Best Edge Performance Steel between these choices?

[willc]

I voted Maxamet as it is my best performer but the Rex 45 may be my favorite.
Just the way Rex45 sharpens up and it holds its edge very well plus is being offered in a few models I love to carry.

Really though I am happy with any steel that Spyderco puts out.
I still occasionally carry my Delica in aus8 and it really is not in the same league it does have its advantages.

K390 is excellent also but the only knife I have in that is the Police 4 and I don’t use that at work. I can’t wait for some frn K390 to drop so I can really use it and see where it shines.

[Wartstein]

I voted Maxamet as it is my best performer but the Rex 45 may be my favorite.
Just the way Rex45 sharpens up and it holds its edge very well plus is being offered in a few models I love to carry.

Really though I am happy with any steel that Spyderco puts out.
I still occasionally carry my Delica in aus8 and it really is not in the same league it does have its advantages.

K390 is excellent also but the only knife I have in that is the Police 4 and I don’t use that at work. I can’t wait for some frn K390 to drop so I can really use it and see where it shines.

I am sure you are aware of that Sal plans to bring out the whole Endura familiy in K 390? :) :) :)

[willc]

I voted Maxamet as it is my best performer but the Rex 45 may be my favorite.
Just the way Rex45 sharpens up and it holds its edge very well plus is being offered in a few models I love to carry.

Really though I am happy with any steel that Spyderco puts out.
I still occasionally carry my Delica in aus8 and it really is not in the same league it does have its advantages.

K390 is excellent also but the only knife I have in that is the Police 4 and I don’t use that at work. I can’t wait for some frn K390 to drop so I can really use it and see where it shines.

I am sure you are aware of that Sal plans to bring out the whole Endura familiy in K 390? :) :) :)

That will be great when they start dropping.
A K390 Endura and Stretch will be the ones I am looking forward to the most.

[tjsblade]

I voted Maxamet I have all but the Rex45. I hated Maxamet sharpening at first. I have a Manix LW and Para 3 in it. I typically use a wicked edge and it's proprietary stones. I got edge chipping a lot. After 3rd sharpening I learned a lighter pressure was king. I probably was getting past the factory edge steel. Now it just takes a tremendously aggressive edge and lasts and lasts.

[Big_Tex]

Thought it might be fun to bump this thread to see if anyone’s opinions have changed or if there are new thoughts after we’ve had time to use these steels.

[kobold]

Maxamet IME. I have three different models and the PM2 was tested as my only, do-everything knife for a month as a "challenge". It was used in the garden to cut weeds, whittled wood, harvested produce. It cut a lot of cardboard, it did all the food prep in the kitchen, including carving up a rabbit, making heaps of salsa for canning and cutting acidic fruits, like pineapples. It dulled noticeably only after more than three weeks of use, but it was still able to cut paper and shave a little bit. In comparison M4 lasted two weeks.

I have Rex45 in N5 and Chief and it is pretty good as well.
I'm using K390 right now, but I can't really say anything meaningful yet, other than it holds the edge well and cuts well in the SSS and the wharnie Dragonfly configs.
I have Cruwear in a BRKT PSK which is not used enough.

[vanka]

Rex 45 for me. Somehow I feel it like cruwear on steroids. Takes insane edge easily. I somehow find it a bit easier to touch up than K390. Kind of reminds me of a pure carbon steel for some reason. Maxamet obviously have superior edge holding but I wouldn't push it like the other three steels. I find maxamet to be very chippy. At least my pm2 and sage 1. Already lost a bit of the tip on both of them. Just a tiny bits but it happened. If you're cutting your steak or sandwiches and apples is perfectly fine, but I wouldn't take it in the forest with me.

[bdblue]

I own blades in all 4 of those steels but I haven't used all 4 of them enough in enough different conditions that I could make conclusions, my conclusions are based on evidence I've gotten from other people.

I chose Rex45 because of a video I saw of someone cutting into brass rods, where they twisted the edge out of the brass without damaging the edge. This is the kind of edge strength that I would want in knives that I use. Granted in my use I doubt if I would see much difference in any of the 4 steels. I have a lot of knives and rotate through them so each one will go for awhile before needing sharpening, that keeps me from really forming conclusions about how long each edge would last. I would roughly group these 3 steels into 3 categories- Maxamet on one extreme, Cruwear on another extreme, and K390 and Rex45 in the middle. For my use it is possible that I would endanger a Maxamet edge more than the others so I wouldn't want one of those, the others might all perform well enough for me. (I also carry several knives in M4.)

[Giygas]

I own blades in all 4 of those steels but I haven't used all 4 of them enough in enough different conditions that I could make conclusions, my conclusions are based on evidence I've gotten from other people.

I chose Rex45 because of a video I saw of someone cutting into brass rods, where they twisted the edge out of the brass without damaging the edge. This is the kind of edge strength that I would want in knives that I use. Granted in my use I doubt if I would see much difference in any of the 4 steels. I have a lot of knives and rotate through them so each one will go for awhile before needing sharpening, that keeps me from really forming conclusions about how long each edge would last. I would roughly group these 3 steels into 3 categories- Maxamet on one extreme, Cruwear on another extreme, and K390 and Rex45 in the middle. For my use it is possible that I would endanger a Maxamet edge more than the others so I wouldn't want one of those, the others might all perform well enough for me. (I also carry several knives in M4.)

Here's a video of Roman Kase doing the brass rod test with Maxamet:

https://youtu.be/Lt27aOAd2kU?si=9KVwf3OoilKcwpIQ