What are your top 5 favorite steels?

[Blnd]

CTS XHP

CPM Cru-Wear

H1 in SE

Unfortunately my preferred EDC only comes in a few steel options that I don’t particularly care for (Dragonfly 2).

[Igi964]

K390 is mine curent favourite steel. It is hard, great edge retention, very good toughness and still easy to strop scary sharp. I mean realy sharp. Never get that kind of edge on S110V steel. Not even close and edge holding is similiar if not better on K390. Only downside for some its not stainless..I enjoy patina on my Endura. When Sal choose it for the G10 Police 4, there must be a very good reason Just look some videos from BBB and You will see just how great steel is, but nothing beats the own experience

[Fireman]

Ok, so it comes down to heat treat. I hear of difficult sharpening, but strops up well. I love toughness, (3v would be my choice for toughness if I did not have LC200N which is tough as well as extreme stain resistant). Why chose K390 over 3V?

[Mugman16]

lc200n
m390
cts xhp
k390
1095 on my esees

[Karl_H]

Ok, so it comes down to heat treat. I hear of difficult sharpening, but strops up well. I love toughness, (3v would be my choice for toughness if I did not have LC200N which is tough as well as extreme stain resistant). Why chose K390 over 3V?

K390 - ^Hardness and Abrasion Resistance. It will not strop to a fine edge unless you are using lots of passes on a loaded strip with diamond or CBN abrasives. Most people, who like K390 prefer a rough toothy edge (due to the large vanadium carbides).
3V - ^Toughness, Corrosion Resistance, Ease of Sharpening

[Karl_H]

I am perplexed by the people listing 1095. As far as I can tell, its only virtue is low cost.

[Albertaboyscott]

I am perplexed by the people listing 1095. As far as I can tell, its only virtue is low cost.

I thought so too but took my esee junglas camping and it's a great steel. Incredibly tough. My buddy stayed camping an extra 5 days so I left it with him as he didn't have an axe. I thanked him for touching up the edge when he gave it back to me and was surprised when he said he hadn't. Used every day for firewood. Changed my mind in a hurry about 1095

[sal]

Does anyone know Sal's honest opinions on steels.

"All good, just different".

sal

[Paraguy]

Does anyone know Sal's honest opinions on steels.

"All good, just different".

sal

HAHA! How did we know? Which one do you find yourself carrying most often or at least lately?

[MFlovejp]

Well, we know that he developed the K390 Police 4 LW for himself, so that’s at least gotta be up there haha.

[Bolster]

"All good, just different".

sal

People often call me "different." Is that good?

[sal]

Hi Guy,

My perspective is perhaps more unusual. I'm all about the edge. It is one of the few inventions/discoveries that can cleanly separate matter. And it's also a ghost, a fleeting "thing" that comes, goes, bends chips, is reborn. It gets skinny, it gets fat. It adjusts to the needs of the tool.

Each steel is a combination of elements and processes all designed to create the "edge". And each steel behaves differently when performing. It also evolves, like a living thing, in materials, chemistry's, geometries and whatever humans and nature can do with it.

I wanted to work with K390 because; the chemistry was intriguing to me for edge retention (a behavior), so we chased it caught it learned to ride it and it seems many others were also in agreement. Gail and I chased Salt Water knives for years. As divers and sailors, we knew how difficult of a task it was to keep a sharp edge in Salt water. etc. etc. etc.

I'm currently living is a salt water environment, so in addition to testing prototypes, I'm carrying Salts and we've got a lot of new models that need to be tested.

Hope that helps.

sal

[skeeg11]

Yay Spyderco team! Looking forward to hearing new results and perspective.

[TSINGA]

My favorites:
VG10
S30V
H1
CTS-XHP
BD1N

[Makunochimaster]

cpm-s110v
m390
zdp-189
cpm-s30v
cts-xhp

[skeeg11]

LC200N
M4
K390
S90V
1095

[Tristan_david2001]

Vg-10
Zdp189
Lc200n
Cpms30v
Are definitely best spyderco models in terms of steel that I’ve used so far

[RevMike]

H1, XHP, Rex45, VG-10, Cruwear.

[anteck7]

S90v
Vanax
M390/20cv/204
K390
Xhp

I think I have knives in 30 or so steels. These all shine for different reasons. All assume good heat treat.

[Woodpuppy]

CPM-CRUWEAR / Z-Wear PM
CPM-M4
AEB-L
H1
Can’t wait to try MagnaCut