Knife Steel EDC Performance Rankings

[The Mastiff]

Most of these ratings are a compilation of notes from the notes app from my phone that added up over the last couple years from personal usage, reading articles, websites, forums, etc. It's mostly qualitative

Are you performance ranking steels you haven't tried yet? :)

joe

[wankywank]

H1 is garbage.

I wish Spyderco made a carbon steel blade.

[tonijedi]

Here's the thing... my H1 has better retention than your Maxamet... at least for My applications.
I'm not talking about imagining scenarios or thought experiments, what I'm saying is that, yeah, whatever knife you have in your pocket won't affect how the knife I'm using performs. My knife is always better than yours, as I can use mine but can't use yours... I know, kind of dumb philosophy but we see a lot of jealousy nowadays because of the internet information.
****... you loved your S30V Para 2 so much and now you kind of hate it because there's a new variant with better edge retention, new fancy steel... oh wait, it's cool again! Cheer up, last reports say S30V is, after all, a good steel.
Madness.

[TomAiello]

Hi Trinity,

• Maxamet - 10|1|3|1 - Amazing edge retention, but it's brittle so probably not a great everyday knife. Consider a DLC coating to help protect against corrosion.

Are you basing this comment on personal experience?
Can you share the experiences that made you, personally, decide that Maxamet was too brittle to be used for EDC?

Have you, by any chance, watched either of these two videos on Maxamet brittleness?

https://youtu.be/q5o532fjdec
https://youtu.be/KZPKIC8oCbE

[kennethsime]

H1 is garbage.

I wish Spyderco made a carbon steel blade.

That seems like a pretty strong statement. Many users here love H1 for saltwater environments, especially in a serrated edge.

Have you tried any of Spyderco's tool steel offerings? While it's true they don't work much with Carbon steel, many here enjoy the tool steels like M4, K390 and Maxamet.

[wankywank]

H1 is garbage.

I wish Spyderco made a carbon steel blade.

That seems like a pretty strong statement. Many users here love H1 for saltwater environments, especially in a serrated edge.

Have you tried any of Spyderco's tool steel offerings? While it's true they don't work much with Carbon steel, many here enjoy the tool steels like M4, K390 and Maxamet.

I work on boats professionally. towing oil and providing for the northern fisheries. Knifes are a critical part of what I do. So naturally I have strong opinions.

I prefer Scandinavian grind, fixed bladed carbon steel. Things like the $10 Hultafors. They are solid. Steel is excellent, might rust a bit, but who cares? It cuts great and could save your life if you got caught up.

After some research, I decided to join civilized society and get a folding knife. I thought I'd spend the money on the well advertised Pacific Salt H1 spyderco. I've owned it 2.5 years now, I use it alot, and I totally hate it. The blade can't hold an edge at all. It's an embarrassment. I use it on land, not on the boats, its dangerous to use such a pos out there.

People say I should get the H1 serrated, but I don't eat my pizza with a silver fork - greenhorns cut line with such things.

I like the overall design of the Spyderco, but this H1 is terrible. I'm trying to learn more about steels and make a better educated purchase.

[Pancake]

H1 is garbage.

I wish Spyderco made a carbon steel blade.

That seems like a pretty strong statement. Many users here love H1 for saltwater environments, especially in a serrated edge.

Have you tried any of Spyderco's tool steel offerings? While it's true they don't work much with Carbon steel, many here enjoy the tool steels like M4, K390 and Maxamet.

I still have a problem with this carbon steel is better. Well guess what, every steel has carbon in it, tool steels, simple low alloy steels, high speed steels, stainless steels, all have carbon......

[sal]

Hi WankyWank,

A Serrated Pacific salt, properly sharpened on a Sharpmaker, will out cut anything you have AND you can use it to cut your Pizza. To say that something wil not work, even though you never tried it, is rather close minded, in my opinion.

sal

[wrdwrght]

H1 is garbage.

Sal was congenial.

I think your provocation is idiotic.

[Karl_H]

As evidenced in this thread, these types of subjective rankings and ratings probably do more harm than good. I have yet to find anyone come up with a subjective system that I find to be useful.

Personally, I think it would be in knife makers' interest to make objective, standardized test data available for the steels that they use, for example:

- Rockwell C Hardness
- Charpy V-Notch Impact Toughness or Single Edge Notch Bend Toughness
- CATRA Total Cards Cut
- General Weight Loss Corrosion (Distilled Water, Acetic Acid, Salt Water)

This would help address all of the subjective hearsay. Until this happens, Larrin's Knife Steel Nerds articles are probably the single best resource that is currently publicly available.

That being said, Larrin doesn't necessarily use the same: heat treatments, machining, and finishing that Spyderco uses. So, there is a limited amount of inference that can be made to actual production knives.

For those that care, using the HRC database on these forums along with Larrin's articles is currently the best means I have found for gauging the expected performance of different knife steels used in Spyderco knives.

In fact, Larrin actually has an article on H1 steel (https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/06/24/ ... -it-works/), which includes hardness measurements on an Spyderco H1 knife. Measured hardness on the Spyderco H1 knife was ~57 HRC, which is less than the hardness range for Hultafors carbon steel knife (58-60 HRC). So, it isn't surprising to me that someone who tolerates rust would prefer the carbon steel knife.

[Room217]

I work on boats professionally (for over a decade, certainly not a "greenhorn")and wish I had found serrated h1 years ago. I need to cut filthy 1 1/2" poly mooring frequently and have found the serrated Tasman that lives in my back pocket to be the most practical knife for the job. Knowing that I have a knife which can cut through the tortures I need it to and still keep going is a godsend. The speed at which a serrated blade tears through line is unparalleled. So much so that if one of my deckhands is going to be doing something where becoming tangled in a line is possible, my matriarch is in my hand and Tasman is on standby in my pocket. I have found that even the much maligned 8cr in my Byrd hawkbill will cut longer than quite a few more advanced steels. It is not applicable to compare edge retention in steels if one is serrated, the performance is not the same. Sharks teeth have evolved serrations, that is enough of an endorsement for me.

[kennethsime]

I work on boats professionally. towing oil and providing for the northern fisheries. Knifes are a critical part of what I do. So naturally I have strong opinions.

I prefer Scandinavian grind, fixed bladed carbon steel. Things like the $10 Hultafors. They are solid. Steel is excellent, might rust a bit, but who cares? It cuts great and could save your life if you got caught up.

After some research, I decided to join civilized society and get a folding knife. I thought I'd spend the money on the well advertised Pacific Salt H1 spyderco. I've owned it 2.5 years now, I use it alot, and I totally hate it. The blade can't hold an edge at all. It's an embarrassment. I use it on land, not on the boats, its dangerous to use such a pos out there.

People say I should get the H1 serrated, but I don't eat my pizza with a silver fork - greenhorns cut line with such things.

I like the overall design of the Spyderco, but this H1 is terrible. I'm trying to learn more about steels and make a better educated purchase.

Sounds like the H1 didn't meet your expectations. I think the issue was that your expectations weren't appropriate. H1 isn't really advertised as holding a plain edge well, it's advertised as a highly corrosion-resistant steel. The carbon Hultafors may hold an edge longer than a PE Pacific Salt, but throw them both in saltwater for a day and see which one looks like garbage. Catch my drift?

Hi WankyWank,

A Serrated Pacific salt, properly sharpened on a Sharpmaker, will out cut anything you have AND you can use it to cut your Pizza. To say that something will not work, even though you never tried it, is rather close minded, in my opinion.

sal

I also have to echo Sal on this point. I too stayed away from serrated knives for a long time, but a Spyderco in full spyderedge which is freshly sharpened out-cuts pretty much anything on the planet. I've had the pleasure of owning just one, a Matriarch 2, which I unfortunately lost. H1 work hardens pretty seriously, and serrated H1 just keeps cutting and cutting and cutting.

But hey, if you don't like it that just means more for the rest of us. :-)

[sal]

Hi Room217,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[Trinity300]

H1 is garbage.

I wish Spyderco made a carbon steel blade.

That seems like a pretty strong statement. Many users here love H1 for saltwater environments, especially in a serrated edge.

Have you tried any of Spyderco's tool steel offerings? While it's true they don't work much with Carbon steel, many here enjoy the tool steels like M4, K390 and Maxamet.

I work on boats professionally. towing oil and providing for the northern fisheries. Knifes are a critical part of what I do. So naturally I have strong opinions.

I prefer Scandinavian grind, fixed bladed carbon steel. Things like the $10 Hultafors. They are solid. Steel is excellent, might rust a bit, but who cares? It cuts great and could save your life if you got caught up.

After some research, I decided to join civilized society and get a folding knife. I thought I'd spend the money on the well advertised Pacific Salt H1 spyderco. I've owned it 2.5 years now, I use it alot, and I totally hate it. The blade can't hold an edge at all. It's an embarrassment. I use it on land, not on the boats, its dangerous to use such a pos out there.

People say I should get the H1 serrated, but I don't eat my pizza with a silver fork - greenhorns cut line with such things.

I like the overall design of the Spyderco, but this H1 is terrible. I'm trying to learn more about steels and make a better educated purchase.

You could try the Native 5 Salt. It has LC200N.

[Trinity300]

Added Total Ropes Cut. Thanks to Cedric and Ada.

[Trinity300]

Hi Trinity,

• Maxamet - 10|1|3|1 - Amazing edge retention, but it's brittle so probably not a great everyday knife. Consider a DLC coating to help protect against corrosion.

Are you basing this comment on personal experience?
Can you share the experiences that made you, personally, decide that Maxamet was too brittle to be used for EDC?

Have you, by any chance, watched either of these two videos on Maxamet brittleness?

https://youtu.be/q5o532fjdec
https://youtu.be/KZPKIC8oCbE

TheApostleP explains why it is fragile from its composition. If you want maximum edge retention it is one of the best out there, but there are too many horror stories out there for me to buy it over something else. If someone gave me one, I would be thrilled to use it and have a blade that takes 3-4 times longer to dull. I'd probably have to send it in to get professionally sharpened though :p

https://youtu.be/3jaURPyoJz0

[Pancake]

Larrin's testing showed that 1095 is not that toughn at all, at 60 HRC. I hope that steels guys could just throw this nonsense out of window, 1095 @ 60 HRC is as tough as S35VN...., Just because some companies are wasting 1095 because they harden it to 55 HRC does not mean it's uber tough...

[The Meat man]

Hi Trinity,

• Maxamet - 10|1|3|1 - Amazing edge retention, but it's brittle so probably not a great everyday knife. Consider a DLC coating to help protect against corrosion.

Are you basing this comment on personal experience?
Can you share the experiences that made you, personally, decide that Maxamet was too brittle to be used for EDC?

Have you, by any chance, watched either of these two videos on Maxamet brittleness?

https://youtu.be/q5o532fjdec
https://youtu.be/KZPKIC8oCbE

TheApostleP explains why it is fragile from its composition.

Okay so how do you explain the Triple B videos demonstrating that it's not fragile?

[bearfacedkiller]

This thread went from bad to worse. Ugh...

The internet is filled with misinformation. Keep it out of here.

Maxamet isn’t tough but it isn’t fragile either. It just is what it is. No steel will have high toughness at 67 HRC, especially one with that many carbides. I have used it extensively and haven’t had a single issue. Not a good choice for a chopper or a laser thin kitchen knife but quite suitable for a production folder and it’s usual geometry.

I am unsure how to articulate my opinion on ApostleP on here while still maintaining shiny footprints. I would suggest getting your info from knifesteelsnerds instead of apostlep, that’s for sure.

[Karl_H]

Triple B doesn’t demonstrate that it is not fragile. He just doesn’t reach the a high enough stress to break the knife. It is also important to note that the geometry of the knife and the roughness of the grind makes a big difference.

For more info on how knives fracture:
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/08/05/ ... -not-fail/

Actual CVN impact toughness test data for Maxamet and other steels:
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2020/05/01/ ... fe-steels/

As you can see from Larrin’s test data, Maxamet is a relatively low toughness material.

As a general rule of thumb, any metal with CVN impact toughness < 5ft-lbs used in a thin bladed folding knife will generally require special care and attention to bending stresses and stress risers.