steel ranking [warning: stupid]

[sethwm]

I did something pointless because I felt like it. I took the steel ratings from Larrin's recent post (https://knifesteelnerds.com/2021/10/19/ ... esistance/) and I listed which steels were better than which. To "be better" you have to have a higher rating in at least one of toughness/edge retention/corrosion resistance categories, and not have a lower rating in any of them (i.e. you can be equal in some as long as you're better in at least one). Do I think there's any value in doing this? Nope. But I did it.

O1 (better than 1 steels)
--------
1) 1095

1084 (better than 1 steels)
--------
1) 1095

80CrV2 (better than 1 steels)
--------
1) 1095

VToku2 (better than 1 steels)
--------
1) 1095

1.2442 (better than 1 steels)
--------
1) 1095

26C3 (better than 2 steels)
--------
1) 1095
2) VToku2

D2 (better than 2 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) Blue Super

154CM (better than 2 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) Blue Super

15V (better than 2 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) Blue Super

8670 (better than 3 steels)
--------
1) 1084
2) 1095
3) 80CrV2

L6 (better than 3 steels)
--------
1) 1084
2) 1095
3) 80CrV2

Z-Max (better than 3 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) 15V
3) Blue Super

440A (better than 3 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) 1.4116
3) Blue Super

440C (better than 3 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) 154CM
3) Blue Super

BD1N (better than 3 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) 1.4116
3) Blue Super

S125V (better than 3 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) Blue Super
3) ZDP-189

CruForgeV (better than 4 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1095
3) 26C3
4) VToku2

M398 (better than 4 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) 1.4116
3) Blue Super
4) ZDP-189

5160 (better than 4 steels)
--------
1) 1084
2) 1095
3) 80CrV2
4) L6

S110V (better than 4 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) 1.4116
3) Blue Super
4) ZDP-189

S60V (better than 4 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) 154CM
3) Blue Super
4) D2

VG10 (better than 5 steels)
--------
1) 1.2519
2) 1.2562
3) 154CM
4) 440C
5) Blue Super

N690 (better than 5 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) 1.4116
3) 154CM
4) 440C
5) Blue Super

A2 (better than 6 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1095
4) 26C3
5) O1
6) VToku2

M2 (better than 6 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1095
5) Blue Super
6) O1

Rex 45/HAP40 (better than 6 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1095
5) Blue Super
6) O1

AUS-8/8Cr13MoV (better than 6 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1095
4) 26C3
5) O1
6) VToku2

S90V (better than 7 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) 154CM
3) 440C
4) Blue Super
5) D2
6) S60V
7) ZDP-189

52100 (better than 7 steels)
--------
1) 1084
2) 1095
3) 26C3
4) 80CrV2
5) L6
6) O1
7) VToku2

SuperGold2 (better than 7 steels)
--------
1) 1.2519
2) 1.2562
3) 154CM
4) 440C
5) Blue Super
6) D2
7) VG10

ApexUltra (better than 7 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1095
5) Blue Super
6) O1
7) VToku2

10V (better than 8 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1095
5) Blue Super
6) M2
7) O1
8) Rex 45/HAP40

CPM-154 (better than 8 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1095
5) 154CM
6) Blue Super
7) M2
8) O1

XHP (better than 8 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1095
5) Blue Super
6) D2
7) M2
8) O1

S30V (better than 8 steels)
--------
1) 1.2519
2) 1.2562
3) 154CM
4) 440C
5) Blue Super
6) D2
7) SuperGold2
8) VG10

Nitro-V (better than 9 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1095
4) 26C3
5) A2
6) AUS-8/8Cr13MoV
7) CruForgeV
8) O1
9) VToku2

M390/20CV/204P (better than 9 steels)
--------
1) 1.2562
2) 1.4116
3) 154CM
4) 440A
5) 440C
6) BD1N
7) Blue Super
8) D2
9) N690

Elmax (better than 10 steels)
--------
1) 1.2519
2) 1.2562
3) 1.4116
4) 154CM
5) 440C
6) Blue Super
7) D2
8) N690
9) SuperGold2
10) VG10

S45VN (better than 10 steels)
--------
1) 1.2519
2) 1.2562
3) 1.4116
4) 154CM
5) 440C
6) Blue Super
7) D2
8) N690
9) SuperGold2
10) VG10

V4E/4V (better than 11 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1095
5) 26C3
6) A2
7) ApexUltra
8) Blue Super
9) M2
10) O1
11) VToku2

Vanadix 8 (better than 11 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1095
5) 26C3
6) ApexUltra
7) Blue Super
8) M2
9) O1
10) Rex 45/HAP40
11) VToku2

M4 (better than 12 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1095
5) 26C3
6) A2
7) ApexUltra
8) Blue Super
9) M2
10) O1
11) Rex 45/HAP40
12) VToku2

S35VN (better than 13 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1095
5) 154CM
6) 440C
7) Blue Super
8) CPM-154
9) D2
10) M2
11) O1
12) SuperGold2
13) VG10

420HC (better than 13 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.4116
4) 1084
5) 1095
6) 26C3
7) 52100
8) 80CrV2
9) A2
10) CruForgeV
11) L6
12) O1
13) VToku2

Z-Tuff (better than 14 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1084
4) 1095
5) 26C3
6) 5160
7) 52100
8) 80CrV2
9) A2
10) CruForgeV
11) L6
12) O1
13) VToku2
14) 8670

AEB-L (better than 14 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1084
4) 1095
5) 26C3
6) 52100
7) 80CrV2
8) A2
9) AUS-8/8Cr13MoV
10) CruForgeV
11) L6
12) Nitro-V
13) O1
14) VToku2

LC200N (better than 15 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.4116
4) 1084
5) 1095
6) 26C3
7) 52100
8) 80CrV2
9) A2
10) AUS-8/8Cr13MoV
11) CruForgeV
12) L6
13) Nitro-V
14) O1
15) VToku2

3V (better than 16 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1084
5) 1095
6) 26C3
7) 52100
8) 80CrV2
9) A2
10) ApexUltra
11) Blue Super
12) CruForgeV
13) L6
14) M2
15) O1
16) VToku2

14C28N (better than 17 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.4116
4) 1084
5) 1095
6) 26C3
7) 420HC
8) 52100
9) 80CrV2
10) A2
11) AEB-L
12) AUS-8/8Cr13MoV
13) CruForgeV
14) L6
15) Nitro-V
16) O1
17) VToku2

CruWear (better than 17 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1084
5) 1095
6) 26C3
7) 80CrV2
8) A2
9) ApexUltra
10) Blue Super
11) CruForgeV
12) D2
13) L6
14) M2
15) O1
16) V4E/4V
17) VToku2

Vanax (better than 21 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1.4116
5) 1095
6) 154CM
7) 440A
8) 440C
9) BD1N
10) Blue Super
11) CPM-154
12) D2
13) Elmax
14) M2
15) N690
16) O1
17) S35VN
18) S45VN
19) SuperGold2
20) VG10
21) XHP

MagnaCut (better than 24 steels)
--------
1) 1.2442
2) 1.2519
3) 1.2562
4) 1.4116
5) 1095
6) 154CM
7) 26C3
8) 440A
9) 440C
10) A2
11) AUS-8/8Cr13MoV
12) ApexUltra
13) BD1N
14) Blue Super
15) CPM-154
16) D2
17) M2
18) N690
19) O1
20) S35VN
21) SuperGold2
22) V4E/4V
23) VG10
24) VToku2

[ChrisinHove]

I guess this ranking punishes high performance in a single area in favour of performance in multiple areas.

An interesting addition to your spreadsheet might be where the user also ranks or weights their preferred attributes…

[sethwm]

Yeah interesting idea. Or omit what they don't care about.

I suppose the above could be interpretted as a measure of well-roundedness. There's better ways to analyze that data. I was mainly just curious because I was thinking about Magnacut replacing XHP as a no-brainer, and it lead me down this train of thought about which other steels could be replaced by something better and not be missed.

Of course, these aren't the only factors. Vanax is better than a lot, but also super expensive to heat treat, etc.

[Toucan]

Pack it up nerds. 420HC is officially a super steel.

[Gtscotty]

Pack it up nerds. 420HC is officially a super steel.

Lol, how could I have ever doubted Paul Boss, it's all so clear now.

[standy99]

I always dream of M4 clad in H1

[Hopweaver]

Interesting how S90V is found somewhere towards the middle of the pack, yet none of the higher ranking steels have S90V in thier list as being better than S90V.

[Soulrack]

I was expecting a simple Magnacut joke and instead got an apples to oranges to bananas comparison ( well-rounded) that took some effort on your part that still sorta ended up being a Magnacut joke.

When I want toughness I want 3V/INFI, when I want edge retention I want S90V/20CP and when I want both I want M4/Cruwear. If Magnacut is a the stainless version of well-rounded both it will be the Cat's Meow but S45VN may already be filling that niche. I know I haven't used it enough to know yet. Time will tell.

[bearfacedkiller]

Not surprised to see Cruwear doing well as a well rounded steel.

[steelcity16]

Not surprised to see Cruwear doing well as a well rounded steel.

This is a big win for the Cruwear Nation!!

[sethwm]

I was expecting a simple Magnacut joke and instead got an apples to oranges to bananas comparison ( well-rounded) that took some effort on your part that still sorta ended up being a Magnacut joke.

To be fair the whole thing took me 30 minutes and I was procrastinating doing something else I didn’t want to do.

But it ended up being super insightful. I’m going all in on 420HC.

[wrdwrght]

In spite of an actual metric for a steel “to be better”, I’m not sure the metric means what you imply it means. Interesting exercise in pattern-recognition, though.

[Larrin]

MagnaCut scientifically proven to be the best steel. Can't argue with it.

[Pokey]

As long as the dots are higher up and farther to the right on Larrin's charts, I'm good with that steel.