Stable edge steels (NOT TOUGHNESS)

[Doc Dan]

Personally, I'd like to see 14C28N in some knives. It is tough like AEB-L/13C26, but is a stainless nitrogen steel.

[kobold]

I know there’s a lot of talk in here about hyper tough carbon steels. But I’ve been using and abusing knives in lc200n for close to a year now, and they have some incredible edge stability. The ONLY time I had lc200n chip out on me was when the sharp corner of a Ti lanyard bead was bashed into the factory edge on my waterway. Otherwise I have never had it chip. It’s a ridiculously well balanced steel.

Lc200n has toughness just above 1095, edge retention just above s30v, and ductility on par with 3V. While being impervious to pitting or rusting. Glorious stuff.


Plus an honorable mention to sg2/r2, I’ve abused multiple knives in that stuff at work almost daily for the last 6 months. No chips at all.

IME Spyderco's LC200N won't chip, but it will roll, so still has lower relative edge stability.

The only question is what is more prefereable, chipping or rolling, and the answer will depend on a number of factors and circumstances.

I think the question the OP should be asking is what is the ideal HT for each individual steel to maximize edge stability all other things (eg edge geometry, use) being equal.
And from that follows that the ideal HT for max edge stability will change as the edge geometry and use changes.

[RazorSharp86]

K390 has by far the most edge stability out of all the steels I’ve tried to date.
Though Rex45 and Cruwear are probably close.

[VandymanG]

OK let me put it another way. Assuming it’s a folding knife from Spyderco -

1. What knife/steel from Spyderco would you sharpen to a 10 - 15 DPS or maybe as high as 17.5 DPS for medium/EDC use or lighter?

I’m especially looking for info on medium/EDC uses and Spyderco knife/steel you would run at 15 DPS OR LOWER.

My PM2 S45VN I keep at 17.5 DPS for medium/EDC use. I use a different knife from a different company for heavy use and I run that one at 20 DPS. I have other knives and the bevel angles vary from one to another and I don’t pay as much attention to what they’re currently at because I liked how they came from the company and I just touch them up when needed.

Yup I’m trying to squeeze blood from a turnip. And yup it’s just another attempt to re-package the edge stability question. Well here goes nothing

[Guts]

Personally, I'd like to see 14C28N in some knives. It is tough like AEB-L/13C26, but is a stainless nitrogen steel.

Still waiting for Spyderco to get into 14C28N, but I'd settle for AEB-L since they already released a mule in that steel. Love 14C28N though.

[Synov]

1. What knife/steel from Spyderco would you sharpen to a 10 - 15 DPS or maybe as high as 17.5 DPS for medium/EDC use or lighter?

Cru-Wear, Magnacut, 4V, or M4. They have high toughness at high hardness, which makes for a stable edge.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Personally, I'd like to see 14C28N in some knives. It is tough like AEB-L/13C26, but is a stainless nitrogen steel.

I agree 100 percent Doc. I"ve seen 14C28N in other company"s knives and I'm confident Spyderco can do well with it.

[Ankerson]

Personally, I'd like to see 14C28N in some knives. It is tough like AEB-L/13C26, but is a stainless nitrogen steel.

I agree 100 percent Doc. I"ve seen 14C28N in other company"s knives and I'm confident Spyderco can do well with it.

Works very well in Kitchen Knives.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Personally, I'd like to see 14C28N in some knives. It is tough like AEB-L/13C26, but is a stainless nitrogen steel.

I agree 100 percent Doc. I"ve seen 14C28N in other company"s knives and I'm confident Spyderco can do well with it.

Works very well in Kitchen Knives.

Ankerson it is good to see your posts.
How do you rate tge Aichi Utility Steel series such as AUS 8 for edge stability? I have a Spyderco Endura made of that. A vintage one.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Personally, I'd like to see 14C28N in some knives. It is tough like AEB-L/13C26, but is a stainless nitrogen steel.

I agree 100 percent Doc. I"ve seen 14C28N in other company"s knives and I'm confident Spyderco can do well with it.

Works very well in Kitchen Knives.

Ankerson it is good to see your posts.
How do you rate the Aichi Utility Steel series such as AUS 8 for edge stability? I have a Spyderco Endura made of that. A vintage one.

[Fireman]

Anecdotal data points and propaganda,
I have more of these knives than any other kitchen knife because they just are awesome, the ZWILLING knives with “Cronidur 30” AKA LC200N steel. They claim their Ice treatment protocol adds to its already stellar performance and I agree.

“ Cronidur 30 - exclusive high-performance steel: this material is extremely resistant to corrosion and exhibits high levels of resilience. FRIODUR denotes knives which have been through a special ice-hardening process, making them a cut above in terms of quality. They possess outstanding properties when it comes to edge retention, corrosion resistance and flexibility.”

I sharpen my kitchen knives to a very acute angle and love how easy it is to tune the edges and have had no chipping issues.

People seem to forget the toughness of LC200N because of the stellar corrosion resistance properties but I do love this steel. It also only took one Spyderco in Rex45 for me to love the steel.

Heat treat is like personality, it goes a long way.

[Ankerson]

Personally, I'd like to see 14C28N in some knives. It is tough like AEB-L/13C26, but is a stainless nitrogen steel.

I agree 100 percent Doc. I"ve seen 14C28N in other company"s knives and I'm confident Spyderco can do well with it.

Works very well in Kitchen Knives.

Ankerson it is good to see your posts.
How do you rate the Aichi Utility Steel series such as AUS 8 for edge stability? I have a Spyderco Endura made of that. A vintage one.

I don't worry about edge stability per say of steels as I posted earlier in this thread.

AUS 8 is a very good steel for everyday use, sharpen it for the type of use it will see and it will be fine.

[Sharp24/7]

OK let me put it another way. Assuming it’s a folding knife from Spyderco -

1. What knife/steel from Spyderco would you sharpen to a 10 - 15 DPS or maybe as high as 17.5 DPS for medium/EDC use or lighter?

I’m especially looking for info on medium/EDC uses and Spyderco knife/steel you would run at 15 DPS OR LOWER.

My PM2 S45VN I keep at 17.5 DPS for medium/EDC use. I use a different knife from a different company for heavy use and I run that one at 20 DPS. I have other knives and the bevel angles vary from one to another and I don’t pay as much attention to what they’re currently at because I liked how they came from the company and I just touch them up when needed.

Yup I’m trying to squeeze blood from a turnip. And yup it’s just another attempt to re-package the edge stability question. Well here goes nothing

I’ve had good luck with Magnacut and Superblue at those lower edge angles. And as a bonus, they both do well sith high polish. Especially the Superblue, which combined with the Delica’s geometry make it a slicing machine. I keep my K390 Stretch at 13dps with I want to say a 19dps Microbevel, and that’s held up beautifully. Lots of dirty, raunchy cardboard got processed, cleaning out my Grandpa’s garage and it still cuts great.

[VandymanG]

Thanks you everyone. I got some really good info from you all. Greatly appreciated. Also got me considering some steels like LC200N which I had been kind of ignoring.

[Synov]

Thanks you everyone. I got some really good info from you all. Greatly appreciated. Also got me considering some steels like LC200N which I had been kind of ignoring.

FYI, LC200N is run pretty soft. Yes, it's tough but it will roll if not used properly.

[The Home Slice]

A viewer of mine watched a recent video and suggested I post it to this thread.

The testing is admittedly on the imprecise side of things, as it is impossible to eliminate bias caused by geometry, heat-treatment, and hand movements - but I found the results interesting in terms of stable edge capabilities of different types of steel.

I’m not implying that this sort of testing is a better metric than existing edge retention tests, just adding a little puzzle piece (of wood batoning) to the edge retention/stability picture.

[VandymanG]

A viewer of mine watched a recent video and suggested I post it to this thread.

The testing is admittedly on the imprecise side of things, as it is impossible to eliminate bias caused by geometry, heat-treatment, and hand movements - but I found the results interesting in terms of stable edge capabilities of different types of steel.

I’m not implying that this sort of testing is a better metric than existing edge retention tests, just adding a little puzzle piece (of wood batoning) to the edge retention/stability picture.

Thank you I’m going to watch it now. Greatly appreciate the link. Watched it and as you noted it’s not perfect but I really liked it. You got a new follower. Well done.

[Synov]

A viewer of mine watched a recent video and suggested I post it to this thread.

The testing is admittedly on the imprecise side of things, as it is impossible to eliminate bias caused by geometry, heat-treatment, and hand movements - but I found the results interesting in terms of stable edge capabilities of different types of steel.

I’m not implying that this sort of testing is a better metric than existing edge retention tests, just adding a little puzzle piece (of wood batoning) to the edge retention/stability picture.

Thanks for the interesting test! It doesn't exactly surprise me that NitroV and Magnacut had similar performance since they have similar toughness at the same hardness, confirming that edge stability is primarily determined by those factors along with geometry.

[VandymanG]

A viewer of mine watched a recent video and suggested I post it to this thread.

The testing is admittedly on the imprecise side of things, as it is impossible to eliminate bias caused by geometry, heat-treatment, and hand movements - but I found the results interesting in terms of stable edge capabilities of different types of steel.

I’m not implying that this sort of testing is a better metric than existing edge retention tests, just adding a little puzzle piece (of wood batoning) to the edge retention/stability picture.

Thanks for the interesting test! It doesn't exactly surprise me that NitroV and Magnacut had similar performance since they have similar toughness at the same hardness, confirming that edge stability is primarily determined by those factors along with geometry.

I’ve seen that chart before but with you pointing it out and his video showing similar results I get it even more.

[electro-static]

A viewer of mine watched a recent video and suggested I post it to this thread.

The testing is admittedly on the imprecise side of things, as it is impossible to eliminate bias caused by geometry, heat-treatment, and hand movements - but I found the results interesting in terms of stable edge capabilities of different types of steel.

I’m not implying that this sort of testing is a better metric than existing edge retention tests, just adding a little puzzle piece (of wood batoning) to the edge retention/stability picture.

It’s gabe, **** yeah! Magna-cut’s balanced properties allowing it to hold a sweet edge for a long time doing this type of task speaks to the brilliance of the design choices.