What is the best steel for knives?
We need to talk about steel types, and we need to do it simply.
This is not an exhaustive list and explanation of steels (although it is longer than expected). There are some incredibly knowledgeable people diligently fighting the culture of quick, pseudo-scientific explanations propagated by people like me that you should check out if you want the real meat of this information.
The problem is that these knowledgeable people tend to create content specifically for knife makers, and bring in a whole bunch of detail that's hard for the casual knife buyer to get past to the kernel of information that might actually be useful to them when it comes to making the crucial choice between a Spyderco Massad Ayoob sprint racer in Cruwear , or a humble CRKT Fins in D2 .
This guide is intended to be a simplified consolidation of information, mostly gleaned from more knowledgeable people to help cut through the noise to reveal a few choice chicken tenders of truth for everyday people who just want to buy a knife and know every damn thing about it.
But you need to know the experts
You'll see Larrin Thomas's name a lot in this article. He's the man behind Knife Steel Nerds, and honestly, you might be more interested in just reading his article on steel odds .
We also follow knifemaker Shawn Houston closely. He's a great resource for in-depth sharpening advice. His YouTube and Instagram feeds are the places to go to see practical applications of his extensive carbide knowledge.
Troopah Knives' Instagram does something called Steel Saturday , where he chooses a steel to write about intensely, which is a great way to hear directly from a custom maker.
And when we want to know (or remember) the composition and characteristics of a specific steel, we usually turn to Couteaux Z for a quick reference.
Now, I just want to clarify one last thing:
How important is the steel of a knife?
A lot, but not that much. Edge geometry has a much greater effect on a knife's performance, and proper heat treatment (and proper care) can make any modern steel last a lifetime.
Here are the three characteristics of steel that all knife makers must balance:
- Hardness
- Edge retention
- Corrosion resistance
Conventional wisdom dictates that you can only have one or two of these three elements, as emphasizing one can detract from the others.
For example, VG-10 is a popular steel for Japanese kitchen knives because it is stainless and allows for great edge retention. But this often comes at the cost of brittleness, especially in high-end knives that emphasize cutting ability with a thin blade.
Conversely, German 1.4116 steel often found in Western-style knives tends to have poor edge retention but high toughness and corrosion resistance.
The type of steel determines the quality limit, not the quality itself
Although heat treatment determines a knife's final hardness, each steel has an upper and lower hardness range in which it performs best, and some steel compositions may be better suited to finer sharpening than others.
For example, D2 is a fantastic budget steel with excellent edge retention, but it tends to chip, so it's not as strong in finer grinds as something like Sandvik 12C27, which, in turn, is generally much worse in terms of edge retention.
Some steels offer a better compromise between strength and edge retention. There's a reason CPM S30V took the knife world by storm in the early 2000s, or CPM Magnacut is doing so now with the Neo 20. But when you hear people say one knife is better than another because of the blade steel, it's important to consider that comparison in the context of the knife's use.
Let's talk about how a Shun Classic Chef's Knife is better than a Wusthof Ikon Chef's Knife. Because it's much harder and has better edge retention, it completely ignores the different purposes of these two knives: the Shun is a high-performance cutter, the Wusthof is a heavy-duty workhorse. One can cut a single tomato in half, while the other can carve a turkey in half.
Along the same lines, it's great that so many knife makers are adopting Magnacut, but older steels like AEB-L and 154CM have served the community well for many years, and whatever performance drop you think you'll get with one of those compared to Magnacut, the price has likely dropped far more than the performance.
What is the difference between carbon steel and stainless steel and some things in between?
Someone first baked carbon into iron and noticed that it made the iron much harder.
A few hundred years later, another curious person noticed that if chromium was added to this mixture, the steel wouldn't rust as easily. Further wacky experiments with elements like vanadium and tungsten led to the creation of tool steels and alloy steels.
We will try to address them one by one, in simple and quick terms.
Or you could simply read Dr. Thomas's article, Carbon Steel and Stainless Steel , which doesn't go to such lengths to be straightforward, but is significantly more comprehensive. Plus, it benefits from the authority of a medical doctor over that of a moderately educated stranger on the internet.
What is carbon steel?
It is primarily composed of iron and carbon with little or no alloying elements intentionally added to the mix. Carbon steel is essentially your basic composition.
Common steels in this category are 1095, 1084, and 1075. These last two numbers indicate the carbon content in percent, so 1095 has 0.95% carbon by weight, which is quite significant in a broader context.
It's quite common to see these steels in budget survival knives because they're easy to work with and often easier for the end user to sharpen, but don't let the fact that a knife has 1095 make you think it belongs exclusively in a budget category. Some knife makers are absolute artists with carbon steels, and there are a few production-level manufacturers like Ka Bar that produce very high-quality blades in 1095.
The term has effectively become synonymous with "high carbon steel," although it's fair to argue that "high carbon" could simply mean a steel with mostly carbon in its composition, but it could also contain a bunch of other elements that would make it an alloy steel, which we'll define a bit later.
What is stainless steel?
The "official" definition is that stainless steel is one whose composition contains at least 12% chromium.
This is roughly the amount of chromium needed to form a layer of chromium oxide on the outside of the blade that helps protect it from corrosion.
But this definition becomes more complex as steel technology advances.
On the conventional side, there are highly corrosion-resistant steels like LC200N (15% chromium) and H2 steel (about 13% chromium), which were widely used in Spyderco's Salt line due to their highly stainless properties. But they abandoned these two steels for Magnacut, which contains only about 10% chromium. Benchmade followed closely behind them with its Water collection.
The fact is that Magnacut has stainless properties without reaching the 12% chromium mark (it is just around the 10% mark).
Meanwhile, D2 typically hits that 12% mark, but it's not fully stainless because the high carbon content binds a lot of chromium to the carbides in the steel rather than allowing it to form a protective layer around the blade .
It is therefore easier to define these steels based on their behavior. Put water on a blade and leave it in the open air for a few days. If it does not rust, it seems fair to say that it is stainless.
It is also important to keep in mind that stainless characteristic is on a sliding scale, partially modified by heat treatment and the knife's finish. A mirror polish makes a blade more resistant to corrosion because there is less
The name of the steel alone does not always give a clear idea of its corrosion resistance.
What is tool steel?
Any steel used in tooling is a tool steel, which includes die steels (such as D2) that are used for cutting other metals and materials.
Since this category is more defined by use, the steels used in it can have many effects on other categories. Of course, they must be hard, which is why carbon and other hardening elements like silicon and molybdenum are quite common.
Other tool steels include W2, A2, O1 and 3V, all of which you'll find in a range of outdoor knives made by highly skilled companies like Battle Horse, LT Wright and Reiff Knives .
What is alloy steel?
An alloy steel is any steel containing a total of 1 to 50% alloying elements in its composition.
These elements can include silicon, vanadium, and molybdenum. Chromium is also included in this list, but a distinction should be made between stainless steels and alloys, as not all alloy compositions provide stainless properties.
D2 and CPM Cru-Wear (which are not stainless) and ZDP-189 (which is very stainless) are in different parts of the alloy spectrum. An alloy like 1095 comes close to making this list because it has some added molybdenum, but not enough to qualify.
I know some people are reading this with a silent, growing rage at what surely amounts to taking the alphabet one letter at a time, but it's important to point this out for the drooling common folk (like me): not all alloy steels are stainless.
52100 steel is probably the most widely used steel in this category (at least for custom fabricators). It has certain properties that make it incredibly easy to work and refine, but it is far from having stainless properties. 5160 is similar, but cannot achieve such high hardness.
There's also what Larrin Thomas calls "high alloy steel," which can be really interesting, but creates some complications for manufacturers, which has led to this next type of steel.
What is powdered steel?
It is essentially a process of pulverizing steel into raw sand before forming it into an ingot.
You can read more about the process and the benefits of this method in the article " What is Powder Metallurgy " by Larrin Thomas, but the short version is that steels with a high amount of alloying elements make it increasingly difficult to work with conventional ingot methods because they increase the temperature at which the steels can reach optimum hardness (broad strokes painting here).
Powder metallurgy is a process that transforms this high-alloy steel into hundreds of tiny ingots (the powder), and then the powder is pressed into a cartridge to form a workable ingot with a more uniform structure with smaller carbides.
This process allows alloys of rather unusual composition to enter the knife-making world. An alloy like S30V, which contains a highly diverse cocktail of alloying elements that would normally not mix well without incredibly high temperatures, becomes much more usable because each grain of the powder is its own little pre-mixed ingot.
What about powdered steel?
It is an intermediate point between steel casting and powder metallurgy. The result is a carbide structure more refined than that of casting, but less refined than that of powdered steels. He calls it an "intermediate technology... in which liquid iron is sprayed with nitrogen gas onto a table... which lowers during processing to form the entire ingot."
This article was in response to an ill-informed claim by Artisan Cutlery that their new steel was a cheap form of powdered steel. Dr. Thomas kindly pointed out the difference.
What is Damascus steel?
In modern terms, Damascus steel is a pattern-welded steel where two or more steels have been forged together to create a pattern.
But things are more complicated than that. Here's a summary:
- The term probably comes from Damascus to describe a crucible steel that came from India and was supposed to be very pure and have a water pattern,
- For most modern knife makers, "Damascus steel" means pattern-welded steel,
- But there is a term "wootz Damascus" which refers to the single-steel form of the crucible which has a teardrop pattern supposedly closer to the original Indian steel.
So what about the welded version of Damascus?
The typical blend for most custom makers is 1084 and 15n20 (a high nickel steel), but there are almost as many types of Damascus steel as there are people making Damascus steel knives.
So it's very difficult to speak generally about the quality or characteristics of Damascus. I feel comfortable saying that the steel itself doesn't generally make a knife better than any type of monosteel. Or if it does, the improvement would be difficult to distinguish from anything that can be attributed to the skill of the person making the knife in the first place.
The gold standard comes from Damascus Steel , however. Not only do they create incredibly high-quality bars that custom fabricators seem to love working with, but they provide a lot of free information on how to work with each of their steels.
What are the standards for steel?
There are several different organizations around the world that classify steels based on their use, composition, and strength. Their designations fundamentally facilitate the work of scientists and engineers in several different industrial sectors by maintaining a standardized language.
In Germany there is DIN, in the USA there is AISI and in Japan there is JSI.
I don't think anyone reading this blog really needs to know this, but it might be interesting if you really want to get into the details. Zknives has a good comprehensive list of the different steel standards around the world. You can look it up yourself if that sort of thing interests you.
What is Rockwell hardness?
Rockwell Hardness expresses the ability of a certain type of metal to resist deformation.
Rockwell hardness is determined using a machine that drives a ball into a material at varying pressures until it creates an indentation in the material. Rockwell hardness is based on the depth of the indentation created by certain loads.
There are several types of Rockwell hardness scales. Knife steels are tested on the C scale for reasons I won't go into because I don't fully understand them. But I can say that this is why you see the abbreviations RC or HRC appearing in knife lists and reviews. The important thing for most consumers to know is that the higher the number behind HRC, the harder the knife, which doesn't mean the knife is better. As always, you should place more weight on the knife's intent and the skill of the maker.
But we're going to address the somewhat arbitrary need to designate things based on simple numbers, so here's a quick guide to the hardness ranges that are generally standard for different types of knives.
Average Rockwell Hardness by Knife Type
| Knife type | Typical Rockwell hardness |
|---|---|
| Outdoor, EDC budget, tactical | 54 – 58 HRC |
| Mid-range and high-end EDC and outdoor | 58 – 62 HRC |
| Western kitchen cutlery | 58 – 60 HRC |
| Japanese kitchen cutlery | 60 – 64 HRC |
Companies that manufacture the most commonly used knife steels
These days, steels are increasingly judged by their manufacturer, so it's helpful to list a few companies responsible for our favorite (or least favorite) steels. Talking about which companies make which steel can be complicated, as some are proprietary, like AEB-L, and others seem to be made by everyone, like 440C. There's also 1095, which is a widespread steel standard, but then there's 1095 Cro-Van, developed by Sharon Steel, which closed in 1992, and now I'm not really sure who makes it or even owns the name.
Ignoring these complications, I've tried to list the knife steels most commonly associated with each company. I 'll lay it out in a table that's a little easier to reference quickly:
| Company (Country) | Steels used in knives |
|---|---|
| Ahonest Chankjiang (China) | 420J, 8Cr14MoV, 9Cr18MoV, |
| Aichi Steel (Japan) | AUS-8, AUS-10 |
| Bohler-Uddeholm (Austria) | Elmax, Sleipner, M390, N690, AEB-L, K390 |
| Carpenter Technology (USA) | 52100, All “CTS-” steels, Maxamet |
| Crucible Industries (USA) | Most “CPM-” steels, 154CM |
| Damasteel (Sweden) | Often listed by model name or simply as "Damasteel" |
| Hitachi (Japan) | ZDP-189, SG2, SLD, White (#1 and 2), Blue (#1, 2 and Super) |
| Kobelco Steel (Japan) | R2 |
| Latrobe (United States) | 420HC (also called Tru-Sharp) |
| Myodo Metal Co (Japan) | H1, CPM 20CV |
| New Jersey (USA) steel baron | Nitro-V |
| Sandvik Group (Sweden) | 12C27, 13C26, 14C28N |
| Takefu Special Steel Co (Japan) | VG-10, VG-MAX |
| Thyssenkrupp Steel (Germany) | 80CrV2, 4116 |
| Zapp (Gamerany) | LC200N, Z-Tuff |
Standard steels
You may have noticed that a few important steels are missing from this table, so before you get out your pitchforks, here are some popular knife steels that are considered standard. They are incredibly common and manufactured by factories all over the world:
| Standard carbon steels | Standard stainless steels |
|---|---|
| A2 | 520 |
| O1 | 440 (A, B and C) |
| 1095 | X50CrMoV15 (1.4116) |
| 52100 | |
| SK85 (formerly SK5) |
The Best Knife Steels for Every Task
Wait. We don't mean "the best." Just... good enough to finish in this field many times over. There's a reason you see Sandvik 14C28N appearing in so many bushcraft knives, and this 1.4116 steel has been used in German kitchen cutlery for decades.
We don't want to be the arbiters of steel quality here; we're simply creating charts based on what we've used and what we see happening in the knife industry as a whole. As such, you'll likely see a few steels pop up here that you think you'll hate. Feel free to vent your anger in the comments below.
I've also tried to avoid repetition in these tables, but steels like CPM-S35VN, D2, Magnacut, 1095, and virtually all Sandvik steels appear in every knife category and price range.
Otherwise, you should check out Couteaux Z for a more detailed explanation of all these steels and a breakdown of their compositions. Better yet, download its app.
Steels for kitchen cutlery
The status quo in this category is that Western chef's knives are sturdy and heavy, while Japanese chef's knives are hard and thin. This chart will only scratch the surface, but, as always, I hope you can find more detailed sources if any of this piques your interest.
| Name of steel | Common properties |
|---|---|
| VG-10 | Considered a good mid-range steel today. It retains a decent edge and has good corrosion resistance, but can chip on thin blades. |
| VG-MAX | This is actually a slightly harder version of VG-10. It offers better edge retention. You'll find it in Shun's high-end knives. |
| White (Shirogami) | This is the purest carbon steel you can get. It has a very fine edge that is exceptionally easy to maintain. There are two versions (No. 1 and No. 2) with different amounts of carbon. |
| Blue (Aogami) | Similar to white steels, but with a little added chromium and tungsten, which makes it a little more stainless (it nevertheless patinates easily). Also available in versions #1 and #2 with different levels of carbon. |
| Super Blue | The hardest blue steel, but also the least resistant. |
| 1.4116 (X50CrMoV15) | Standard German cutlery steel. Low carbon and high chromium. It's an incredibly strong material in the right hands. |
| 14C28N | A high-quality, all-purpose steel commonly used in Western-style and outdoor cutlery. It is a good stainless steel with a fine carbide structure and a working hardness of up to 62 HRC. |
| RWL34 | Typically used in high-end production knives, this is actually a Damascus steel creation based on 154CM, but using powder metallurgy. An exceptionally hard material with a very stable structure and good edge retention. |
| ZDP-189 | A powdered steel with a huge amount of carbon, making it very hard. It also contains a lot of chromium, making it stainless. |
| R2 (SG2) | Hard powder steel offering a good compromise between corrosion resistance, wear resistance and edge stability. It is very often found on high-end kitchen knives. |
| Ceramic | These are not steel knives, but there are ceramic knives , especially in the kitchen. These are very fragile, but have fantastic wear resistance as long as the manufacturer has defined the geometry of the edge well. |
Cheap knife steels
I call a budget knife anything that costs less than about $150.
| Name of steel | Common properties |
|---|---|
| AUS-8 | Good corrosion resistance and toughness, but not very good at maintaining an edge. Similar to 8Cr14MoV and 440B. |
| D2 | A high-alloy steel with good hardness for the price. It can chip on thinner blades, however, and it really likes a serrated edge. It is also moderately prone to rust. |
| 8Cr13MoV | Generally, it is a hard steel with good corrosion resistance. These knives do not usually have a good edge, but they can prove to be a good threshing knife in the right hands. |
| 420HC | A fairly simple stainless steel with good corrosion resistance and edge retention. But it becomes something special with companies like Buck. |
| 154CM | Bob Loveless's much-loved steel. It was the king of the knife world back in the day. It still has decent hardness and decent strength. However, it performs very well in almost every category. |
| Nitro-V | A modification of some Sandvik steels with exceptionally good edge stability. Good toughness and good edge retention, but retains an excellent edge in both cases. |
| AUS-10 | A good mid-range steel capable of decent hardness and good edge retention. Can become quite tough with the right treatment. |
| N690 | Cobalt steel with very high corrosion and tensile strength. Better edge retention than most other low-cost steels, except 154CM and AUS-10. |
| AR-RPM9 | This is probably the earliest existing powder-coated steel. It has exceptional edge stability, making it suitable for a wide variety of edge types and remains easy to maintain. It also has excellent corrosion resistance. |
Steels for mid- and high-end knives
Basically, knives starting at $200. I originally planned to separate mid-range and high-end knives, but those two categories contained a lot of the same steels, so here goes.
| Name of steel | Common properties |
|---|---|
| CPM-S35V | Powder steel with good toughness and excellent corrosion resistance and edge retention. It is considered the slightly stronger version of S30V. |
| M390 | A fine grain steel with very good edge retention and good stability up to a certain thickness. |
| CPM 20CV | Very good edge retention and corrosion resistance. Performs similarly to M390. |
| CPM-154 | The powder version of the 154CM is significantly more stable with better edge retention. |
| Elmax | A very high carbon stainless steel that is renowned (or infamous) for its ability to retain an edge. |
| CTS XHP | A bit like 440C but with better durability. Corrosion resistance and hardness are its main advantages. |
| AEB-L | A simple steel, with good toughness, and very pleasant to shape for a stainless steel. Highly valued by custom manufacturers. |
| CPM-Magnacut | Powdered steel currently considered to offer the best compromise between toughness and edge retention. It also has very good corrosion resistance despite its low chromium content. |
Steels for Bushcraft and Survival Knives
I've left out some budget and mid-range steels from this list, but it's worth noting that AEB-L, 14C28N, and AR-RPM9 are also very popular in this category.
| Name of steel | Common properties |
|---|---|
| 1075 | A plain carbon steel with high toughness and moderate edge retention. It is very easy to shape and forge. |
| 1084 | Like 1075, but a little harder. Still in the lower range of wear resistance than what is considered standard these days, unless it is very well treated and ground. |
| 1095 | Standard carbon. It has a much higher working hardness than the previous two, but its strength and shock absorption remain its main advantages. |
| 1095 Cro-Van | A small extra dose of a few alloying elements makes it the hardest and strongest version of 1095. |
| A2 | An air-hardening steel with phenomenal strength. |
| O1 | Not as tough as A2, but apparently has a higher working hardness. Another one that is popular with custom forge makers. |
| Sleeper | You could call it the European D2, but it has been slightly modified to be a little more difficult. |
| CPM-3V | An incredibly strong powdered tool steel. It also has high working hardness and surprisingly good stainless properties (but not enough to be stainless). |
| Lam.Cos | This laminated version of Takefu's CoS steel offers excellent edge retention, and the 420J lamination also makes the corrosion resistance quite good. Falkniven loves this product. |
Final Thoughts on Choosing a Knife
If this topic doesn't excite you and you're just sitting here, overwhelmed by the barrage of numbers, letters, and carbon percentages, don't worry. You don't need to know the composition of a knife to know it's good.
Most companies are pretty committed to using quality steel, and if you're paying more than $20, it's almost certain that the steel is at least decent. But if you're considering a $5 knife and wondering if it might still be useful, or if you're considering a $70 knife and wondering what's bringing that price down, steel is a good place to start.
