What's your favorite steel and why?

[minderasr]

Every time I find myself interested in a knife, I'm wondering about the steel. So many so called "super steels".

I realize this is like reviving the Ford vs. Chevy debate. Just curious of the opinions of the knife aficionados in this forum.

 

[Celt]

I'd be curious to know as well since I don't know much about the difference deals.

 

[Saltwater60]

I agree with the above comments. I pick s30v since it’s the best steelmi have. The edge retention is great. Sharpening it is a bit of a pain, but not bad with my ken onion work safe sharpener.

 

[Exonautic]

I've found s35v to be best of what i've used. you don't have to pay out the ass for it either.

 

[Podmonkey]

I did other to represent Bohler M390/CPM 20cv/CTS 204p. All similar steels on the high end premium scale. They offer outstanding wear resistance and corrosion resistance at the cost of some toughness (somewhat brittle) An edc blade of these steels used for typical edc tasks might need sharpening annually. In terms of toughness they are prolly on par with S35vn, and not as chippy as S30v.

 

[Darth]

Spyderco's H1 rust proof for my dive knives. I use S30V in my PM2. I like their VG-10 as well.

 

[Fezzik]

Most of my favorite blades are s30v but I really like the m390 on my Ritter Griptillian

 

[Acer-m14]

oh this is knife steel .. any dang steel that is close to 3/16 inch thick at the shank or more and does not snap in half while gutting a deer splitting the pelvic bone get my vote .. WTF china or insert others here sold at tractor supply .. crap .. left me with a 2 inch pocket knife to dress my game ..

my high school file knifes i made were better ,, just rusted fast if not oiled up .. oh the good old day ... making weapons in school shop class heheee ..

 

[minderasr]

So no love for Elmax or Cru-wear? I'm looking at the Bark River Bravo 1 LT, and apparently it's available in a few different steels. Honestly I don't know the difference, and Google hasn't helped me decide either.

Thanks for all the responses. Keep'em coming!

 

[Podmonkey]

So no love for Elmax or Cru-wear? I'm looking at the Bark River Bravo 1 LT, and apparently it's available in a few different steels. Honestly I don't know the difference, and Google hasn't helped me decide either.

Thanks for all the responses. Keep'em coming!

Nobody besides Bark River seems to know how to heat treat Elmax properly it seems. Apparently Emax is very sensitive to having just the right heat treat. The Elmax on my ZT 566 dulled a lot faster than I would have expected.
But in Bark River's hands it's said to be a great steel. M390 (and related steels) does everything Elmax does a bit better and without some of its drawbacks.

 

[Carlos Hathcock]

Remington Steele. Not on the list.

 

[minderasr]

Remington Steele. Not on the list.

He's listed under "Other".

 

[minderasr]

Nobody besides Bark River seems to know how to heat treat Elmax properly it seems. Apparently Emax is very sensitive to having just the right heat treat. The Elmax on my ZT 566 dulled a lot faster than I would have expected.
But in Bark River's hands it's said to be a great steel. M390 (and related steels) does everything Elmax does a bit better and without some of its drawbacks.

The options for the Bravo 1 LT (from what's available) are Elmax, Cru-wear, and CPM3V. Maybe I should just stick with good old 3V?

 

[Marine Cpl]

I'm partial to Valyrian Steel.

 

[Podmonkey]

The options for the Bravo 1 LT (from what's available) are Elmax, Cru-wear, and CPM3V. Maybe I should just stick with good old 3V?

I have no experience with Cru-wear, in fact I know very little about it. I do know that CPM3V is the current hotness in high end hard use steels, its supposed to be impossibly tough. It is a carbon steel though and readily rusts, and that toughness comes at the cost of wear resistance so it won't hold an edge as well as harder steels like say M4. The Elmax is pretty much the opposite end of the spectrum in performance so decide how you will be using knife before deciding.

 

[minderasr]

Thank you @Podmonkey I appreciate your input.

 

[Podmonkey]

Thank you @Podmonkey I appreciate your input.

You are quite welcome, but take what I post with a grain of salt too, I'm not an expert. Form your own opinions. A lot of this steel stuff is marketing. Is CPM3V a great steel for hard use blades? From everything I've seen yes, very much so. Is it worth the the considerable price premium over something more pedestrian like A2 or good ol' 1095? who knows?

 

[Carlos Hathcock]

I'm partial to Valyrian Steel.

Do you know the riddle of steel boy?

 

[Magnus]

I'm partial to Valyrian Steel.

Not much of it in the world left. I knew a man who lost a dagger in a bet once.

 

[Marine Cpl]

Not much of it in the world left. I knew a man who lost a dagger in a bet once.

Ahh. Yes. There is a lot of history in that dagger. Some historians claim that dagger started a war.

 

[Phauxtoe]

Application means everything, what is the knife going to be used for!
personally i go strictly by the design of the knife (it must be a Flipper) and it has has to be under $50, so my choices are made for me!

my favorites are my Kershaw Skyline and a couple Kershaw Al Mar knives.

 

[Podmonkey]

.......personally i go strictly by the design of the knife (it must be a Flipper) and it has has to be under $50, so my choices are made for me!

Spydie hole rules them all. And take walk on the wild side, there is some really nice stuff to be had up at the $100-$200 level.

 

[Vapor]

80crv2 or 1095...