# The most bulletproof stainless steels



## btbyrd

Imagine that you're going to be stuck on a fishing boat out to sea for a couple months, and you're wondering what knives to bring along. It's going to be salty. It's going to be steamy. It's going to be hell on your steel. Unless you've got some fancy steel that doesn't care how much salt and sweat and steam and fish guts it gets covered in. I've seen a few super-stainless steels (like H1 and LC200n) that appear to be damn near rustproof, but their use seems mainly restricted to folding knives and "outdoorsy" knives rather than kitchen knives. What are the least reactive/most corrosion-resistant steels that actually get used to make kitchen knives?


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## DamageInc

I'd try and get a knife made of 904L.


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## krx927

I have very good experience with Akifusa in SRS-15 powdered metallurgical (PM) stainless steel. It is completely stainless for me. Last year I did a week of yachting and no issue (but it was dry hot summer weather ).

Secondly also my Ryusen in SG2 stainless PM steel is the same.

I can also say that for my Miyabi which is in ZDP-189.

I would not hesitate taking them to the boat for longer periods of time.


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## DamageInc

krx927 said:


> I have very good experience with Akifusa in SRS-15 powdered metallurgical (PM) stainless steel. It is completely stainless for me. Last year I did a week of yachting and no issue (but it was dry hot summer weather ).
> 
> Secondly also my Ryusen in SG2 stainless PM steel is the same.
> 
> I can also say that for my Miyabi which is in ZDP-189.
> 
> I would not hesitate taking them to the boat for longer periods of time.



I have some pitting in my ZDP steel miyabi. Not sure if it's from acid or salt though.


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## WildBoar

In general (i.e., not specific to knives, but to construction materials), salt will pit stainless steel vs cause rust. There are many variables due to specific components though. But overall the trade-off may be rust vs pitting. So maybe consider the cleaning and storage strategy when the knife is not in use.


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## Paraffin

I've owned boats and lived aboard in hot/saltwater environments. It was years ago, but the basics haven't changed much. My perspective would be to consider galley knives as basically disposable. Or at least not a long-term investment. 

I'd probably stock up with lower-priced Wusthof or Victorinox stainless knives if doing it from scratch. Maybe one skinning/filet knife in carbon if I was doing a lot of fishing, for ease of sharpening. I'd oil that one between use to hold off rust. The rest would be soft/German stainless for easy maintenance and reasonable corrosion resistance. 

I'm not sure how my fancier stainless knives in HAP40 or R2 would hold up, but unless we're talking high-end yacht galley with air conditioning and all the amenities, I wouldn't bring expensive knives like that on a boat. All my prior experience around boat life has been fairly downscale, not the "yacht" category.


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## tim37

Both M390 and Elmax, which are Bohler particle metal stainless will do very well in a salt water environment. You will have to go to a custom knife maker, though, because I am not aware of any production kitchen cutlery companies who use it.


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## parbaked

DamageInc said:


> I have some pitting in my ZDP steel miyabi. Not sure if it's from acid or salt though.



Yeah...ZDP is not that corrosion resistant. 
CPM S35VN is a much better steel for that. 
North Arm knives in Canada make a line of kitchen knives in CPM S35VN with G10 handles which would work.
https://northarmknives.com/product-category/kitchen-knives/

Personally, I keep a set of Globals on my yacht...don't trust the servants with anything fancier....


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## Jovidah

Silly idea... but you could consider ceramic and using diamond stones to sharpen them? Dunno if someone ever tried it?


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## WildBoar

parbaked said:


> Personally, I keep a set of Globals on my yacht...don't trust the servants with anything fancier....


You are a harsh boss. A true Leader would train and educate his service staff so they will be continue to grow in knowledge, as well as in desire to provide good service to you. On my biggest yacht, each servant has his/ her own custom Kramer. Admittedly, only the top 8 of the servants got full chef knives or carvers though; the other 28 received pettys and parers. But with my employee incentive program, I give them full credit towards a bigger knife as they progress through the ranks. And heck, even on my small 45-foot-runabout, the crew are trusted with HHHs.

BTW, do you have any Grey Poupon?


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## HRC_64

WildBoar said:


> BTW, do you have any Grey Poupon?



:rofl:


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## aboynamedsuita

Add me to the list for pitting / rust spots on zdp189, albeit very minor. I got mine after washing/rinsing and allowing to air dry for a bit of time before drying with a towel


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## cheflarge

Boar......... that might be the funniest sh!t I've ever read!!! :bigeek::lol2:


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## Triggaaar

btbyrd said:


> Imagine that you're going to be stuck on a fishing boat out to sea for a couple months, and you're wondering what knives to bring along.


I don't feel like cutting anything up, I think I'm going to be sick again.


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## LifeByA1000Cuts

Maybe Balbach Leo-Damast ... should be literally bullet proof  SCNR


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## Billy02

My mom has this butter knife i dont know what its called but its the butter knife set has been in home for maybe 2 decades, those knives are used everyday and they are amazing with no rust nothing, they are polished in gold color but with time they have gone a bit dull in color but the steel is perfect as new. ill share picture once i click it. take that with you


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## tim37

Boar - which Grey Poupon would you prefer, the original or stone ground. We have both. We keep them in Irish Crystal jars because the salt air kept pitting the lids. The maker refused to put 316 SS lids on the jars.


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## nopomo

Zwilling's Cronidur 30 is the same alloy as LC200N/N360, although I don't know that they're still producing any of the lines that use it.

The Spanish brand Arcos uses the mysterious "Nitrum steel". They claim ~55 HRC, so I'd guess it's Bohler N680. They're very inexpensive and a good value for that type of knifeI have a jamón slicer and a cleaver of theirs and am happy with both.

There are some _very_ inexpensive Cuisinart-branded knives claiming to use a nitrogen alloy.

There are quite a few 14C28N knives out there.

There are some knives available in BD1N but the makers' reputations are perhapstarnished*. Carpenter claims that BD1N has corrosion resistance similar to 410-grade stainless.

Arcos also makes a line of titanium-bladed kitchen knives that aren't too expensive (relative to other titanium knives). Ceramic might not be the worst idea, eitherjust bring a few back-ups. If you're going to attempt to sharpen either, a resin-bonded diamond stone (Naniwa, King, Venev, "DMD", etc.) is probably a good idea.



*They all seem to have "x" in their names, but I assume they're considered dirty words on this forum, e.g. Artife-, Ya-ell, Ne-us.


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## WildBoar

tim37 said:


> Boar - which Grey Poupon would you prefer, the original or stone ground. We have both. We keep them in Irish Crystal jars because the salt air kept pitting the lids. The maker refused to put 316 SS lids on the jars.


Original, please. The stone ground is a bit to pretentious in my opinion. And a cork lid should do the trick. :beer:


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## tim37

The tops are Irish Crystal. Cork will eventually allow salt laden air to pass through. That's why old, old wine goes bad if not sealed with wax.


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## parbaked

You guys buy mustard???
My chef garde manger just makes me some whenever I ask...


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## WildBoar

Sorry, but I do not buy mustard.


I have people tasked with buying it for me.


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## panda

i just scrape my used depends for fresh mustard


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## bahamaroot

panda said:


> i just scrape my used depends for fresh mustard


Dude you worry me sometimes....


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## WildBoar

Heh, is it bad that I believe him?


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## K813zra

WildBoar said:


> Heh, is it bad that I believe him?



I am starting to as well. :rofl2:


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## panda

guess where i get wasabi from


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## tim37

Jeeze Panda, you people in Florida are sick !!!


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## panda

hhahahahaha


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## btbyrd

My... that escalated quickly.


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## btbyrd

The one area where outdoor/camping/sporting knives really overlap with kitchen knives is in butchery. Breaking down protein in warm, humid environments presents its own set of challenges. Sometimes even just being in those environments presents challenges. I've had stainless get rust spotting after a few days backpacking, for example. And even at home, I've awoken to discover that a brand new stainless Ginga had gotten pitted overnight because I didn't wipe it down after using it to chop kimchi the previous evening. A rude awakening indeed. People talk a lot of **** about Globals, but I can dump on Cromova 18 all day long and it'll wipe off fine without complaint. It's garbage to sharpen compared to the Ginga, of course. Which got me wondering if any of those super duper powdered metallurgy alloys gets away with being extremly non-reactive while still taking a good edge.


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## Mucho Bocho

Without a doubt, Trizor (Chef Choice) is a bad ass, hard, tough stainess. It will take and hold an edge, even when used to cut through chicken bones, crab legs, basically the tough, ugly knife tasks. 

The edge out of the box needs some thinning, but the steel just takes abuse. I'll add, NOT an easy stainless to sharpen and the handle is to small, its hard to use for extended periods. Not sure exactly what steel they use though.


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## Keith Sinclair

Laughed so hard got some cereal on my keyboard.


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## HRC_64

Mucho Bocho said:


> Without a doubt, Trizor (Chef Choice) is a bad ass, hard, tough stainess. It will take and hold an edge, even when used to cut through chicken bones, crab legs, basically the tough, ugly knife tasks.
> 
> The edge out of the box needs some thinning, but the steel just takes abuse. I'll add, NOT an easy stainless to sharpen and the handle is to small, its hard to use for extended periods. Not sure exactly what steel they use though.



Originally Trizor was CM-154 (US spec ats-34), based on an interview with the designer;
but they may have changed it later at some stage.


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## SeattleBen

Are you cutting fish on a 36' fishing boat, working on a 300' processor, being a private chef on a yacht or being a chief cook for a 1000' container ship? That seems like the most pertinent question.


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## ecchef

Now I’m starting to wonder about Panda’s sourdough starter.


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## panda




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## Prgcook

Might be total nonsense but if ya got 1000s worth of knives in a sea environment why not clean them well and put them in a 300$humidor when not in use you can buy little 50$ controllers to tweak the temp and humidity


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## Michi

SG-2 and SLD are both non-reactive. Maybe not true stainless, but so close as not to matter. And you can put a superb edge on either steel, with good edge retention.


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