# thoughts on different stainless steels



## hobbitling (Sep 28, 2013)

Another question from a curious newbie.

I know many of you are devoted to carbon steel, but when choosing a blade as a gift for a family member I feel like stainless is much more forgiving and certainly easier to maintain.

So, as I shop for knife blanks to put handles on, I'm curious what your opinions are of the various alloys available.
Strengths, weaknesses, pros, cons. Which do you prefer, and which has the best balance of edge holding, toughness, and corrosion resistance?

Specifically, I'm curious about VG-10, Aus-8, and 440-C. Other recommendations are welcome.


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## pitonboy (Sep 28, 2013)

AEB-L is often thought as being a easily available stainless steel that makes a good kitchen knife; that said, the others you mention can also make fine knives. The steel type isn't all that important when compared to the heat treatment, profile, grind, etc


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## Mrmnms (Sep 28, 2013)

Look into m390 , CPM 154, 19c27, and. ZDP-189 while you're researching AEB-l. Pitonboy's comment re the importance of heat treat are on the money. I own knives of Aeb-l and the first 3. I've used and sharpened ZDP-189. I my opinion , the most the difficult to sharpen.


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## hobbitling (Sep 28, 2013)

Hard to find ground and heat treated culinary blades in most of those steels though. I've seen zdp189, but none of the others. The blades I see are VG-10, Aus-8, and 440-C.


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## cclin (Sep 28, 2013)

I'm very interesting Sandvik 14C28N. it fill-in right between 13C26(Aeb-l) fine carbide/good toughness/better sharpen ability...etc & 19C27(Suisin Inox Honyaki) coarse carbide/better edge retention....etc. 14C28N seems like best of both worlds...WillC is only one I know use 14C28N for custom kitchen knife.
the other 3 steels I'm also like to try are:
CPM-D2>PM D2 tool steel
V2 Special > V2 steel with higher carbon & add tungsten for better edge retention
SLD Fantastic> PM SLD tool steel


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## cclin (Sep 28, 2013)

sorry! hobbitling, I didn't notice your last post from my small phone screen.... please ignor my last post!!


hobbitling said:


> Hard to find ground and heat treated culinary blades in most of those steels though. I've seen zdp189, but none of the others. The blades I see are VG-10, Aus-8, and 440-C.


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## hobbitling (Sep 29, 2013)

If I had the tools and time to make make my own blades, I would, but at this point I'm only making handles.


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## ThEoRy (Sep 29, 2013)

R2/SG2


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## NO ChoP! (Sep 29, 2013)

Did anyone read the opening post? He is looking to buy premade blanks to rehandle. They come in 3 flavors. He is asking which of three are preferred.....


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## ThEoRy (Sep 29, 2013)

I missed that part. Needs moar coffee....


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## CoqaVin (Sep 29, 2013)

ThEoRy said:


> I missed that part. Needs moar coffee....




VG-10 is microchipppy had a shun first hand and noticed so many chips going on 

Aus-8 is ok...not super stainless at all 

Never used 440c 

Theory....I just noticed it says Central NJ on your avatar...I am Central NJ as well closer to the shore


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## NO ChoP! (Sep 29, 2013)

Vg10 adds cobalt and vanadium. 440c has the highest carbon content. I would pick either of these, leaning to the vg10 myself. All three are similar, though. Are they all heat treated by the same company?

Many judge vg10 by their experiences with Shun. Other makers, such as Hattori or Takeshi Saji are known to do brilliant things with the steel....


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## Pensacola Tiger (Sep 29, 2013)

CoqaVin said:


> VG-10 is microchipppy...



CoqaVin, this is not an attack on you, but an attempt to put an end to this "VG-10 is chippy" meme that appears to have run amok on this forum. I have to utterly refute this myth. Properly heat-treated, VG-10 is NOT "microchippy". In support of this, I invite you to use any of the Forum knives (Hattori FH), or a VG-10 blade from Yoshikane. Your experience with Shun blades does not extend to all VG-10 knives.

Rick


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## CoqaVin (Sep 29, 2013)

Pensacola Tiger said:


> CoqaVin, this is not an attack on you, but an attempt to put an end to this "VG-10 is chippy" meme that appears to have run amok on this forum. I have to utterly refute this myth. Properly heat-treated, VG-10 is NOT "microchippy". In support of this, I invite you to use any of the Forum knives (Hattori FH), or a VG-10 blade from Yoshikane. Your experience with Shun blades does not extend to all VG-10 knives.
> 
> Rick



Ok let me rephrase it than....Shuns are microchippy in VG-10...as I have not tried the others...just stating that this is what happened to me using that type of steel...The HT's on all others can be superb for all I know...sorry about the miscommunication didn't mean any harm by it


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## Pensacola Tiger (Sep 29, 2013)

CoqaVin said:


> Ok let me rephrase it than....Shuns are microchippy in VG-10...as I have not tried the others...just stating that this is what happened to me using that type of steel...The HT's on all others can be superb for all I know...sorry about the miscommunication didn't mean any harm by it



As I said, I'm not attacking you. I've also seen microchipping on Shun knives, usually cured by a micro bevel. I've also seen microchipping on Hattori HD knives. I just wanted to make it clear that not all VG-10 knives are like that. It goes along with the recommendation to pay more attention to the maker's heat treatment, and less attention to the steel that is used. The "Tale of Two AEB-L's" is very much apropos in this case.

Rick


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## CoqaVin (Sep 29, 2013)

Agreed it's all about the different HT's


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## grelcar (Sep 30, 2013)

I have purchased AUS-8 and 440C blades from a couple of the big knife supply sources. The AUS-8 blanks were very thing, sharpened well, but chipped easily. The 440C blades I have purchased were thicker, sharpened easily, no chipping that I noticed, but required more frequent sharpening. Both steels make good knives for the average home user. I feel the perform as well as the mid line Henckles/Wusthof knives. 

Greg


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## tk59 (Sep 30, 2013)

I can't remember if I've used AUS-8. VG10 can be very nice as can 440C but I would say VG10 can give superior performance, in general. The longer I'm around here, the more I realize, it's more about the HT than the actual steel a lot of the time. The VG10 chippiness come from some observations specific to Tojiro blades and a few others IIRC hardened over 60 hrc that were reported to chip excessively. Personally, I've only remember observing it on Tojiros.


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## Lefty (Sep 30, 2013)

440C can be damn fine steel. To be honest, I just go with a maker's favourite given steel. I know this doesn't apply with knife blanks, but if you're going DT and you want stainless (you can't go wrong either way), why not go with AEB-l. Pierre, O1 or S35VN. Butch, W2 or CTS-XHP. Rader/Burke/Tsourkan, 52100. Carter, White 1. Etc, etc. It's about the HT, yes, but it's also about how well the maker knows the steel in terms of belt type and grit to use, how long to hold a piece on the grinder, signs of problems, how many cycles are REALLY needed, etc.


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## Sabaki (Nov 19, 2013)

If you haven't done your choice yet i would go with Aus-8 because it is the toughest of them all and will hold an edge very good and fairly easy to maintain


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