Best Edge Retention

[TIM FROST]

I Am Just Getting Started Into Knifemaking, And I Know This Is Probably A Loaded Question. Bar Nun Hands Down What Is The Best Steel A Guy Can Make A Hunting Knife Out To Hold An Edge The Longest???

[jdm61]

I'll defer to the experts but one thing you might consider is once the edge dulls, which steels are going to be easy to resharpen. This is one of the big attractions of the plain carbon steels. i have only been making knives for 9 months, but years of collecting and using (in the field for a few years) has taught me that some of the most popular stainless steels are #### near impossible to sharpen using simple tools.....ATS 34 comes to mind. You practically need a diamond hone or a little 1 inch grinder set up to tackle that stuff. I never had mcuh luck even with crock sticks or lansky sharpeners. My brother had several Benchmade folders and he doesn't even bother. He just had them sharpened professionally.

[Jason Cutter]

jdm61 has kinda said it for me... There's also more to knife performance than edge retention. Toughness is a critical factor that comes to mind. The hardest, most wear resistant steels can sometimes be also relatively brittle when subjected to edge impacts and lateral stress to the blade.

One steel with extreme edge retention would be CPM S90V (previously called 420V) but as mentioned, once the edge goes dull, you're pretty much dead in the water as far as field resharpening goes. Probably pretty darn expensive too. Many European makers use this steel.

I favour carbon tool steels like 1095, 1084, O1, 52100 for excellent edge retention on a hunting knife, combined with a good level of toughness and ease of sharpening. Properly heat treated, these steels will outcut most stainless steels. Of the stainless or high alloy steels, I favour RWL34, BG42, D2 and CPM S30V, but these too can get quite difficult to resharpen when dulled.

Just my opinions. Jason.

[cricket]

Talk about a loaded question!!! If you ask 10 makers, you'll get 10 different answers...Each steel has it's own faithful fans, and each steel can perform extremely well if all the variables are correct. Heat treat, blade geometry all have to be good to make everything work. Personally, I like 52100, It's not the easiest steel to work but it makes an excellent knife. Good luck!!!

[Don Robinson]

Any of the stainless steels can be easily sharpened by anyone using a simple damond sharpening stick or stone. These are available everywhere, hardware, sporting goods stores, Walmart, etc.

I use a small DMT Diafold myself, the medium grit red one.

It's actually faster than sharpening a carbon steel blade on a bench stone.

Try it, you might like it!!!!

[B.Finnigan]

Instead of getting multiple replies the best bet is to just make a blade out of all of them and then you will be able to judge for yourself. I am still in that process and I have not played with 52100 yet, that will be next. Right now I only have it in 3/4" bar form and I am procrastinating getting to it because I have heard alot about how tough it is to hammer forge. So far I really like 0-1 the best but I am still exploring and this time next year it will probably be another steel. I really do not want to beat on anything tougher then 0-1 for now.

[Ed Caffrey]

Everyone has their favorites, and the reasons why they are the favorites. Each of us has to decide what it important in our end product, and with that in mind each of usually grow to like something different. If a big selling point of your knives is the Stainless factor, then chances are your going to have a stainless steel as your favorite. If your a Pounder, there's a different set of characteristics you often desire.

The characteristics that I strive to achieve in my blades are edge retention, toughness, and ease of resharpening. Since I forge all my blades, the attribute of being able to improve the steel through proper forging and heat treating are requirements too.

Having said all that, I favor, in this order, 52100, 5160, 1080/84. I don't stick to those steels because of ego or any other such nonsense, they simple are the best I've found to this point. If there's something out there that you can make a better forged blade out than 52100, I haven't seen it.

Is there a difference between a stock removal blade and a forged blade? At the risk of making someone angry, You Bet! I've done the experiments by forging a blade and creating a stock removal blade from the same bar of 52100 many times.......in tests the forged blades that have been properly themal cycled and heat treated ALWAYS come out on top. That's not to say that the stock removal blades where not good blades, they just were not as good as their forged counterparts. I feel safe in saying that even a crudely made custom knife with generally out perform anything the factories can put out.

[sdcb27]

The steel with the best heat treat wins no matter what its name is

[Andrew Garrett]

True or untrue...

A folding knife can GENERALY be made from a harder/more brittle steel since it is not USUALY subjected to the kinds of lateral stresses that are common for fixed blades.

Logic: The steel of a folding knife need only be slightly tougher than the pivot joint since the pivot is the inherent weak point of any folding system (at the risk of being egged by a bunch of folder guys). This allows folding knives to give more attention to edge retention and use steels that are very well suited for that while giving up the toughness it may not be designed to need as a folder.

I'm sure I'll be educated for this blasphemy...

[Frank Niro]

Someone has already said it. Whatever steel you use should have the proper heat treat for it. FranK

[AUBE]

andrew,
the way i look at it is smaller knives can generally be made at a higher rockwell/less tough state because they arent subject to as much force. the thing you have to keep in mind with toughness is you arent just worried about the blade snapping in half..you have to worry about the edge chipping out. thats way more common than a blade breaking in two. so you may make a small knife that wont see any lateral stress but then be opening a package, hit a staple and put a nice chip in the edge of a too hard blade.

ed,
in what way(s) did the forge blades outperform the stock removed? what do you think makes them perform better? the thermal cycles? if so could a stock removed blade be made as well with the same type of thermal cycling?
i ask because ive been doing stock removed blades for years but i havent had the pleasure of trying forging to any scale...workshop restrictions always kept me from having a hot shop so i havent been able to experiment. luckily now i have a shop space where i can have a forge without burning down the place
(btw im not sure if you got my last emails about the forge plans...i sent them during the time when you were having net trouble and were out of town. im still interested in the forge plans whenever you are ready just send the total to jasons_blade@yahoo.com and i will send you paypal, thanks!)