"sharpener's steels"

[sethwm]

cruwear in my opinion is a joy to sharpen. Today I started carrying my cruwear delica again.

This youtube video refers to cruwear as a "sharpener's steel". Also super blue. What else do folk's consider to be in that category? SPY27 perhaps?

[twinboysdad]

HAP40, but honestly VG10 is white belt sharpeners gold. Sticky sharp easy on basic SM rods. HAP40 I can get laser sharp too

[sethwm]

And REX45 is basically the same as HAP40 yeah?

[JSumm]

CTS-XHP is a joy on the Chaparral. Sal says Super Blue just wants to get sharp. I have heard 52100 is similar in experience. Maybe add LC200N.

LC200N seems to be the easiest to roll an edge in my experience. I wonder how some of the others compare with that? Super Blue? 52100? I will say Cruwear and SPY27 for the easier edge they take seem to hold it fairly well.

[Giygas]

4V and S90V.

15v is shaping up nicely, too.

[kennethsime]

And REX45 is basically the same as HAP40 yeah?

Yeah, really similar chemistry.

I don’t think of Rex 45 as easy to sharpen - but I’ve taken chips out of it using only the brown rods.

Cruwear I agree with. Whatever they make Opinels out of I agree with. VG-10 I agree with.

[WyoJon]

Vg10 and 154cm are crazy easy to sharpen on sharp maker.

I also am quite fond of 12c27, especially laminated, and of course 13c26, those probably sharpen easier and hold a better edge.

For what its worth, I hate s30v. I feel the way it chips out makes it too much work to fix edges. And a microscope shows it likes to microchip on coarse grit stones, trashing the edge.

Some of the knives I have from custom makers show D2 to sharpen really well. And of course 1095.


I find lion steel niolox to sharpen well.

[twinboysdad]

I haven’t touched my Siren sprint in S90V yet specifically because I have doubts on my ability to resharpen on SM brown rods

[Urkilnmesmalls]

I second cruwear. So easy to get a beautiful edge on. I’m also surprised nobody has mentioned zdp189 yet. I love the stuff and it sharpens so well

[z1r]

Ever since getting my Stretch XL, I have really come to appreciate VG10. I think Spy27 is just a joy to sharpen, easy and gets crazy sharp. Cruwear also very sharp but seems to have better edge retention. Only had to sharpen once so far.

Really looking forward to trying my SB DF2.

[Strauss95]

LC200N, Vtoku2, VG10, and CruWear all get extremely sharp very easily for me. Also my Japanese kitchen knives in White #1 and Aogami Super get crazy sharp very easily, as do most simple high carbon steels like 1095 etc.

[Foehammer]

S35vn is fun to sharpen. CruWear is the bomb. And I’ve always found s30v to be fairly easy to sharpen. 1095 even with Rowen heat treat is super fun and easy to sharpen.

[wrdwrght]

4V and S90V.

15v is shaping up nicely, too.

What are you using on 15V?

[Deadboxhero]

Deburring is the most underrated feature for a "sharpeners" steel.

[Manifestgtr]

Magnacut sharpens like a “sharpener’s steel” to me. I don’t think it’s ubiquitous enough to hold that title yet but I have a feeling it might someday.

[Enactive]

Deburring is the most underrated feature for a "sharpeners" steel.

Truth!

[bbturbodad]

I think the heat treat plays a big role in what makes a "sharpener's steel".

I have 2 knives in Nitrobe77 which is considered by many to be a "sharpener's steel" but the one from Roman Kase aka KKnives Switzerland is on another level compared to the one I have from Dulo.

[Erich]

cruwear in my opinion is a joy to sharpen. Today I started carrying my cruwear delica again.

This youtube video refers to cruwear as a "sharpener's steel". Also super blue. What else do folk's consider to be in that category? SPY27 perhaps?

Super Blue, SPY27, and Cruwear are all fundamentally different steels. "Sharpener's steel" is an inherently vague and relative term, just like "super steel."

Before I got my edge pro recently I was watching this guy's videos for sharpening advice but he is a poor communicator. He muddles the water with buzzwords and in the few and brief videos he did about sharpening he gets frustrated and begins talking down to the audience. I left a down vote and moved on.

You basically have different degrees of wear resistance. The more wear resistant, the longer it takes to sharpen, the more passes you need etc.

A lot of these knife guys like Christy are just showmanship and egoism. Cliff Stamp mentioned this and he was right. You need to be skeptical with the internet. It's rare to find someone actually interested in teaching. Cliff Stamp, Murray Carter, and Nick Shabazz are the guys I listen to. I don't agree with all of them on everything but they all can make good points on their own and generally have good attitudes. Larrin's website is a great resource on steels.

[Geometry]

For what it's worth, you do have to take many grains of salt with internet advice, but I also try to give people the benefit of the doubt more than usual on the internet. I feel if I made a YouTube video I wouldn't come across anything like I would in person, and I'd want someone to give me the chance too.

Michael Christie's videos opened my eyes to what was possible once upon a time, and I've been able to absorb enough from them along my journey to get those hair whittling edges myself. That may just be a stepping stone, as I always want to continue learning, but his opinions seem pretty valuable to me, even if he may speak in a very flat, succinct way.

[z1r]

CruWear for sure, love it. Spy27 too. Both seem to get sticky sharp for me on my Sharpmaker. I'm hoping M4 is similar, haven't dulled mine yet to the point I need to sharpen it. I consider the above "sharpener's steels" because, even for an amateur like me, they get stick sharp easily. I think I'd include VG10 in that category too. I love K390, it sharpens "easily" for the type of steel it is, certainly easier than S110V, and keeps that edge a long time. But I can't get it "sticky" sharp.