Edge retention experience

[HSC /// Knives]

Curious if anyone wants to comment on their experiences of edge retention on specifically apexultra vs z wear/cru wear.

There must be a few of you who have tried both steels
Thanks

 

[Barmoley]

In my experience edge retention of zwear/cruwear/4V/MagnaCut is better than ApexUltra. How much better is hard to say since all the knives are different and geometry plays a huge role in this. It is noticeable though over multiple knives. I've tried around 7-8 ApexUltra knives from different makers and 8 different knives from the other steels. ApexUltra kitchen knives are easier to find as it seems more makers use it vs the higher alloy steels, probably has to do with forging vs not and ApexUltra is probably easier to finish. I've also compared knives from the same makers but different steels where geometry is more similar but not the same and Zwear/PD1/MagnaCut edge holding is still better than ApexUltra. The difference is not earth shuttering, but it is noticeable, could be bias too since I know which knives have which steels.

 

[captaincaed]

I have one of each, and I haven't yet put the Apex through its paces yet, but could.

CPM CruWear - HSC ///
ApexUltra - Joel Black

CruWear is excellent so far. Mine has a Gesshin 2k edge, and has had tomato instant-bite since I first bought and sharpened it. I throw every acidic food I can think at this knife and it's showed no signs of slowing down until the past week or so. It's now bit less crisp than fresh off the stones. But it kept a crisp mid grit edge feeling for quite a long time. Similar to zdp.

The ApexUltra knife also has an edge I like, and has kept it longer than I expected but I don't put it though as much acidic food. I didn't put the edge on so I'm not sure what it is. I can give it a harder test and report back. But it'll likely take some time since it seems to be in the blue super category, and I don't beat knives up too hard as a home cook. Maybe I should loan it to Stringer...

The biggest caveats are grit and sharpening angle, which may vary between the two makers. I feel like folks may want to put a coarser grit on tool steel than "carbon" steel to get best results. I'll try both off the same stone.

 

[False_Cast]

Thanks for posting. Keeping an eye on this one. Any experience is appreciated.