Tool Steel vs. Stainless

colu41

colu41

Joined
Dec 24, 2014
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I am wondering the overall advantages and disadvantages of these 2 different types of steels. I was getting some logos laser engraved at a very prominent knife making company, (I wont say who) and we always talk knives and he brings me into the shop and what not to show me some things. But I asked him if they ever used stainless and he told me that stainless is junk. They use pretty much all tool steels and damascus. Can someone tell me where he's coming from here? Because I thought the stainless nowadays: all the CPMs, S30, S35, S110 and so on, were GREAT steels for knives. I don't know enough technical details about the steels to have started a small argument so I kept my mouth shut.:cool:
 
Some people are stuck knowing what they knew 40 years ago and never learn anything different.

Some people will insult anything else besides their own ideas, work...

Some stainless is junk





Getting someone to convert from the carbon vs stainless side is like ford/chevy or s religious debate.
Facts don't matter and won't make a difference.
 
To say that stainless is "junk" is very ignorant. You're right, the steels you listed are great for knives, regardless of what this guy says. He may only be experienced with the average stainless steel found in Wally World specials! Compressed aluminum cans they are! Ha ha!

Elmax is stainless. Probably one of the greatest knife steels out there.

I think that the guy's comment was way off base.
 
12345678910 said:
Some people are stuck knowing what they knew 40 years ago and never learn anything different.

Some people will insult anything else besides their own ideas, work...

Some stainless is junk





Getting someone to convert from the carbon vs stainless side is like ford/chevy or s religious debate.
Facts don't matter and won't make a difference.
Click to expand...

^^^perfect answer. I love Ford vs Chevy debates. I actually start them just to watch.
 
Saying "stainless is junk" is kinda like saying "cars are junk" or "houses are junk".
Pretty crazy and uninformed.
Some of these boutique stainless steels are truly remarkable, but tend to be pretty focused--as in, just because it makes a superb knife doesn't make it particularly suitable for a sword, but dismissing "stainless" as "Junk" .... wow!
 
It is out of a closed mind and ignorance that things like this are said.
Causes more arguments than anything else.
 
I bet he did not mean, junk.
Tool steel will always be a fantastic steel. Phill Hartsfield told me that some tool steels were designed to cut other steels and that's one reason he used it.
 
A friend of mine and I have the 45acp/40s&w joke debate every once in a while. When other people get involved we go over the top and they think we are about to go to blows. He'll throw out the 45 is archaic junk comment, and I throw out the 40 whiz bang insults. Yet we both enjoy both calibers. Maybe this guy is just talking a little smack.

(Oh and btw Tim, 45 is still better)
 
Tool Steel vs. Stainless? You don't have to choose. Some of the very best, toughest tool steels available today are highly corrosion-resistant. ;)
 
I figured that he is possibly just stuck in the "old ways" of knife making. Because before I got into knifemaking and just collecting, to my experience, stainless was junk. Lol. The Chinese knock offs and wal Mart specials were the culprits there. But now that I've been into knifemaking for about 3 months, Ive learned enough to know that his exact answer was way incorrect. And he's been building knives for 10 plus years. Anyways thanks for the input guys.
Ill let you guys know what he says when I bring him my first batch of CPM154s :p
 
Colu41, Your knife company friend is flat wrong with that statement. I wouldn't trust his opinion on much else from now on. Get your information from Bladeforums knife makers...guys who make and use knives every day. Larry Lehman
 
Colu41, Your knife company friend is flat wrong with that statement. I wouldn't trust his opinion on much else from now on. Get your information from Bladeforums knife makers...guys who make and use knives every day. Larry Lehman PS Cpm 154 is an excellent knife steel in my opinion and I love 440 c as well. LL
 
jobasha11 said:
^^^perfect answer. I love Ford vs Chevy debates. I actually start them just to watch.
Click to expand...

I vote for Toyota Trucks! Some tool steels are junk;)

Actually, This guy is showing that he really doesn't know what he's taking about to make a blanket statement about all of any group of steels.

Junk for what? Great for what? What are you going to use the knife for? Where is this knife going to be used?
 
Lycosa said:
I bet he did not mean, junk.
Tool steel will always be a fantastic steel. Phill Hartsfield told me that some tool steels were designed to cut other steels and that's one reason he used it.
Click to expand...


That reminds me of when this guy behind a knife-store counter tried to sell me a Spyderco. "The best knives in the world."
(Now, nothing intended against Spyderco. The guy could have done this pitching any quality brand.)

So this guy wanted to prove that this "Spyderco steel" was superior to that used in "any other knives."
He took his personal Spyderco out of his pocket and proceeded to carve a small curl of steel off the corner of the spine of some no-name lockback he had laying around.

"See?"

Of course he was using a blade @ 60RC or so to cut a portion of steel on the other knife that was probably in the 35-45 RC range. Naturally he could shave off a little with a harder blade. He could have done something similar with the corner of a piece of hardened flatbar of almost anything.


Bet it works to sell a lot of knives, though.
 
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I'm very curious as to how "prominent" this "company" is, when the owner makes statements like this. Perhaps you could inform him of this thread and ask him to explain his reasoning here. I'd love to hear his thoughts.
 
darrin sanders said:
Perhaps you could inform him of this thread and ask him to explain his reasoning here. I'd love to hear his thoughts.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on that ;)

It's a worthwhile conversation though, just because it brings up the fact that we have a heckuva whole lot of really great steels from which to choose. Even the cheapest "junk" stainless or carbon that we sneer at today, would have been truly amazing to smiths, machinists and toolmakers only a few generations ago. If someone can't find an alloy that suits their knife needs now, they're either not looking very hard or their expectations are way, way out of whack. ;)

Dismissing a whole class of alloys is just aggressively ignorant... by which I mean not just dumb, but willfully ignoring the facts.
 
james terrio said:
Tool Steel vs. Stainless? You don't have to choose. Some of the very best, toughest tool steels available today are highly corrosion-resistant. ;)
Click to expand...

This.

I have a few hard use stainless blades that started to corrode, before my tool steel blades have.
 
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