Favorite steel ?

Cru-Wear.

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I edc a Gayle Bradley 1 with M4. I like it because it seems to have a good balance of edge retention and toughness. Another favorite is the ZDP-189 which is also seems to remain sharp for a quite a while.
 
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I like stainless steel, my number one pick will be S35VN, which worked extremely well for me in several Spyderco knives, number two new generation super steels M390/CTS204P/CPM20CV, and number three will be trusted CTS-XHP.
 
For a non stainless, I'm voting for 5160 as it is cheap, easy to heat treat and works quite well for what it is

Semi stainless, CPM 3V. Great toughness, holds an edge well and has better rust residence then 5160 or any other 10XX steel

Stainless, not sure as I don't have enough experience with different versions. I want to say AEB-L but haven't used any yet. S110V on the other hand I have. Great stain and rust residence. Holds an edge but hard to grind. A bit brittle too
 
M390...Cruwear....Rex-45....S35VN....all of them have been excellent steels to use....but man I just love the ZDP-189...it gets the most insane edge and keeps it longer than you'd expect it to...but then BD1N...S30V...VG10 all play their part as well....but that ZDP-189
 
I don't see my favorite on this graph. S90V

Larrin didn’t have data for the toughness of s90v at the time I made this chart, so it didn’t make it on there (along with several other steels). It definitely would have been a standout on the chart though. Fantastic edge retention!
 
Lately, ZDP-189 and S110V: easy burr removal and excellent edge retention. I'm liking S110V because it's very stainless, and it can hold a coarse edge for a long time, which means I can finish on DMT F and not worry too much that I don't have a mirror polish
 
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