best all around steel for folding knife use?

[Paddy B]

Title says it all. I'm looking forward to everybody's opinion!

[MacLaren]

S30V. :)

[MattM68]

S30V. :)

Agreed :) S30V is great! Good corrosion resistance, good edge retention, and fairly easy to sharpen. I've had a really good experience with it, and think it's a great compromise between edge retention and rust resistance.

[BadFish]

Vg10. S30v can chip easily. Everyone including non knife people can work with vg10. No need to over complicate it.

[bearfacedkiller]

There are so few definitive answers in all of this steel stuff that I just cringe when I hear the word best. That said, either s30v or vg10 if you are considering cost as one of your variables and h1 if you are considering corrosion resistance as one of your variables.

For me personally s30v offers the best balance of cost and all the qualities we look for in an edc steel. It has worked very well for me.

[djjinksy]

Most steels out there were originally designed for some type of tool or machinery, and then someone got the bright idea to make a knife out of it. S30V is one of the few steels on the market that was specifically made for blades. Does this make it the best all arounder? Eh, it's tough to say. Asking what is the best is impossible to answer without knowing what you're going to do with it and how much you want to spend.

Personally, I like M390 or S90V. But to be brutally honest, a $10 Walmart knife will probably do 90% of what I need it to do, as long as it doesn't fall apart and I'm willing to sharpen it every day.

[The Deacon]

No such animal. "Best" is going to depends on what quality or qualities an individual values in a folder. A steel that's ideal for an ultra thin bladed slicer probably won't be ideal for a hard use folding prybar, and visa-versa.

[Blerv]

The most common for Japanese Spyderco's is VG10. For Golden and Taichung models it's CPM-S30v as I understand they have the technique down so it's not really more expensive than going with 154CM or steels that are categorically similar.

Yea but there really isn't a "best" steel even when you pin-point the use for folding knives. I bet there are 1000 pages of bickering a year on this forum alone trying to prove otherwise. :p

[GoldenSpydie]

What's wrong with you guys?! We all know that Aus-8 is the best blade steel ever made. :p

I would say that for my needs, Cruwear, S110V, CTS-204P, and on the lower end, S30V and VG10 are my preferred steels. Examples:

[opusxpn]

Yes it is a hard question to answer, it depends on conditions and variables, that is why we got so many choices. What I can tell you is which is my prefered EDC folding knife steel and that would be VG10. Why VG10 its a good steel, get a good edge, easy to sharpen, good corrosion resistance, good strength and covers most of my EDC needs. Now for exotics CPM cru wear is coming up fast also Super Blue both of these I likemalot.

[Paddy B]

I guess what I was trying to get at was if you were pressed into choosing one blade steel for using the rest of your life. Similar to the thread about choosing only one knife. I don't have a lot of experience with as wide of variety steels as some of you on here. I've used aus 8, 440c, 420hc, vg-10, s30v, and M4, along with some cheap no name walmart stuff. I think I'd choose s30v for my needs. It is a little harder to sharpen, but I like the long lasting utility edge that it provides, along with corrosion resistance.

[Laethageal]

You guys are all wrong! Cheap noname walmart steel is the best!

[LC Kid]

Hi GoldenSpydie!

We all know that Aus-8 is the best blade steel ever made. :p

Really? What about the unbelievable awesome AUS-6? :D

[Cliff Stamp]

I guess what I was trying to get at was if you were pressed into choosing one blade steel for using the rest of your life.

When the internets were young and people didn't understand you could use them for promotion there were no forums but a mailing list which had the whos-who of knife makers at that time. The exact same question was asked, what steel would you want if the only thing that matter was performance. There was almost uniform agreement, 50100-B. This steel has a very high obtainable hardness (66/67 HRC), very fine aus grain (9/10 easily), is very straightforward to harden, a little forgiving as the small amount of very hard alloy carbides prevent grain growth, sharpened very easily, has high grindability and the list goes on.

[Strong-Dog]

Asking what the best knife steel is, is like asking which car is the best. Obviously K390 and Ferrari.

[xceptnl]

In response to the revised question by the OP, I think VG-10 is one of the best all around offerings by Spyderco (or any maker for that matter). For it's balance of corrosion resistance, keen edge holding, and ease of sharpening I put it at the top of my preference list. I will give an honorable mention to CPM154. I like it better than S30v for coarse edges and I feel like it sharpens easier as well. I am currently having a custom folder made in CPM154.

[Nate]

There is an amusing post out there somewhere that lays out a fairly strong argument that 8cr13mov (aus 8) is the "best" steel.

Despite having somewhat advanced google-fu, I haven't been able to come up with it. Anyone?

[tvenuto]

No such animal. "Best" is going to depends on what quality or qualities an individual values in a folder. A steel that's ideal for an ultra thin bladed slicer probably won't be ideal for a hard use folding prybar, and visa-versa.

This, and he didn't even mention corrosion resistance, which might be a large factor. What you cut, how you cut, your sharpening abilities (and/or desire to do so), where you cut, how much you cut at a time, and so on all affect "optimal" steel choice. That said, 100% of the steels offered by spyderco will do an adequate job at cutting regardless of the answers to these above questions.

If you must have an answer, while I'm tickled to have access to more variety, I don't actually need any more than VG-10, which is very corrosion resistant and easy (for me) to sharpen.

[Cliff Stamp]

There is an amusing post out there somewhere that lays out a fairly strong argument that 8cr13mov (aus 8) is the "best" steel.

Every steel is the best steel for knives in a given set of circumstances, the problem is the question isn't meaningful it is like asking is cabbage a better blue than cars that sing? On HF one of the first things they did was start to teach people how to ask questions if you wanted meaningful answers : http://www.hypefreeblades.com/forum/vie ... p?f=4&t=41" target="_blank . In short you have to ask a question which has an answer.

Now if you just want to hear opinions in some kind of poll that is cool, just make it clear that is what you are asking for - "What is everyone's favorite steel?" However as a question, what is the best steel isn't a hard question, people answer that every day when things are built. All you do is lay out the characteristics which are of important and pick the steel which maximizes them. It isn't even a difficult question.

[Blerv]

Well it's cheap based on build location and when properly processed is very similar to steels like AUS8, 440C and even VG10. If I wanted a G10 beater I would buy a serrated Tenacious and rock it :).