What are the best beginner stainless steels?

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Gregor133

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Oct 27, 2016
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Hi,
I am relatively new to knife making and have recently acquired an order of five small knives for some of my relatives. What do you think are the best beginner stainless knife steels? I am looking for something with good rust resistance and toughness, basically I want a steel that is pretty good at everything for a fair price.
Thanks for any suggestions,
Gregor.
 
For a beginner try 154CM very forgiving won't break the bank. 440C also very forgiving and reasonable. Both require specific heat treats so if you don't have a controlled heat treating furnace you will have to send out for heat treat. Check the sticky's for heat treating Stainless for more info.
 
My vote goes for AEB-L as well. As mentioned, it's easy to grind both pre and post HT and it's inexpensive. It's just good all around steel, it takes a fine edge, holds it well and is easy to re sharpen.
 
Also vote AEB-L. While there's others that may fit the criteria I haven't worked with them, but AEB-L has met or exceeded my expectations across the board.
 
No love for 440 surgical steel or rostafrei?:D
 
I use quite a bit of AEB-L myself however I don't think it's as good in the Field as 154CM. AEB-L will produce a Lazer Sharp Edge but won't hold it as well as 154CM. I have field tested both 154CM/AEB-L on the last Elk I bagged and I would say 154CM held up better. I really Like AEB-L for Kitchen cutlery and even some of my Slipjoints where it won't see abrasive grit in animal hide.

440C is very inexpensive and had it's day many years ago when 154CM surpassed it in performance and which has been upgraded to the powder metal CPM154CM. But for starting out and not wanting to throw money away 440C is right there not the BEST steel but cost effective.
 
Nothing wrong with 440c. If you are just making knives for yourself and friends, great. It has fallen out of favour as newer steels have come out, so when selling knives, aeb-l is hot now. It's cheap and easy to work with. Dry ice/acetone is all you need for full performance, so no cryo hassle if you heat treat yourself. It's a great selling point to tell people it gets a razor sharp edge because it is razor blade steel. Again, 440c makes a fine knife, but marketability can be important at a certain point. It's a public perception problem, not a steel problem.
 
aeb-L or 154cm. Unless you need thicker than 1/8" stock I'd sooner use the aeb-L due to cost and being a little easier on cutting tools. And for starting out you'd probably be best to use 1/8" stock.
Oddly enough 440c actually costs more than aeb-L or 154cm here in Canada. 440c and cpm154 are about equal in price.
 
I think that people have recently discovered that you can leave AEB-L pretty hard and it still stays tough, so the edge holding "issues" may be based leaving it a tad soft. I have seen some recent videos people doing some crazy stuff with AEB-L and 15N20 at higher hardness levels.
 
I live in Southern California and where I order steel from 440C precision ground is still a lot cheaper than CPM154cm . I use Cpm 154 for almost all my knives now except the large ones which I g rind from 440C. There is nothing wrong with 440 C steel for knives...most of my personal knives are made from it and these knives will field dress some game nicely I promise. I never use less than 5/32 thickness because I do not make kitchen knives. Larry P.S. I have never used AEB-l but the majority of knife makers on this forum love it so try it as well. LL
 
AEB-L
You didn't say what the knives will be used for or what style, so hard to say what hardness you might want. I go to 63 on a Gyuto, which is tough for it's purpose, but I wouldn't chop trees with it. :)
 
Brock Cutlery said:
AEB-L
You didn't say what the knives will be used for or what style, so hard to say what hardness you might want. I go to 63 on a Gyuto, which is tough for it's purpose, but I wouldn't chop trees with it. :)
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He was asking for "Good Rust Resistance" and "Toughness" at a Fair Price. Steel that was GOOD at everything. Didn't add much as far as how it was going to be used so that leaves it open to speculation and why I gave the 2 steels I felt would be good for a Beginner. My opinion of AEB-L as GOOD for everything fell short based on my field testing as you mentioned don't use it to chop trees or dress out an Elk. YMMV
 
Busto said:
He was asking for "Good Rust Resistance" and "Toughness" at a Fair Price. Steel that was GOOD at everything. Didn't add much as far as how it was going to be used so that leaves it open to speculation and why I gave the 2 steels I felt would be good for a Beginner. My opinion of AEB-L as GOOD for everything fell short based on my field testing as you mentioned don't use it to chop trees or dress out an Elk. YMMV
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I actually plan to dress out an elk with mine some day, God willing. ;)
 
jdm61 said:
I think that people have recently discovered that you can leave AEB-L pretty hard and it still stays tough, so the edge holding "issues" may be based leaving it a tad soft. I have seen some recent videos people doing some crazy stuff with AEB-L and 15N20 at higher hardness levels.
Click to expand...

Yup! I have more experience with 15n20 than Aeb-l, and it never leaves my shop below Rc62. Edge holding is about the same as O1 at Rc60/61. Maybe a bit less, but not by much.

Aeb-l and 15n20 perform almost identically, except one is stainless, and the other isn't. Aldo's 15n20 will get a hamon too....
 
Sorry for not specifying what I will be doing with the knives. The knives that I am planning on making are small bushcraft/neck knives, that will probably be used for light bushcraft and general everyday use around a farm. Thanks for all the helpful suggestions! I live in Australia and the steel that you guys have suggested - Aeb-l - costs Aus $300+. 154CM looks pretty good and is not to expensive, so I will definitely consider this steel. What about 12c27? Is it any good? Thanks for all the help!
 
Just found another steel - CPMS35VN - that is within my budget. I've heard that it is a very good steel. Would it be suitable for my purposes? Or would it have a difficult heat treat? Thanks.
 
Yes it's a good steel been around awhile. I did not consider this beginner steel...If you do not have a heat treat Furnace to control Time and Temperature all of the stainless mentioned would need to be sent out for heat treat.

Read the Stickys on Heat Treating Stainless not as easy as simple Carbon Steels.
 
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