Which steel can get the sharpest?

Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Messages
267
Which blade steel will yield the sharpest knife? Not necessarily the best edge retention to keep it sharp (although that would be a tie-breaker). I'm simply looking for scarry sharp, razor sharp, etc. that the average user can get sharp.

It seems to me that many generally excellent steels, exhibit a different level of sharp.

I understand that cutting ability is a product of many factors. But for this exercise, assume two identical knives with quality heat treats. Only the type of steel is different.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Steels have come so far.. I can whittle hair with 154cm, s30v, m4, s35vn, cpm 154, 20cv, s90v, m390, zdp 189, white paper(might be my favorite for "most keen") just to name a very few. To resharpen? s30v, m390, 20cv, white paper are the easiest/quickest to touch up for me.
Really comes down to the RH of the specific steel. There's tons and tons of info here on the forum regarding "prime RH" of where specific steels really shine. Then there's the angle and grit usedddd. Most steels can get scary sharp.

If you're looking for the "cheapest" entry level high end blade steel knife for an EDC Id recommend the Doug Ritter mini/full grip in M390. $130/140 respectively.


Strictly most keen edge possible, I hear amazing things about white paper (Shirogami).

I'v heard really good stuff about the Nagao Higonokami Higo in white paper. Going to pick one up one of these days.
Also a guy by the name of Murray Carter (Carter Cutlery) forges fixed blades in white paper. Supposedly some pretty awesome stuff. Going to pick up one of his "perfect neck knives" someday.
 
Last edited:
High carbon steel is the easiest to sharpen to a hair-popping edge, in my experience. That may have something to do with the size of the carbides; high vanadium/chromium alloy steels like S30V/D2 cut amazingly well and hold an edge a long time, due to their high content of large carbides, and while a fine edge is achievable with those steels, they seem to cut better with a slightly coarser edge. 52100 takes an extremely fine edge and holds it astoundingly well (ref: Marbles Campcraft and Fieldcraft from Mike Stewart's era there). Master Hunter in Carbon V/50100 is darned close. Geometry also plays a part. My Scandi-ground blade in humble (but very tough) 1070 by Ivan Campos has as close to a zero edge as I can achieve. Similarly, Roselli's high carbon (Krupp W9, I believe) blades take an extremely fine edge.
 
Thanks for the quick responses.

I don't know anything about white paper, but now I'm interested and will research.

Yes, it makes sense that smaller carbides would be an advantage over large carbides in this case.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
M4, S30V, 3V, cruwear/pd1, Aeb-L, 52100, M390/20CV/204p, K390, and CPM 154 are the ones that I have used that get the sharpest. The Steels that are the easiest for me to keep up, keep sharp, and easy touch ups are M390/20CV/204p, 3V, K390, PD1/cruwear. S30V is also very easy to touch up, but I have lost the sharp edge on it quicker than those others mentioned.
 
On YouTube is a channel called Michael Christy who does comparisons. He shows I think ZDP-189 and HAP-40 slicing free hanging hair and shaving layers off of a hair like feather sticks. Makes me want an Endura and Delica in both steels even more than I already did!
 
I'm able to get all my knives razor sharp just using a simple old school steel. If you're after even sharper then you'd want to stick with premium steels, even then you can get them so sharp that the edge easily chips or rolls. I consider getting a smooth hairless patch on my arm to be sharper than I need.
 
I'm gonna have to say Fallkniven' s Lam CoS steel. This stuff is impressive as hell. It strops to laser beam like sharpness and for being at 60 rockwell hardness it's easy to sharpen too.
 
Speaking of white and blue paper steels..

I'm a large scale gardener and I just found my new pruners. They just happen to be in Aogami Blue paper #2. Holy balls am I excited.

 
Technically the higher the hardness the sharper it can get. Grain size and carbide does play role too tho.

By the way sharpness is just overrated, most steel use in cutlery industry these days can get to beyond hair whittle sharp... from the Chinese one to the exotic PM. Its just depending on user sharpening skill.
 
^Yes this is true. one can sharpen through all the carbides and grain regardless. but in practice it does take time, more angle consistency, proper abrasive selection( to actually cut and shape the carbides to the apex) and increased troubleshooting on burr removal.

low alloy, high hardness, fine grain steel lowers the bar so that you dont need to spend time shaping large structures in the steel matrix.

its a trade off for wear resistance.
sharpness isnt overrated

there are different circles of thought on different knives for different tasks

it all depends on what kind of cutting is needed.

cardboard doesn't need the cleanest cut since its being thrown away so that user wont see the benefit that white steel has to offer and would appreciate more endurance from higher alloyed high carbide steels that will still make jagged cuts even when dull.

meanwhile. a chef making cuts in fresh ingredients will notice better textures and less oxidization to food when cutting since his white steel blade took a better edge using his simple stones. He would prefer the performance of high sharpness over the endurance of increased wear resistance.

yet if you have great sharpening knowledge, you will enjoy the increased aggressiveness that high carbide steels like s110v and m4 etc take at high sharpness. Its great fun, but it does take knowledge


however, its truly remarkable that I can take a white steel blade and whittle a hair after sharpening on a $25,6000 grit king water stone with little effort.

meanwhile to get s110v to the same sharpness I need to be more selective with my abrasives.

s110v will straight up not abrade on king stones just burnish.


in the end, all steels get sharper then anyone can sharpen them.

but white steel lowers the skill curve needed to sharpen to high sharpness.
 
Interesting choices. An expert sharpener can probably get most steels sharp. I need a steel for the rest of us, LOL.

I don't mind putting the time in to working with a hard steel, if that is needed.

I have heard that M4 can take on quite a sharp edge, but it's becoming clear there are other options to consider.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
The size and type of carbides and the bevel angle play a big part, as has been said above.
 
Interesting choices. An expert sharpener can probably get most steels sharp. I need a steel for the rest of us, LOL.

I don't mind putting the time in to working with a hard steel, if that is needed.

I have heard that M4 can take on quite a sharp edge, but it's becoming clear there are other options to consider.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Oh they all get sharp and they are all hard.

its just that the majority of people find that steels like aebl, 52100 , white steel, blue steel are easier to sharpen

its true they are quicker to sharpen.

but that doesn't mean they all cant achieve that sharpness.

m4 isnt like the above steels, yes, it gets very sharp and is very strong and very hard but its not going to sharpen as easy as white steel,but its will be more wear resist.

M4 is in a class of carbon PM tool steel
with the highest ratio of wear resistance, strength and toughness relative to each other at the cost of corrosion resistance

M4 is a steel you don't let get dull.

its is respected for its ability to hone good to maintain its sharpness, but most of all, it is a very good edge holding steel that has been proven in competition

remember cpm M4 still has 4% vanadium.

the same amount as s30v which is the main component to why s30v has its wear resistance.

and is a factor in the sharpening difficulty that people have.

the natural stones are just not going to be effective.

synthetics stones with the right abrasives are needed.

we can go on and on about the steel but there seriously are alot of other varibles that cant be overlooked.

its the synergy of those variables that contributes to a high performance blade. but the steel names are more catchy and obvious then how someone is heat treating or if the geometry will work or the use of the knife, sharpening skill etc.

Thats why you cant get a straight answer, it all depends.
 
My Manix in S110V doesn't get quite as sharp as my Cold Steel Voyager in CTS-BD1. This is sharpening both on the Congress Tools Mold Masters followed by microbevel on the Sharpmaker. Given the same effort, the simpler steels get sharper. The higher alloys can get there, but they don't hold that higher sharpness any longer and in some cases less than the simpler steels.
 
I seem to be able to more easily put a hair popping edge on my Spyderco Chaparral in CTS-XHP than higher carbide steels. My Lionsteel sleipner also gets very sharp. Both of these retain their high degree of sharpness very well, and seem to get sharper than my aogami super blue steel in my non-expert opinion. I’ve grown to like them more than some of the ‘exotics’ because I’m OCD and work in an office environment and prefer razor sharp to long term edge retention. I typically sharpen to 35 deg inclusive. lower only for the plainer carbon steels.
 
Back
Top