Best Steel for Chef's knife

Bill Vining

Bill Vining

Joined
Jan 2, 2004
Messages
366
I would like to make a Santuko for a Professional Chef friend of mine as a gift. I do know that most chefs prefer carbon steels over stainless. I was even thinking of maybe a San Mai blade.

I know this has been asked before but........what would be the best steel and why?
 
My choice would be W2, because of the super fine grain, sharpness and performance (all this, if treated correctly and ground very thin)

W1, 1084, 01 etc. would make an excellent blade also, if treated correctly.
 
Something with a RC of 65 or better, that does not chip and is easy to sharpen. Rust resistant and takes a fine polish.

unobtainium with a quantum particle heat treat sounds about right. :D
 
i would guess W1 or 1095 for carbon(not used it yet) and i use cpm154 at 62Rc with good feed back
its more what then are use to and how much care then are willing to use
 
AEB-L (stunning steel) - I have a bread knife Tim Wright made out of this stuff that keeps runnin and runnin................... I'm dreaming of a couple of others. A 10" French Chef and 3.5" wharncliffe paring knife both with CocoBolo handles.
 
synthesist said:
AEB-L (stunning steel) - I have a bread knife Tim Wright made out of this stuff that keeps runnin and runnin................... I'm dreaming of a couple of others. A 10" French Chef and 3.5" wharncliffe paring knife both with CocoBolo handles.
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I'm getting interested in this stuff for kitchen knives too, only spelled 13C26 ;). Just because Admiral now carries the Sandvik version at a reasonable price and I don't know where to get the Udeholm version.

For carbon steels, I'm currently making some kitchen knives in A2. Should be a good choice for us grinders. We'll see how they work out.
 
'most chefs prefer carbon' ? There are good and bad carbon steels and good and bad stainless steels .My best kitchen knives are now VG-10. CPM154 would also be a great choice.For carbon W-2 or A-2 would be great. Each of the four would take a fine edge and be easy to sharpen.
 
There is a reason most chefs prefer carbon over stainless :D

With that said, the only stainless I would use is Sanvik 13C26 or AEB-L. I have spent a good bit of time talking to Devin Thomas on the phone and he has convinced me that these two steels will make a carbon steel guy happy :)
 
I make a lot of professional use knives.I have tried a bunch of different steels. Right now, I would use either CPM-M4 for carbon or CPM-154 for stainless.Both will get HARD,SHARP, and hold an edge well.
You can use a lot of other steels, 1095 is cheap and fairly easy to HT. BG-42, 10V, VG-10 will get darn hard.
S30V,S90V and the new 13C26 and its cousins will all work.
I am not usually a fan of 52100 for most chef knives, but I am having 12 feet of san mai made up with 52100 core and 15N20 sides. It is for three custom sets of knives (three knives per set) for a customer, delivery by Xmas 2008.
If you are going to make your own san mai, you might like to try 203E sides on a 1095 core.

The old," most chefs prefer carbon...." comes from the poor quality of stainless in the days when all there was ,was 440C . Carbon gets scary sharp and can be touched up in a flash. The new super stainless steels are very good and many professional chefs use knives made from them. I made a set of S90V knives for a Chinese restaurant and they said they used them for four months before they needed sharpening (and Chinese restaurants use the heck out of a knife). My sushi chef friend sharpens his carbon knives once a week, he sharpens the CPM-M4 knife I made him about once a month.

Whatever steel you use is less important than a good HT and proper blade design.
Stacy
 
I like W2 or 1095 for a chefs knife. No heavy chopping. Ground fairly thin.
No need for anything in the mid 60's range for me. To hard to sharpen for the average guy.
I keep all my counter knives ASAP. Fred
 
Fred.Rowe said:
I like W2 or 1095 for a chefs knife. No heavy chopping. Ground fairly thin.
No need for anything in the mid 60's range for me. To hard to sharpen for the average guy.
I keep all my counter knives ASAP. Fred
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Those steels are really easy to sharpen when they're that hard, especially when they're thin. There are lots of people using those Japanese chef's knives with 64 Rc White and Blue steels without any trouble sharpening them. Some argue that higher hardness means easier to sharpen when talking about thin edges (I am one of them).
 
Reasons why people like carbon steel over stainlesses - easier to sharpen, tougher, takes a finer edge, easier to forge, etc.

13C26/AEB-L has carbides as fine as 52100, which means - easy to sharpen, tough, takes a very fine edge. Not much easier to forge than other stainlesses, but a little. Still need a controlled furnace for heat treating.
 
Larrin said:
Reasons why people like carbon steel over stainlesses - easier to sharpen, tougher, takes a finer edge, easier to forge, etc.

13C26/AEB-L has carbides as fine as 52100, which means - easy to sharpen, tough, takes a very fine edge. Not much easier to forge than other stainlesses, but a little. Still need a controlled furnace for heat treating.
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Good post Larrin.

Guys, I like making and using knives of good carbon steel. I don't care much for stainless.

Ya'll use what you like and have fun doing it :D
 
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