Favorite steel

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has been asked before will be asked again.
Just popping by on this thread.
My forever knife would be in R2.
Though by the time it needs a sharpening in my home environment I basically forgot how to sharpen and have to dust off the stones.

But when Im in sharpening mood, and less busy at work, I like white 1 for nice quick touch ups and maintenance. Just feels nice to touch up and marginally polish a knife towards my preferences I.E. better for me every sharpening session.
 
Steel is only half the story, heat treat plays an equally important role. I usually pick the steel the smith prefers to work with. My personal favorite is white steel
 
1.2442 (~65hrc) from Tilman followed closely by Watanabe blue 2 (64 or 65 hrc). Both are very good steels heat treated very well. Hold edges forever (home user) don't chip and feel great on the stones.
 
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I definitely understand the heat treatment aspect but I'm looking for the more hypothetical perfect world where your steel is always perfectly heat treated what would you choose and why what makes you choose the steel you choose
 
white steel because it gets sharp a lot easier than other steels and actually feels good while getting it there. all knives need to get sharpened, i rather do it more often while having it be less annoying rather than have to do it less often but be really annoying. plus this steel was created specifically for knives, not for ball bearings or cutting other metal, but to cut food!
 
I'm old enough to remember when one of the better stainless knives was a Forschner. That's why I love carbon steels. Now Stainless is much better with user friendly powder steels like SRS15 & R2. G3 semi stainless. Bottom line SS much better than it used to be.

Carbon most of my knives present & past are white steel. Not too picky like Blue#2, V2, AS. Always will have a soft spot for mono steel carbons.
 
Catcheside's sc125, Raquin's sc145, white and blue steels because it is so smooth while cutting and at the same time super easy to sharpen.
W2 from Mario Ingoglia and blue super from Takeda and Fujiwara Teruyasu - easy to sharpen with great retention
Aeb-l the easiest stainless to sharpen.
 
Eventhough my experience is somewhat limited:

1.2442
1.2562
Aogami Super

all very similar, and to me the best compromise of sharpenability and edge retention at the moment.
 
In my very novice experience not sure if calling a steel as best on it's own would make sense, as an example:

One of the best edges I've ever used is Bill Burke's 52100, but I've also used other 52100 that were not that good.
Devin's Mistery, Spicy white and phenomenal are Carpenter close second
Watanable Blue and whatever Toyama uses

But probably the best is the white steel used by JKI's Gesshin honyaki's, again steel is slightly irrelevant IMO, slightly

Let us also consider that without prime sharpening skill you could have the best steel and cut like a Shun or a master sharpener could make a "mediocre" steel truly sing, edge, angle, etc - this to me is more critical in most hands and may sway decision for best steel?
 
1. JKI Ittetsu Ikeda/Ino honyaki white steel - glass hardness and sharpness with that honyaki feedback and still has good edge stability. It needs to be sharpened more than the TF but chips less.

2. Teruyasu Fujiwara AS if you get a good one! It gets super sharp and has very good edge retention... It will micro chip due to the hardness.

3. Tanaka blue 2 - such good value for such a good steel. This is my go to recommendation for budget kitchen knives.
 
1.2562 really made a impression when I made my test blades recently. Super impressive retention (borderline perfect ht elmax level), decent stone sharpening.
 
One steel that I should also mention is V2. Takes a wonderful edge, is easy to sharpen and feels really nice on the stones.
 
Overall number one: Watanabe blue 2.
I have three knives from this line. Easy and pleasant to sharpen, takes really wicked edge, good edge retention. And patina looks quite OK as a cherry on the cake.

Second runner: (Teruyasu Fujiwara) White 1.
As Wata blue 2, but even better feeling to sharpen. But clear no 2 due to less edge retention. I do like to sharpen, but not too often.

Third: Aogami Super.
I keep this as my (gentle) chopping knife. Due to outstanding edge retention, this just keeps on going for ages if I don't chip it. Other than that, not so fun to sharpen, and for some reason (that I can't even point out), I just don't like it as much as the others.

No 4: AEBL
This also does everything very very well. Easily something that I recommend to normal people (non-knife nuts) as the steel for the one knife they would ever need.
But the thing here is, stainless steel has no soul :joec:
 
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