im looking for a steel that you believe has just the right edge holding abilities and yet still easy to sharpen with just a few passes. for me aus8 is super easy to sharpen but doesnt hold an edge like some of my ats34, 154cm, sv30 blades but tehn again those 3 blades are far tougher to take a fine edge than the aus8. is there a steel that fills the fine line that im looking for?
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best steel for easy sharpening and good edge retention
- Thread starter 97guns
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I like 154 and S30V. Have you tried some of the carbon steel blades? I think carbon steel takes a much better edge than any of the stainless stuff even though it is old fashioned. I think the carbon steel just flat out cuts the stainless stuff hands down.
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Amen brother, I'll second that.
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If you like AUS-8, but want a step up you might look at AUS-10. The problem is that AUS-10 isn't used very much. The closest equivalents that I can think of (and they tend to be a bit better) are VG-10 or N690. Spyderco makes several knives with VG-10 alloy blades. Benchmade has made several of their less expensive models using N690 (they switched some to 440C which does not sharpen as well for me). One Benchmade model that I like is the 10300 Monochrome: http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=10300
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d2 has excellent wear resistance,as a carbon steel, and as far as stainless steels i think they suck. only my opinion. queen cutlery uses d2. they make a nice pocket knife. as far as sv30 goes, i got a spyderco, first and only sv30 knife i'll ever own. dont hold an edge worth a crapola.
A++++ smitty and whitedog
A++++ smitty and whitedog
These_Nutz
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52100 its plenty tough polishes up realy nice and wears well.
It stains like a bitch tough.
It stains like a bitch tough.
The first stainless that came to my mind for ease of sharpening and reasonable edge-holding was Buck's 420HC.
And good carbon steel sharpens up just as easily if not more so, and in my experience holds its edge better.
Tomahawk23
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Cold Steel uses VG-1 on their Voyager line, which has 4in Folders. It is real tough and holds an edge for a long time... Easy to resharpen to hair popping sharpness too.
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a carbon steel fits the bill, but you may want stainless, have you considered a spyderco endura?
some would argue that d2 is hard to sharpen...
some would argue that d2 is hard to sharpen...
Edge thickness and geometry have at least as much influence on ease of sharpening as steel type. The hardest knife to sharpen I've ever had was AUS-8. It took nearly 2 hours on a water cooled wheel to get a burr to form.
Dont forget the part abrasives play in sharpening. If you use arkansas stones on S30V, it will take a long time to sharpen even if the edge is 0.001" thick. Actually, thats not true, but you get the point. Diamond hones and silicon carbide paper and hones will cut steel with abandon. Arkansas stones are only marginally harder than some of the latest steels, and take a long time.
To sharpen any steel in just a few passes, use a microbevel instead of honing the entire edge bevel. Whatever edge angle you want, just grind the bevel lower by 5-7 degrees, then hone the final edge at the desired angle. The actual cutting edge that has to be honed will be very small, sometimes not even visible. When the microbevel gets too big, just thin it down again. The thinning is typically called a relief bevel, or something along those lines. I ground a paring knife at 10-11 degrees for relief, and now it only takes 10 passes per side to sharpen it at 17-20 degrees.
Of the stainless steels, I like 440C, VG10, and 154CM. I havent used S30V or some of the others. I like AUS 8 and AUS 6 as well, and dont have any complaints about the edge holding of AUS 6. The only carbon steel I have any experience with is 1095. It holds a beautiful edge as long as wet cutting is not involved.
Dont forget the part abrasives play in sharpening. If you use arkansas stones on S30V, it will take a long time to sharpen even if the edge is 0.001" thick. Actually, thats not true, but you get the point. Diamond hones and silicon carbide paper and hones will cut steel with abandon. Arkansas stones are only marginally harder than some of the latest steels, and take a long time.
To sharpen any steel in just a few passes, use a microbevel instead of honing the entire edge bevel. Whatever edge angle you want, just grind the bevel lower by 5-7 degrees, then hone the final edge at the desired angle. The actual cutting edge that has to be honed will be very small, sometimes not even visible. When the microbevel gets too big, just thin it down again. The thinning is typically called a relief bevel, or something along those lines. I ground a paring knife at 10-11 degrees for relief, and now it only takes 10 passes per side to sharpen it at 17-20 degrees.
Of the stainless steels, I like 440C, VG10, and 154CM. I havent used S30V or some of the others. I like AUS 8 and AUS 6 as well, and dont have any complaints about the edge holding of AUS 6. The only carbon steel I have any experience with is 1095. It holds a beautiful edge as long as wet cutting is not involved.
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To get better edge retention than AUS8, you will have to give up some sharpening ease. The properties that allow a steel to retain an edge (hardness, microstructure, and abrasion resistance) are the same properties that make it more difficult to sharpen. So you will have to choose what level of sharpening ease you want against what difficulty in sharpening.
I agree with Jeff Clark that, for me at the moment, N690 seems a better combination of edge retention and sharpening ease than AUS8. It's a little bit harder to sharpen, holds an edge significantly longer. I have a Monochrome and it is my standard EDC for that reason.
I also agree with me2 that edge geometry will play a part.
Oh and BTW, if you switch to diamond sharpeners, much of the differentiation of sharpening difficulty will disappear. I've not done so for cost reasons. But those who have say that with diamonds, everything sharpens with about the same amount of effort.
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It's old school, but I'm still a big fan of 440C. It fills the niche you discovered between AUS-8 and 154CM/ATS-34 nicely. N690 is another good option.
As knarfeng mentioned, using diamond hones speeds and eases the task of sharpening considerably.
Using stones or ceramics, I'd avoid trying to sharpen the harder stainless steels such as S30V.
And of course the harder tool steels like D2, M2 or S7.
Unless you have a great deal of patience.
Using stones or ceramics, I'd avoid trying to sharpen the harder stainless steels such as S30V.
And of course the harder tool steels like D2, M2 or S7.
Unless you have a great deal of patience.
I'm old school to. I like 440C...
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I'd steer you towards VG-10. Sometimes the making of a good steel isn't simply ease-of-sharpening or edge-retention, but more rather the ratio between the two. As stainless steels go (since my experience with carbon and tool steels is pitiful) that's the one I find works best.