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| How to Choose the Correct Steel when Purchasing a Knife With a few questions answered you can choose a steel that’s right for your needs. Here are a few tips without getting in too deep into metallurgy. Stainless vs. Carbon Steel. From talking to customers that I sharpen knives for at gun shows, it is apparent that the old belief that stainless doesn’t hold an edge well is still a popular belief fueled by the bombardment of cheap knives from places like China or Pakistan. Such knives are usually easily recognized by markings such as “surgical stainless” or “stainless 440”. Just because it says 440 doesn’t meant it’s made from 440C. 440C is a blade quality stainless that does sharpen and hold an edge quite well when tempered properly. The problem is using 440C would make the cheap knives not so cheap anymore. You should assume that when it reads “stainless 440” it means it’s made from one of the cheaper grades of 440 such as 440A, which is by most knife makers standards is best used as a disposable blade or not for use as a blade at all. If it’s made of 440C they will put the C because they are proud of the fact and want to separate themselves from the junkers. There are a lot of new generation stainless steels being used as blade material that are far superior to 440C and on that side of the coin from talking to customers at shows, the biggest complaint is they are hard to sharpen for the novice sharpener, but they do make up for it with edge retention and edge quality. Many people still prefer the good ole standby, Carbon Steel. There are many excellent carbon steel knives still being made. However I see more and more Tactical style knives being offered with carbon steel blades that appear rugged and reliable except for one flaw…..Rust. Rust is carbon steel’s biggest enemy. In the past carbon steel was used regularly by many now famous knife makers and what was learned was evident in their work.. In order to use carbon steel as a knife blade they would mirror polish the blade, this was not for appearance, but for the added rust resistance that mirror polish gives carbon steel. Same goes for stainless even though stainless is highly rust resistant it is not rust proof. Many of the carbon steel tactical knives are being offered on the market today feature a non glare finish. The thing to watch for is the finish. Is it carbon steel with a sandblast or beadblast finish only? These finishes will hold moisture and accelerate rusting. And what looks good today new will not look as good after a few trips to the field. The answer? The same as firearms, look for gun blued finish, parkerized finishes, or even newer processes such as powder coat if you must have a non glare finish with a carbon steel blade. |