Top 5 most popular blade steel types

K

Kellster

Joined
Sep 29, 1999
Messages
129
What do you think the top 5 most popular knife blade steel/material types are? My list follows, but I'm sure it's not THE list. Clarification: top 5 most popular (not best) types as expressed by users (not makers). OK here goes (in no particular order):

BG-42
M2
D2
INFI
ATS-34

I am not claiming to be correct on this, just wanted to see how far off I was...
Ok, let it rip, I'll put the force fields up :-)


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A knife is by default a tool, it's only a weapon when a human chooses to make it so.

 
If you mean number of knives sold, what ever they use for stainless steel flat ware has to be # 1. 420 (not CPM) and 440A would be also be near the top of the list.

The steels you list are mostly high end steel used on fairly expensive knives that account for only a small amount of the total market.
 
Well, I wasn't really thinking number of knives sold, and I wasn't thinking kitchen knives, and by popular , I guess I meant desirable. And yes, I was going to put the CPM type in there, but am not sure which one to replace with it, since I had said top 5.

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A knife is by default a tool, it's only a weapon when a human chooses to make it so.

 
The blade materials you mentioned are all premium quality steels for sure, but I believe the percentage of new knives sold today bladed with these steels would be very low. In the total number of knives being produced today, the list probably looks something more like this;

1) 420 (or different manufacturers variants)
2) ATS-34
3) AUS 6
4) AUS 8
5) 1095

The traditional pocketknive companies turn out a HUGE number of knives every year. I believe that BUCK, CASE, UNITED CUTLERY, FROST and many others use some form of 420 stainless in their knives (usually renaming it in the process or stating that it has been modified). ATS-34 has really taken off in the production market the last few years and is undoubtebly the number one high performance steel being used today. AUS 6 & AUS 8 are found in almost every knife manufactured in the Far East (COLD STEEL, SPYDERCO, CRKT and all of the small new knife companies of the week). When somebody mentions the term carbon steel to describe a new production knife today they are most likely speaking of 1095 (KABAR, ONTARIO, etc.). While you do find the other steels you mentioned used in production knives, there are so many low priced knives sold annually using these cheaper steels that the proportion is not as large as one might think. Members of these Forums are well versed in the newer steels, but to a majority of the knife buying public talking about these new steels would be like speaking Latin.


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It's only a mistake if you fail to learn from it!
 
Thanks for the replies guys, but I think I need to be more clear. What are the top steels with the most admirable qualities, regardless of price, regardless of production numbers, and regardless of sales numbers. I'm thinking they would be the newer 'super steels'. I'm trying not to say what are the best 5 steels, because that is too open ended, i.e. what is the intended use, what is the knife size/style, what environment, etc. etc. It brings up too many questions, plus it's a matter of opinion to some degree anyway. I thought it would be fun to see what steels were the most 'desired, admired, or on the most wish lists, etc. Apologies if this is old hat, and if I'm not making any sense.

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A knife is by default a tool, it's only a weapon when a human chooses to make it so.

 
Kellster,

What I here you asking is "What are the 5 most desired steels?"

Here is my list:
Talonite
CPM440V
ATS-34/154CM
INFI/M-INFI
VG-10

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AKTI Member No. A000370



[This message has been edited by SDouglas (edited 02-18-2000).]
 
Sdouglas,

You hit it on the head! That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks. I'm curious to see if people concur or have a slightly different list.

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A knife is by default a tool, it's only a weapon when a human chooses to make it so.

 
"Normal" Blades -
CPM440V
ATS-55
52100

Big Blades -
5160
CPM3V

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AKTI Member #A000832

"That which does not kill me just postpones the inevitable."
 
Kellster,

Why only five? We can easily use like 10
smile.gif
.

From a performance standpoint, depending on blade geometry, we can add the CPM family: CPM-10V, CPM-9V, CPM-3V, CPM-420V, CPM-440V.

And then we have high carbon steels like 52100, 5160, D2 (well not really).

SDouglas,

The problem is Talonite is not steel. It's cobalt alloy.
 
Noooowwww I understand! My choices are;

1) BG-42
2) A-2
3) M-2
4) 52100
5) Mike Norris stainless damascus

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It's only a mistake if you fail to learn from it!
 
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