Steak knife steel

B

Brian.Evans

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I know this has been discussed here before, but I can't find anything.

Thinking about making some steak knives. Non serrated. I need an idea for the steel and hardness level for something like this? I'm assuming I'd need something with a high resistance to plastic deformation?

Needs to be stainless.

Would M390/20CV at 62 be hard enough?

I'm open to suggestions.
 
I think 62 might be too hard for M390. AEB-L seems to be the steel of choice for makers here. Can be hardened to 62-63 and according to what I have been told, will hold an edge forever. Hope Chuck from Alpha Knife Supply
will chime in here.
 
For steak knives that would be used at the table, probably used bt people who arent all knife pros, I would suggest AEB-L taken to somewhere around 58 HRC. They dont need to be razor sharp and its an advantage for them to be chip resistant if they will be used on bone, plates and so on.
 
AEB-L AT HRC 61-62 does not chip when heat treated correctly.

I recently watched a test where an AEB-L knife at HRC 61 was hammered through 3/4" structural steel tubing. There was no chipping or deformation on the edge.

Chuck
 
When I get around to making my set, I plan on using AEB-L. Easier to work with and much cheaper than M390.
 
No matter what you use, china/ceramic plates are gonna dull them pretty quick. That's why steak knives are serrated. The only answer to keeping a plain edge steak knife sharp is to use a wooden plate.
 
I'd likely opt for AEB-L around 60HRC give or take. That said, any decent stainless or carbon steel with proper edge geometry should cut a steak pretty effectively.
 
XHP 63rc no matter what steel the plate is going got kill it less that ie you make steak plates
DSC07489sm.jpg
 
I would be in the boat of AEBL or maybe even elmax. i watched some rather impressive elmax abuse tests and was rather shocked.
 
We actually use cheap stainless steak knives here because of the plates. They get dull Quick!

Kyle learned how to sharpen with the steak knives. :D
 
i have pictures liek that also ;)
im planing on making 12" maple ones with matching curly maple handles down the road these are 9.75 inch and soem say too smalll but i eat steak often enough that i dont feel the need to eat a 30ox porterhouse
 
I've used aeb-l, O1, W2, and 15n20. I find I can strop then into shape easily enough, increasing the time between sharpenings. Once you realize they don't have to be ground through the steak, the edges last a bit longer.

We only eat red meat twice per month, so there's that too.
 
Darrin Sanders said:
No matter what you use, china/ceramic plates are gonna dull them pretty quick. That's why steak knives are serrated. The only answer to keeping a plain edge steak knife sharp is to use a wooden plate.
Click to expand...

There's actually nothing at all about a steak that demands a curved blade, which will instantly go dull.
I use either a straight blade and just assume that the tip will dull (but all but the tip stays just as good as new, cept maybe for contact with bones) or even a birds beak type blade.
Serrated is ok, but never as nice as a good sharp sheeps foot or similar blade.

I first had this realization when we went to one of those Hibachi grills and the chef was cutting meat and vegetables right on the metal surface, with an obviously razor sharp knife- Yup, only about a half millimeter of the tip gets dull, not enough to compromise most cuts.
 
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