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Originally Posted by TexasJack
According to the late Bob Engnath's site: "AEBL seems to be about 440B. Extremely easy to grind, in fact, I think I may have set a world record with it a few years back, over a hundred blades from bar stock to 220 grit within eight hours. Heat treat like 440C. Edge holding is best when heat treating includes a freeze cycle. Very easy to polish and buff. Very nice choice for miniatures, kitchen knives, etc. AEBL has several quirky habits in grinding that make it difficult to use on thicker or larger knives. Makes nice kitchen knives"
Composition: C-0.65, Si-0.4, MN-0.6. P-0.02. S-00015, CR-12.8
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He's pretty close to right, other than that with how much less Chromium AEB-L has than 440B, it makes it a much better steel, it actually gets hard (up to 63-64 as quenched). It is fine-grained (as much so as powder steels), tough (close to S30V, maybe a little bit better or worse), stain resistant (good as 440C), and should hold an edge as well as 440C or better. One of my very favorites that not nearly enough people know anything about, and if they do know anything about it, they think it's like 440B.