I Tested the Edge Retention of 48 Steels

[Naperville]

Yes I missed the CTS-XHP, and 80CrV2 as well.

[dj moonbat]

This report really makes me appreciate Cru-Wear even more.

[ThomC]

As always, a very interesting read. I binged your articles shortly after joining the forum, and it's provided me with a lot of knowledge.
Fascinating to see S30V so high on the list after seeing it turned down as a commonplace steel. Makes me want to give it much more work in PE and SE.

[ZrowsN1s]

Truly a massive undertaking. The knife community owes you a thank you and then some. Can't wait to see it as it evolves. I'm particularly interested to see what the chart looks like with the same steels across a different range of heat treats. It's nice to see S30V for example measured across 3 different hardnesses. I realize not all steels are suited for it, but I'd really like to see the performance of steels in the 63-70hr range.

[kennethsime]

Larrin, is there any way we could see a sortable version of this table? Or perhaps just an image sorted by TCC rather than Steel name?

Nevermind, I ran the image through an OCR and uploaded as a Google Sheet. Here it is, in case anyone wants to take a look.

Larrin, I hope that's ok. I included the source (your article) and blog name for attribution, and I'm only sharing the link here in the forum. If you'd prefer I either just make it private, or take it down entirely, I'm totally happy to. I just wanted to be able to sort the info quickly.

[Baron Mind]

Moment of clarity. Their will definitely be times when a steel that maximizes one particular attribute is desired, i.e maximum corrosion resistance, or maximum toughness. But when we're discussing optimal edc blade steel, or best blade steel, what we should be looking for are those handful of steels that manage to score highly in more than one area, transcending the the traditional concept of equal tradeoffs in steel attributes. So historically if a steel is a 10 in wear resistance it is a 1 on toughness. Or if it is a 5 in wear resistance it is a 5 on toughness. The steels that manage to be a 7 on wear resistance AND a 7 in toughness, rather than a 3, those are the special steels.

[Naperville]

Moment of clarity. Their will definitely be times when a steel that maximizes one particular attribute is desired, i.e maximum corrosion resistance, or maximum toughness. But when we're discussing optimal edc blade steel, or best blade steel, what we should be looking for are those handful of steels that manage to score highly in more than one area, transcending the the traditional concept of equal tradeoffs in steel attributes. So historically if a steel is a 10 in wear resistance it is a 1 on toughness. Or if it is a 5 in wear resistance it is a 5 on toughness. The steels that manage to be a 7 on wear resistance AND a 7 in toughness, rather than a 3, those are the special steels.

That is where a combination of knife design; pocket time and use; along with scientific testing comes in to play, . There is no one steel that satisfies all needs.

[blues]

Nevermind, I ran the image through an OCR and uploaded as a Google Sheet. Here it is, in case anyone wants to take a look.

Larrin, I hope that's ok. I included the source (your article) and blog name for attribution, and I'm only sharing the link here in the forum. If you'd prefer I either just make it private, or take it down entirely, I'm totally happy to. I just wanted to be able to sort the info quickly.

Thanks for doing this, it makes it easier to skim down the performance column and see how the steels compared head to head.

[Larrin]

Early on in the website I used real tables rather than images to show data. But I had so many formatting issues with the tables I had to switch to images. Thanks for doing the OCR work and sharing it.

[Deadboxhero]

Woo, very exciting Sal.

This has been in my pocket for the past month everyday.

My favorite Spyderco so far.

Well done sir.

Lovely edge there Shawn! :cool:

Thanks man, its a pleasure to use. :D

[Wartstein]

Here is a nice video (link below) covering the article and first and foremost giving Larrin and Shawn the credit they truly deserve for their amazing work

It explains the text and graphs at a rather basic level (not meant negatively at all, for many that certainly ia s good thing!)

https://youtu.be/TDmBQT_G9xY&t=1071s

[Michael Janich]

As always, a very interesting read. I binged your articles shortly after joining the forum, and it's provided me with a lot of knowledge.
Fascinating to see S30V so high on the list after seeing it turned down as a commonplace steel. Makes me want to give it much more work in PE and SE.

Great observation. That parallels our experience and testing--and our reasoning to keep it as a well-balanced standard of performance and affordability.

Stay safe,

Mike

[qazy]

Larrin, great job! Thank you for all the effort and time put into this project.
The reception was indeed great of your work except in Krazy Kutters Forum - where it is a bit rocky.
I hope we can see more steels tested soon and have rope cutting results as well. Good luck in modifying the machine for the rope.
Also kudos to Sal for offering hard to get steels including their proprietary SPY steel. I bet not many manufacturers are willing to spend the time and effort to go that extra mile. I wonder what would Konosuke say if you ask them to ship you some HD billets. :/

[GarageBoy]

There's just a handful of of members on that forum who are caught up on the idea that "this one knifemaker has the best heat treat, and x steel will out cut y steel in my experience, so your test is invalid"

I'd be excited to see any future results from these tests

[Larrin]

Here is a nice video (link below) covering the article and first and foremost giving Larrin and Shawn the credit they truly deserve for their amazing work

It explains the text and graphs at a rather basic level (not meant negatively at all, for many that certainly ia s good thing!)

https://youtu.be/TDmBQT_G9xY&t=1071s

Good video!

[emanuel]

I've been following this for awhile on instagram/youtube, both from BBB and Larrin's perspectives. I could read these results on repeat for days, amazing. What's also amazing is how well s30v and s90v performed, and I'm honestly not surprised. In regard to s90v, I'm curios if the better performance compared to its niobium brother is because the s110v steel wasn't at its peak hardness/performance (64-65hrc) compared to what s90v can attain? I'm a bit surprised too by the LC200N's low (relatively) result, but hey no steel has everything, it works great for what it's made for. I wish Spyderco would give us some s60v offerings in the future, if I may shamelessly insert this in here just because I can :D

[Larrin]

I've been following this for awhile on instagram/youtube, both from BBB and Larrin's perspectives. I could read these results on repeat for days, amazing. What's also amazing is how well s30v and s90v performed, and I'm honestly not surprised. In regard to s90v, I'm curios if the better performance compared to its niobium brother is because the s110v steel wasn't at its peak hardness/performance (64-65hrc) compared to what s90v can attain? I'm a bit surprised too by the LC200N's low (relatively) result, but hey no steel has everything, it works great for what it's made for. I wish Spyderco would give us some s60v offerings in the future, if I may shamelessly insert this in here just because I can :D

S90V and S110v heat treat pretty similarly. Differences in hardness are knifemaker/manufacturer decisions.

[Cycletroll]

Larrin & Shawn,
Do you have any hard data on s90v toughness at the 59-61 HRC that Spyderco traditionally treats to? Further, I am curious how s90v and s110v compare in toughness at similar HRC? From what I gather from your data thus far s90v should be slightly tougher?
How does s90v @60HRC compare to m390/204p/20cv? Basically, what is the toughest stainless high carbide steel?
Again, thanks so much for your hard work and the data it generates.

[emanuel]

S90V and S110v heat treat pretty similarly. Differences in hardness are knifemaker/manufacturer decisions.

I always thought s110v can hit 2-3hrc higher than s90v. TIL. Thx! Can't wait for some future tests and refinements you have in plan for these tests. Great data.

[Larrin]

Larrin & Shawn,
Do you have any hard data on s90v toughness at the 59-61 HRC that Spyderco traditionally treats to? Further, I am curious how s90v and s110v compare in toughness at similar HRC? From what I gather from your data thus far s90v should be slightly tougher?
How does s90v @60HRC compare to m390/204p/20cv? Basically, what is the toughest stainless high carbide steel?
Again, thanks so much for your hard work and the data it generates.

Hopefully we will be able to answer those questions in the future. My guess is toughness specimens for S90V would come out closer to S110V though because I would probably compare with the same heat treatment.