What are your top 5... steels?

[VincenteFox]

Meaning, if you were getting a custom from a maker who could theoretically access and craft any steel equally, which ones would you prefer?

 

[Just a DK]

I mean… if cost is not an issue why would be the default not be apex ultra.

And if you have the stones for it magnacut/10v

 

[Strozzi]

1. Simple Carbon
2. Simple Carbon
3: Simple Carbon
4. Simple Carbon
5. K390 for my EDC folder (1-4 for the kitchen)

Make one or 2 of those mono with a bit higher alloy so they can sit for a bit on the board and we are all good in my neighborhood.

 

[VincenteFox]

I mean… if cost is not an issue why would be the default not be apex ultra.

And if you have the stones for it magnacut/10v

I would expect AU to make a lot of appearances, but people have preferences. They may not like sharpening it, for example. And even if it were the consensus #1, i asked for 5.

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

If I could get whatever and I wanted to invest in good diamonds or CBN stones it would be K390.

 

[SABOL BROTHERS]

1. K390
2. MagnaCut
3. Vanadis 4 Extra
4. M390
5. 14C28N

 

[panda]

tf white1

 

[jedy617]

Too easy

1. S125v top tier edge retention
2. Magnacut great balance of everything and almost rust proof
3. Apex ultra, best edge retention non tool steel carbon
4. Blue 1 for a honyaki
5. Free space...maybe k390, similar reason as magnacut besides rust resistance ofc.

 

[VincenteFox]

1. K390
2. MagnaCut
3. Vanadis 4 Extra
4. M390
5. 14C28N

An afficionado's choices. why does 14c28n sneak in?

 

[SABOL BROTHERS]

An afficionado's choices. why does 14c28n sneak in?

Mainly thanks to good price / performance ratio. Aside from that, REX 121 would be the no. 5.

 

[Qapla']

Meaning, if you were getting a custom from a maker who could theoretically access and craft any steel equally, which ones would you prefer?

For what kind of knife?

 

[panda]

keep into consideration heat treat is just as important as the steel itself.

for example:
I hate 52100 but love shihan's version
I love yoshikane white2 but hate hinoura white2, etc..

 

[aporigine]

keep into consideration heat treat is just as important as the steel itself.

for example:
I hate 52100 but love shihan's version
I love yoshikane white2 but hate hinoura white2, etc..

Exactly. It matters whose. I like
white 1 Kuwahara
blue 2 Itsuo Doi
AS Y. Tanaka
R2 Shibata
blue 1 Yoake blacksmith.

Also Birgersson Hemligtstål
Shindo blue 1
and the Y. Ikeda honyaki sakimaru, presumably shiroichi mizuyaki.

Still trying to decide if I like FRKZ (Sukenari) ZDP. I can, after some work, get it *almost* sharp. But then it holds that level of edge forever and a day.

 

[aporigine]

An afficionado's choices. why does 14c28n sneak in?

Perhaps to have something that can be tuned up more easily than those stone-eating monsters in its company?
(edit) shoulda read the following post …

 

[VincenteFox]

keep into consideration heat treat is just as important as the steel itself.

for example:
I hate 52100 but love shihan's version
I love yoshikane white2 but hate hinoura white2, etc..

Yeah, that's why i specified youre working with some magical smith who can work every steel equally well. Eliminate variables. Of course, this is a totally valid point, though.

 

[VincenteFox]

For what kind of knife?

I imagine in this scenario, most people are getting a gyuto, but it's your flawless smith making a dream custom, so your call.

 

[SwampDonkey]

K390
Magnacut
ApexUltra
AEB-L
Blue 2

The last 2 are so I can still have fun on naturals, though my coticule still cut AU at 64 HRC but that was just as a finisher. Haven't had it long enough to see if a BBW or aizu will do it

 

[bahamaroot]

.

 

[aporigine]

I imagine in this scenario, most people are getting a gyuto, but it's your flawless smith making a dream custom, so your call.

Well, if I’m gonna dream big, it will be a katana made of palladium microalloy glass with an embedded and ordered array of submicron-sized perfect-lattice lamellar lonsdaleite hexagonal plates, as a sheet ten microns thick in the blade’s plane of symmetry.

Probably will have to be nanoprinted … forging is out of the question.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/starts...rials-on-earth-that-are-harder-than-diamonds/

 

[VincenteFox]

Well, if I’m gonna dream big, it will be a katana made of palladium microalloy glass with an embedded and ordered array of submicron-sized perfect-lattice lamellar lonsdaleite hexagonal plates, as a sheet ten microns thick in the blade’s plane of symmetry.

Probably will have to be nanoprinted … forging is out of the question.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/starts...rials-on-earth-that-are-harder-than-diamonds/

I question the practicality and am not sure this counts as a "steel," but hey, enjoy.

 

[aporigine]

I question the practicality and am not sure this counts as a "steel," but hey, enjoy.

It’s pure science fiction. I took the liberty to expand to “ultimate blade material”.

There are several newer supersteels that I haven’t had the privilege to try, notably Apex Ultra, Magnacut, S[big number]V, Rex 121 etc.

I suspect there’s a steel in there that I would choose either for a gyuto or a bespoke superthin sheep’s foot for breaking down cardboard all day long. I’m blue-skying here.

 

[jakuda]

AebL, 52100, magnacut. If i could only pick one, aebl i gotta say.

 

[VincenteFox]

It’s pure science fiction. I took the liberty to expand to “ultimate blade material”.

There are several newer supersteels that I haven’t had the privilege to try, notably Apex Ultra, Magnacut, S[big number]V, Rex 121 etc.

I suspect there’s a steel in there that I would choose either for a gyuto or a bespoke superthin sheep’s foot for breaking down cardboard all day long. I’m blue-skying here.

Now *there's* an idea. Ultimate s[bignumber]v boxcutter.

 

[Jovidah]

Or just use scissors...

 

[azn_knives_4l]

Or just use scissors...

Great for cutting pizza, too

 

[panda]

Or just use scissors...

*slapchop

 

[VincenteFox]

Or just use scissors...

S[bignumber]v scissors, eh?

 

[blokey]

1.mithril
2.Gromril
3.Vibranium
4.Adamantium
5.Valyrian steel

 

[aporigine]

1.mithril
2.Gromril
3.Vibranium
4.Adamantium
5.Valyrian steel

Don’t forget dureum and arenak

 

[HolyDiverScallop]

Great for cutting pizza, too

Not your first rodeo, I see.