THE STEELS I USE

I want to create the best knives and thus pick the most optimal steel for their intended use. The two super steels that have the best overall properties are Magnacut and S90V.

S90V

S90V is a steel with incredible edge retention - this means that once it is sharpened, it will hold its edge for a very long time. If I spend lots of time and effort to make a great knife for you, it should come very sharp and you shouldn't have to resharpen it after each use. Well with this steel, you can process a full moose or cut cardboard for days until you have to resharpen it. However, it doesn't come without compromises - it's not the toughest steel, meaning it will chip if it hits something hard (ceramic, bone, rocks, etc) and is also not the most corrosion resistant steel (but will still not rust if cared for and not submerged in salted water). The other downsides of this steel are that it's expensive. This is not only reflected in its acquisition cost, but also cost of heat treatment, cost of abrasives required to grind it and the incredible amount of time it takes to finish this steel compared to others. It is also quite difficult to resharpen for the end user.

S90V is my go-to for any knife that's expected to be cutting for the longest time, that will not be abused, that is high-quality and that will be handled by someone who's not scared of a difficult edge to resharpen.

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Magnacut

Magnacut is a recent steel that offers the best balance of properties with a near perfect corrosion resistance. While it doesn't hold an edge for as long as S90V, it will still be sharp for an eternity compared to regular carbon steels. What makes this steel shine is that not only it will stay sharp for a long time, but it is very tough - meaning it can be pushed to higher limits before chipping. As it is a premium steel, Magnacut is also a very expensive option, but will yield incredible knives.

Thus, for someone that wants a premium stainless steel but who intends to do demanding tasks like chopping, splitting wood, cutting material with small bones or other demanding tasks, Magnacut is the steel of choice.

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52100

For more budget-friendly knives, I use 52100, which is a tough carbon steel that provides the best qualities for its price range. It's cheap to acquire, to heat treat, to work with and to finish. This steel can make a knife that will last you a lifetime - you don't need a super steel for that! However, it will require a lot more maintenance and love through oiling (rust prevention) and resharpening on a frequent basis.

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Other Steels I Use

AEB-L:

If you want to pay a little extra over 52100 but are not ready to commit to an investment in a super steel, I offer my knives in AEB-L, which is not only a stainless steel with good corrosion resistance, it also offers an incredible toughness with decent edge retention properties.

Damascus:

Contrary to the popular beliefs that "regular" damascus steel has the best properties of steel (might have been true a couple hundreds of years ago), it offers quite low performance. The one I can source for a reasonable price is made of 1095 and 15N20, which has average toughness and poor edge retention. Damascus still makes great knives! But for a knife that would cost the same as one made of a super steel, you sacrifice most of the performance to its aesthetics, which is ok if you want a pretty knife! This steel needs to be oiled and resharpened very often. Even the super fancy knives I've made out of Baker & Forge Damascus have an 80CrV2 core, which is a decent steel, but will be twice the price of a billet of Magnacut.

Stainless Damascus aka Damasteel:

If you want the best of the best and fanciest of all knives, I also work with Damasteel, which is a stainless Damascus that not only offers the beauty of a layered pattern knife, but also the performance of high-end stainless steels. Its characteristics resemble the ones of CPM-154, with decent toughness, edge retention properties almost as good as Magnacut and good corrosion resistance. This however comes at a price, which is in fact, the price...

Steel Properties

The three major properties of knife steels, toughness, edge retention and corrosion resistance are closely complimentary. A blade that is tough, will not chip easily, but if it doesn't hold an edge for more than a couple of cuts, it doesn't serve the purpose of a high-end custom knife. Same goes for a knife that has high edge retention but low toughness - it would easily get micro chips that are invisible to the naked eye on the edge to make it duller, or visible chips on the edge that need to be fixed, or even worse fracture the knife completely.

Corrosion resistance may seem straightforward as we just think of it as: "will my knife rust or not", but it plays a critical role in edge retention. Microscopically if your edge has very small rust spots, although technically it has good edge retention, those tiny rust spots would diminish the cutting performance, making your blade duller.

This last point is the main reason why I don't usually work with High Speed or Tool Steels. They offer great properties when you look at them on a standalone basis, but don't offer the same performance as high-end stainless steels at a similar cost.

KNIFE GEOMETRY

Now that we can pick the steel of choice for your blade, it is important to understand that the best steel out there is worthless if a knife is poorly designed. The grind type, bevel angle and edge geometry play a more important role in your knife than the steel it's made of. This is why we'll discuss of your intended uses of the knife and design it accordingly.

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