning and trying every steel, is to research. The down side to this is weeding through popularity and hype and getting to real factual data from people who have done actual testing beyond just buying what is popular and then repeating the opinions they read on a forum.

[cycleguy]

Hi,

Don't think there are many people that get to try them all and then decide, so more of an evolving over time process. You start with your first knife and it becomes your baseline steel you are familiar. When you get another knife it will likely be a different steel and comparisons begin to start and your preference starts evolving one way or another. The process repeats itself over and over, and moreso for those that are curious. Influence by others ... sales people, knife friends, internet discussion, and so on ... will arise along the way and have impact on steel choice you might try. Some people are not so particular with steels and others are. I suspect those steels that best meet an individuals needs (and needs are not the same for everyone) become someones favorite. Some things to consider are how well the knife performs (again for your specific needs), price/budget, and ease of sharpening relative to sharpening skills.

CG

[The Mastiff]

I figure out what I need my knife for then decide what model is best. That narrows it down. If I have a choice of several steels ( the Military gives us a good selection) then I will begin getting more selective. To be honest all the steels I've had in a Spyderco was at least competent and some have been pretty darn amazing.

I take local laws, environmental conditions and (ability/time/hardware) maintenance demands into consideration. Rarely will I base my choice on pure abrasive wear resistance or other performance attributes but at some level that will enter into it.

My choice? How about an Endura with the HAP 40 steel. That will cover 90% of my needs 90% of the time, maybe more.

Joe

[Wartstein]

My choice? How about an Endura with the HAP 40 steel. That will cover 90% of my needs 90% of the time, maybe more.

Joe

Great choice. If I could have only one folder, this would probably be it.

[Wartstein]

JS_KnifeNerd here,
I need some help with another school project. My project is personal preferences in steel vs needs in steel. My question is how do you find your favorite steel without trying every different type of steel?....

So how's it going with your project?

[Pelagic]

Find out what you desire. Be it corrosion resistance, toughness, strength (much different than toughness), wear resistance, edge retention, etc. No steel is aces in all categories, but some (Vanax) can somewhat come close with the proper heat treat.

[A.S.O.K.A]

I think of what I value in a knife. Ease of sharpening, edge retention, and edge strentgh. Stain resistance doesn't matter to me, I can go with or without. So, in terms of finding steels with the performance that I want without buying every steel is through Youtube. I would look for videos of people testing steels( cut tests). The next thing I would do is look for that tested steel's composite data( for example through the Knife Steel Composite app by ZKnives). The knife steel tests you can find on Youtube will be most helpful if your new to knives and dont quite understand enough to read steel composite charts.

[DukeBrnz]

For a few people there’s a lot of citizen science involved. They do independent Rockwell testing, cut testing, edge testing and so forth. For those of us who try to make educated opinions on what we want from a steel, we owe a great deal. Knifesteelnerds.com is a great example of this. I recently stumbled across it and have been thoroughly enjoying it. However, there’s definitely a huge amount of subjective opinions and “gut feeling” about knives too!

I appreciate a tough steel that has good wear resistance and isn’t impossible to sharpen on ceramic rods and a double sided strop. Having lived with 1095 steel for several years, corrosion resistance isn’t the biggest deal for me in general. I feel like most edge wear in my usage comes from edge deformation and chipping. So I prefer something that fairly stable. However I am a vain and petty man; I cannot deny the appeal of a handsome knife no matter what the steel is!