Knife Steels Ranked

Hey guys, subscribe to receive daily content and if you're shopping for gear, be sure to check out the description of the newest items at some of the best online retailers. There are also links to some of the articles I personally recommend. Thank you. What is happening on you tube? metal complex here and today I am going to rank f2

knife

thefts based on my own personal experience and opinion. Before we start the video, I want to make this very clear so you know exactly what you're getting into here. I'm not a

knife

maker, I'm not a medalist, I'm just not even someone who uses their knives enough to be able to definitively say what's good or what's bad, I'm just a person who likes knives and uses them. for simple things. things, many of these compositions I have enormous experience with both using and sharpening and some of these compositions I have minimal experience with.

I'm going to try to tell you know what level of experience I have with them so you can judge my range correctly, but this is just an opinion, okay with the composition of the steel, it's a multi-directional swing between um, of course, assuming the treatment thermal is done correctly, potential edge retention, corrosion resistance, hardness, ease of sharpening, correct hardness, everything. of those things and different people prefer different things depending on what they're going to use their knives for, so edge retention isn't the end all be all, that's not how we judge stamps, it's certainly not how I judge steals, True, there are many more to consider there, but yes, I have my own preferences and there are an infinite number of variables, so this is just my opinion.

If you want really specific and really detailed information on steel, check out Laryn Thomas from Knife Steel nerds and also check out uh pete from cedric and aydah, he does an amazing job breaking this kind of stuff down, so this is going to be kind of a rough breakdown of a caveman I don't have experience with all the

steels

in the world. Some of the examples I have. I'm going to use physical knives like this hinder xm18 which represents s35vn and some of the

steels

are actually written on little cards because I don't own all the steels that you know in the world, you know, in knife form. it's just an unrealistic expectation, so this is going to be a long video, relax and have something to eat, have something to drink, let's get into it.

Many thanks to my generous sponsors for supporting me. There's a link below and please make sure to Follow me on Instagram at Metal Underscore Complex, let's get started. Oh, how do ranks work? I may not enjoy it as much, maybe it has to do with the sharpening or maybe it's a little chippier. This is whatever. I really like it, very good, you know, it's pretty good. I like it. I wouldn't hesitate to grab it. a knife made of that steel and use it for almost anything, right, look, it's not my favorite, it could be really good in a specific circumstance, but there are too many things about it that make it not good in all senses, considering me correct .

I'm not talking about you or everyone, I'm talking about me, what I use my knives for could be a little more specific and it's not my favorite for everything, no, I don't like it as much as if it were, you know yeah. I had to do it, I'd say it's okay, I mean it's better than nothing, but a d is no, I'll look for something else first. f is hot garbage, no one should have a knife made of something that falls into category f, your knife. It might as well be made from mashed potatoes. It's awful.

Ok, let's start here with the s35vn. Wow, this is definitely one of my favorite steals. Let's start here with an S class. The s35vn is very easy to sharpen. It is stainless steel. It has excellent edge retention, it's not the best in the world, right, and it's very difficult, this particular xm18 has been people who don't really continue making jeans because they're so expensive. This is my user, the edge has been completely beaten. this is an amazing knife, a super expensive knife, but the s35vn is adequate when heat treated properly, which i have heard is not very hard to do, oh my goodness this is such a good steal, we will absolutely clean them like You know what I'm going to do.

Obviously we're out of space, so we're going to clear them out, but s35vn absolutely let's stay here, how about we do s 90v oh? The s90v has mega good edge retention so it has to go high. Actually, I don't care much. edge retention massive edge retention i want to know at the end of the day ok great but when it finally goes dull how easy will it be to sharpen the s90v really sucks because once it goes dull you'll probably touch it up? ok but if it really goes dull it probably has chips too and the s90v is super chippy and I hate sharpening it, I legitimately hate sharpening the s90v if all I'm going to do is cut the light weight material, the right paper, maybe some cardboard, it's just the only one.

What I'm ever going to do then, okay, but I do more than that with my knives, you know, even cutting cardboard will break an s90v blade on me, that'll be a c for me, oh my god, now you know how it's going to go this. How is it going to work? How about the s 30v represented here by the spyderco pm2? A lot, it's pretty good, it's definitely harder to sharpen than the um s 35vn. It has a slightly longer edge. I mean, spyderco material tends to heat treat pretty well. I don't have a huge amount of experience with any of this like I said, but I definitely like the s30v better than the s90v.

I mean, I'm using my knives. I have a lot of knives, but I use them enough like the pm2. I think it's probably okay, it could be touched up, but this knife gets used a lot here. I'm going to give it a b uh, don't I like it better than asking any of you? Not as much as s35vn. let's go up here, let's do lmax, yeah, l max is a big steal. I don't like it, I find it quite similar to the s35vn, but I still prefer the s35vn to it. Ease of sharpening is a big issue for me, first of all.

I want to know how easy it is to sharpen. I am not a master sharpener. I use a guided kme. You should learn to sharpen your knives. I'll stick with the kme, but thanks, uh, but yeah, I like it, I use the kme. because it's fast and efficient for me, I want to do it, no, no, it's not therapeutic for me to sharpen blades. I found that it is something that is a process that I want to be done quickly and well and I want it not to be that way. um a soup this is the tactical reconnaissance guardian uh 40 by the way um but uh l max yeah i found it's a little bit harder to sharpen it's actually a reasonable amount harder to sharpen than the s35vn , but shares many of the traits.

It appears to have an edge retention that is very similar. I know it's supposed to be higher, but it appears to be similar. I have limited experience so I don't know and I hesitate to put it in one place. I think I'm going to put it in b l max, it's pretty good, I like it, um, let's talk about yeah, let's go ahead and talk about 154 cm and I'm also going to add cpm154, but what's not that, it's not the same steel in absolute. cpm once it is formed in the case of 154 cm which is not highly dependent on carbides, the correct formation of the carbide, the cpm process does not affect it as much as a steel like say d2, the difference between the formed ingot d2 and cpm d2 is night and day, but in the case of 154 cm and cpm154 it is very, very similar.

Perhaps a slight increase in hardness for cpm 154 and an almost invisible difference in edge retention. 154 cm and cpm 154 are, in my opinion, two of the biggest steals that have ever existed. and they are stupidly underrated I love it I love it um 154cm I love it it's one of my favorite user steals of all time and it requires a stupid stupid edge this is the protic godfather with the sapphire dlc um this particular knife doesn't see any use , but I have used a ton of 154 and sharpened the tunnel 154. I love it hmm, what should we do next?

Let's talk about m4. This is the Blade HQ exclusive version of the Spyderco Smock and CPM M4, so I love the M4 steel. It is very similar in edge retention to the m390, but is substantially stronger, making sharpening much easier. The amount of time it takes, let's say you have a clean dull edge from m390 and m4, the amount of time it takes to sharpen them both is about the same, but the m390 is always chippy m4 is stupidly difficult because I mean the other attributes it has. I've actually had a pretty good time sharpening m4, but I love using it, I don't seem to really care, many of you know.

I'm not going to say abuse like I don't hit cinder blocks in half with a blade but m4 man I will never shy away from the m4 um it's still not as easy to sharpen as the s35vn so um I'll like it. m4 is a solid, I know people will feel that way but how could you? And it has to be my favorite, so it has to go to the s, shut up, I'm going to put them where I want, just like anyone else. making this video would put them where they want to put them, it's just personal experience, there is not a single person on this earth that can tell you which steels are actually universally better than them, there are too many variables in each st.

There are no steels that are especially once you get into the cpm like high performance steels, they are all better or worse given an infinite number of variables in an infinite number of environments, some of them are created specifically for pocket knives and some of them had some other application or initial intention, so you know, relax talking about m390 oh, the best steel m390 is the best automatic steel king of steels, right, no, um, uh, actually, um, m39 okay, uh, that's what you know. I said it's not as easy to sharpen as the m4 but it will keep the edge pretty much the same but here's the thing the m390 is stainless steel right, very stainless okay here in Kansas really I don't have many problems with corrosion, right? you live in an area where corrosion is a much bigger problem, so you might want to know, listen, I'll take care of the chips and sharpening just to keep it from corroding.

I can't make m4, it has to be coated and still right? still a problem right, people living on the Florida coast, m4 may not really work, in fact m390 may not even work for you, you may have to use something like h1 or better yet, lc200n, right, m390, you know? yeah it gives you that feeling that kind of synthetic feel ooh premium oh it's premium why it's premium I don't know because people say because I see it on expensive things but we also remember that we also see m390 periodically and knives, it's less than a hundred dollars , keep this in mind guys, sometimes the cost of these heists is not much different than what you think and in the cp there is obviously a big difference between hcr 13 mov and m390 if you are trying to buy it to turn it into a knife , true, but m390 doesn't automatically make it better m390 is probably a b rating, so I'll give it a b for me when it comes to uh, when it comes to actual use hmm, let's do cts xhp, by the way, what.

Was this the Shiragorov Quantum right so yeah the stud uh les george v ecp v3 uh opener finless version in steel cts xhp so cts xhp what is that? That's carpenter uh we made powder formed steel this is essentially d2 powder formed except it's stainless so d2 is a pretty decent steel but imagine the benefits of powder forming it you get that nice distributed carbide forming evenly and then you make it stainless, yeah cts xhp is awesome, not my fit, okay sharpen it, I say it like that. I kind of put it here, it's a classified steel.

I doubt I'd like uh cts xhp, but again, you know, I don't want to give anyone the impression that I'm out there all day, every day, using knives and saying, oh, I see. I've written, I don't like to write the number of cuts, I don't do that kind of thing, so this is not very scientific and it's like you know right now, I'm just classifying these things as I'll take it if you want again if you want that kind of I want to know the exact number of cuts so I can really compare it look at Cedric Anita uh pete does a great job that's awesome cpm 3v um this is an xm18 three and a half inch mono edge fragmentation edition in cpm 3v , this material is super strong, not amazing in terms of edge retention but ok but my goodness it is really strong cpm3, there are stronger steels now, this is a cpm or a powder formed steel and it is far from be stainless.

I've never had any problems with corrosion resistance on this type, but again, if you live in an area where corrosion resistance is a, sorry, corrosion is an issue, 3v is not. I'm going to be your friend, this is a mega pound steel and it makes a lot more sense in a fixed blade, but the abuse I've put my few 3v folders through is not this guy, this guy is not one of them, I really do. ignores very well. It makes me think about it a lot, it reminds me of 1095. Um, but I think 1095 is actually harder.

I really do not know. But that's retention, okay, it's pretty easy. I don't really have any problems with sharpening. 3v but I don't have much experience sharpening 3v so there could be variations like maybe the one I was using didn't have an amazing heat treatment, was too soft orsomething I don't know well, a bad heat treatment can Absolutely make it clear how easy it is to sharpen something or how good the cutting edge is. retention is correct, it can ruin it, on top of that you have to consider the geometry, this is what What I mean when we talk about an infinite number of elements that can affect something like this, right, there is no perfect way to do this.

I'm going to put I can't, I'm going to put 3v also in the range b category, let's take that out, let's just move them up and do this, I think that's probably the way. to do that so that the pm2 pair can now fold um what do we have here now? um let's talk about damasteel oh yeah, this is not the same as damascus, not the same those of you holding your 15 knives. bought on amazon which are made from damask which is not the same as this it is powder formed and manufactured by the damasteel company it is patented and designed to be performance oriented but it is pretty how could it be performance oriented ?

Sometimes things can be both. damasteal is one of those things pmc 27 and rw34, which rw34 is a great deal and on its own, the end result here is a steel that looks beautiful and performs almost exactly the same as 154 cm or cpm, it is exactly the same as cpm154, which is one of if not my favorite stamps of all time so yeah this is amazing damage the steel actually feels exactly the same it really feels exactly the same in terms of use and sharpening now obviously I've used and sharpened much less lady steel than cpm 154 or 154 cm, but in my limited experience it really feels the same.

The lady steel is a damn S class steel, oh my gosh, I absolutely love Maximus, oh that's mega mega mega mega right, this is my pair of three that gets a lot of use, I love the maximum. This is amazing in terms of edge retention so I need to clean it up but here is my experience honestly with the max. Obviously my max blade is starting to get patina even here in Kansas where I don't have one. There are many problems when it comes to corrosion. I don't really care too much about the patina, in fact I like how it looks on this pair of threes, it gives it character in contrast to these micarta rgt scales that are absolutely aftermarket.

This is one of my most used knives of all time and was a gift from my wife for one of our anniversaries, but yes, the Max Mitt stays sharp for a stupid, stupid amount of time. I was hesitant about this at first because I was That's cool, ridiculous, like god-level edge retention, but I'll have to sharpen it eventually. Here's the truth guys, I have never had to put this in the kme. I've only touched it up on this leather, well, actually this. it's like the fourth or fifth one I've been through the complex is totally worn out on this but it's always good after right now I want to see where we are now with this knife if it will cut or what If it needs some time, okay that's where we're making a mistake somewhere on the blade, we don't want to, we don't want to cut completely, true, we are tearing a little, but oh my God, for ever.

Having to go to the kme isn't bad, so I'll clean this sheet up and probably just touch it up on the straw and everything will be fine. It's pretty tough for such an incredible right in terms of edge if you're wondering. People always wonder how it compares to the m390 because that's where people's brain jumps to the right, the maximum has a much higher potential edge retention than um m390, what do these do for Rockwell 68 69, something like that ? um, yeah, they're going to keep an edge. longer but they are still stronger, still stronger than the m390, where the m390 is better in terms of corrosion resistance, right, this guy has yes, it literally has no chips, but it does have a couple of little rolls and things that you can see right there. not bad the max is awesome now once i get it done it will eventually really need sharpening and i know it won't be as easy as these guys up here so i love the max it goes there with m4 and cts xhp hmm, how about zdp 189?

It's not fair that you are using a rockstead so I won't do it, we will ignore the fact that this is a set of rocks and we will judge the deadly level zdp 189. Why do I say that because the zdp 189 in Roxted knives are in a totally different universe, these things are mirror polished, they're hardened to uh 68 Rockwell and then they're uh, it's convex or Scandinavian convex manufacturing, which shows that, of course, proper heat treatment in the finish work and The geometry of the edge will have an important impact. this, uh, the ability of any composition to cut or perform well, so this makes almost everything on the market look stupid.

The things like the ones Spyderco uses I think are somewhere around the m390, the problem is I have no real experience sharpening them so I don't really know, these things never had a problem with corrosion. I have been able to sharpen them. This return to life just cut and cut and I say return to life. I haven't really used it much where I need it, but if I feel a little bit of roll or something on the edge, I just don't know 50 per side on a leather strap and it's this particular, amazing knife that came back to life, no no problem, I would put the roxted zdp would go in the normal s class zdp, I really don't know, I feel like it's more of a safety issue than me.

I'll put it with these other B grade steels because it's hot, that's kind of the thing. I don't really have a definitive answer, so I'm going to make a safe decision. How about um 14 c 28 and this is just a stupid excellent steal laren thomas from knife steel nerds made a great like best budget he made this huge and remember guys he's a metallurgist so he'll know the mass breakdown of different steels , right, I can't understand the level it's getting to, you know. Like I can't do it, I can't, I don't have the ability to do that kind of testing, even if I could again, it would be like hieroglyphs, like I can't really understand the data, I can't do that right.

I just come out like a knife. I'm going to cut things with him. That's pretty good. I'm going to sharpen it again and it looks like it's sharp again. That's good. It's the most scientific I can be. so in my caveman experience laryn thomas seems to be right confirmed 2021 confirmed by metal complex true blair thomas seems to be right yeah that's stupid obviously he will but yeah 14t 28n is the truth this is the cubist uh , blade works variant, um, excellent Knife for the money and excellent cutting geometry 14 C28n stainless steel Decent edge retention very easy to sharpen It is very, very durable, ignoring many levels of abuse, so it is absolutely a bargain S class for everyday use and just round I guess that's how I'm judging this um I know there were so many people that were blown away m390 is just a b and 14 c 28 n is an s class that's a thousand dollar knife and that's a 70 knife, no, no one is holding you hostage here, you don't have to look, here's one I really can't judge, but I'll try anyway, so this is by far the most exotic steel I have on the table. uh no this is not damascus and no it's not damascus it's damacore which is also a proprietary blend created by the damasteel company it's three compositions and this is a hermit dragon this is a completely custom knife you won't see damascus on nothing.

I have never seen damacor on anything that was less than a great knife. The knives reach up to a thousand. If they do it. It's a totally separate video. I have made a video about which we are talking about steel. Here, the core itself. Look at that strip there that's actually their property, I forget what they call it, it's basically van better. It's going to be harder to sharpen, it's not as strong, but it has better edge retention, potentially m390 level edge retention or even higher, it depends, I don't remember Pete, I think Cedric Canada did the Van test x, you have to pay attention to that if you want. so these outer layers of the jacket, so to speak, are actually damasteel, uh, increasing the hardness and adding some corrosion.

It's good not to add corrosion resistance, but some hardness and maybe I don't know some impact stability. It also looks really cool, um, but yeah. so there's actually three different compositions here, whatever it is, um damasteel, whatever you call it, basically they go x core uh rdbl34 and pmc27 that make up the jacket. I have no idea that vanek sounds like a steel I would really enjoy in terms of cutting and the fact that it can't corrode, but it also sounds like it would probably chip as easily as m390, so I really don't know. I'm going to set democore just because it has these interesting additional elements that balance it out and give it an impossible composition because it's not one steel, it's actually three compositions, so there's some balance there.

I'm going to say that I would probably enjoy it as a first class material, but I don't really know if I want to make it very Very clear, now what I'm going to do because all I'm left with is all the different steels that I have and then I have other knives that They are in the same steels as some of these knives. Actually, I'm going to take them off the table, it's not that weird. I don't personally own any steel that I would put in dnf, believe me, we are going to talk about some steels that go there.

I'm going to take them off the table. We will cut the video, we will remove them from the table and the rest will be in the form of cards. Okay, we'll start here with team gear. Now I have no knife in all these agreements that I have. I'm going to use it in card form and it's mainly because I'm just waiting for the right knife to come out in these steels. If I put them too high in the rating system, I'm just waiting for the right knife, but you know, knives are expensive, no. made of money, so I have to wait until the right thing comes along and I get the right opportunity.

The crew does not use stainless steel, but stands up, stands up there. I do not have any problem with that. I like how. It's tough and I love how easy it is to sharpen and I love the level of edge retention I get. It actually works in a way that rivals some of my favorite heists, so I mean. I guess I've never really thought about it, but team gear is absolutely one of my favorite steals out there. I'm going to put it in the S class. How about we talk about the s-110v? Wow, I really don't like this steel. um, it's really very chippy, right, and a lot of you know it's like when you look at a knife that costs a lot of money and you're like, Oh my God, I don't know, I like the way it looks, but oh my God, the price what's the steel? and then you see s110v and you say, oh thank god I can justify it now because it's in an ultra premium steel like s110v if you're not going to use the item and you just have this similar rating system and listen coming from someone who has some queens for sure, so I understand that mentality that you're not going to use it and it just makes you feel good because the s110v is definitely as far as expensive steels go when someone is going to create a company that's going to make a knife that they're going to buy uh s110v from um crucible, that's an expensive steel to buy, I think the original application of s110v was industrial food preparation, it has to be stainless, it has to be able to hold an edge for a long time, right?

So if you're going to be chopping carrots all day every day, maybe I don't know, maybe there are better robos for that right, that probably comes down to the S110V geometry. I don't like, uh, in um, like folding knives, um, I might have um specific. apply I know people do, no no, all my favorite s110v knives, if you like it keep liking it, I hate it for edc, it sucks to sharpen, it's like the m390 except it's even nastier when it comes to the j, it's so chip I hate and it's needed I always hate it no ah let's see let's make one that no one should ever hear out of surgical stainless steel yeah I got a great deal on a pocket knife on eBay it was 7.95 ? what is the stolen surgical stainless steel?

Probably some high quality stuff, right, this is poop. city ​​in the full sense of that description this is poop poop stupid city don't buy it don't buy things with that steel um let's talk about almost f let's talk about aus eight this used to be a much bigger business so aus 8 is stainless steel, but literally, like every knife I've seen aged in aus 8, it appears to have corrosion. It also doesn't hold the edge at any time. I mean, I understand it's good, it's really easy. to sharpen it is difficult, okay, great, but I still need a little bit of edge retention, right?

So, you know, this is what I hate for opposite reasons. You know, it's not that I hate it, like I have to use it. It's okay, you know, but it's a different reason than the s110v because people will be just as confused as the s110v and all the states are both d. This is in terms of my experience with use, not the rating of the steel. I know people are going to aggressively miss the point. and write me a book, you don't understand what you're talking about, girl, it's okay, bear with me,I don't like using any of these steels, this one has a forever edge but it ships like crazy and it sucks. sharpening this thing has no edge at all, it's super easy to sharpen but it has a frustratingly weak edge, it's like that and it also seems to corrode so easily, I don't like it, um let's see here, oh let's talk about k390, wow my knife keychain, which is actually correct. here I'll show you, the reason I'm not going to leave it is because I have stuff on all my keys, this is my k390 blade now, some of this is corrosion because I don't clean it at all, but a lot of it looks like corrosion.

A lot of it is like trash and grime from the last thing I cut. I use this knife for literally everything. This is uh, is it the lady?, is it the man? Can't. Remember what the hell it is, this is one of the little Japanese spiders because this thing is used a lot. This thing has never been sharper. Now it definitely needs a touch up, but my experience with this is very similar to what it would be if I had cleaned it. It probably wouldn't be that unpleasant, but this knife is used for digging or sometimes used to get rid of a giant spider that gets in.

We have the big wolf spiders here in Kansas, so I know people get mad at me for that. I try to catch them and let them go, but sometimes they know those things are crazy, they run anyway. This is used for almost everything and it has been wonderful. I'm sure I could clean this up and you know, get it back. To look much better, the k390 is a serious thing, but it is a weak point, it will definitely be stronger than the m390, it will definitely maintain a longer lead than the m390, not at the same level as the maximum, but it is a little harder than the maximum. it's a really good thing if you don't need corrosion resistance like me if you live in a state similar to kansas k390 it will treat you similarly um to uh for me it's a big steal now uh touch up like from what I've seen it fits so similar to the max, it's probably not the most fun thing in the world to sharpen, but since it doesn't chip, I'm not kidding, this thing has no major chips, everything works at the right time.

As for time it will take a little but you won't have to work with those chips which really sucks that adds a lot of time so k 390 I'm going to put a how about vg10? um vg10 is just kind of a um I know people say it's very similar to 154. I don't have that experience with vg10, the vg10 that I've used and maybe I haven't used a good vg 10, right? It doesn't stay on the edges for long and feels very buttery type, it doesn't feel like it's as fine as the edge and again this is based on not many shirts, not that I sharpen knives every day but vg10 the edge doesn't feel as fine and Depends on the geometry, true, I've mainly dealt with spyderco vg10.

Do you think I would have a better experience because their geometry, you know Andella and Endura, right? You'd think edge geometry would play a big role in performance there and it does, but I really don't, it's just not that good, it's not terrible, it's just not great, I'd rather use vg10 than s110v definitely, uh, let's see here m690, I feel the same as vg10. n690 remember it looks a lot like vg10, right, it's pretty simple, I just don't, I don't like it as much as some of the other steels. I'll use it if I have to, sure, uh, let's do another one, oh, let's do it. nitro v, yes nitro v, I don't have much experience in sharpening, but I think I sharpened it once.

Very good experience. It was one of the least expensive savi knives. Was the little one forged with ferum? I think so, pretty easy. sharpening these things is really hard and okay, I mean, I think edge retention is similar here, but um, yeah, decent edge retention is definitely hard, a lot of people are going to say this is stupid, you don't know what what is it. Speaking of which, it will work exactly the same and I'm sure a lot of people will say that my experience doesn't make any sense because this deal works like this and this one works like this, just remember that geometry heat treats the environment how diligently. you are using it, what you do, you like lack of sharpening experience or lack of ability to grasp exactly what the differences are during use, just a human being, so my experience with nitro v is slightly better than vg10, I like it.

I will see nitro v on cheap knives and very expensive knives h1 garbage, I hate it omg terrible, uh wow you can use it in the ocean, the only thing h1 is capable of cutting without dulling is ocean water, yes that blade interacts with anything else. it's boring h1 sucks i hate it so much let's talk about a steel that makes a lot more sense lc 200n oh my god this is something amazing now I don't need mega super ultra corrosion resistance so I can't put it in s because I take things out of some of these other stamps that I've put in there, some additional elements that, um, are that the lc200n can't provide because it emphasizes corrosion resistance, but it's amazing and it makes me feel good about using it in a humid environment or cutting fruits and vegetables properly so I still love the lc200n and think it's wonderful although I don't have much experience with it s45 vn oh my gosh I have a little experience with this Hinderers stuff and a couple. from spydercos, I know the more I use it the more I'll like it, it really feels indistinguishable from the s35vn, but there is an advantage in corrosion resistance, so this is based on super limited experience, but that's the experience I What I want to understand is that it works like s35, so yes, s45vn, which is absolutely s class.

How about um hcr 13 mov? Well that's basically aus 8 which is chinese auss8 so yeah I don't really like it. You know, he's like the tenacious spyderco. It's a good example, it's a knife that's really good and the geometry is really good and I'm going to assume that they did the best they could with the heat treatment on the hcr, right, everything is so good that knife makes the hcr see almost fine but the steel alone you need the spyderco to be tenacious to even make that steel viable right I just don't I don't like it and people I know it people tell me you don't know you need to get out . the wild man because he's awesome okay yeah whatever okay everyone is different im sure there are people who know more than me and im not going to come here and say i know more than them its just an opinion . 10.95 oh my god I love this. it's just amazing, just a powerful impact steel, and I mean, in a fixed blade, not a folder, in a fixed blade, a big, nasty, thick fixed blade that you're just going to cut and beat the shit out of, it's It will corrode eventually. like you want to coat it, but some of the bad ones, like the nastier beater knives, fixed beater blades, like if you're going to have an all-purpose bushcraft knife, I'd almost like to say it, for me I'd almost have to. be made of 1095.

Do you know what happens with 3v? I think I'd rather have 10. I know it won't hold the edges for long, but gosh, you can sharpen things on a brick or some kind of rock. that's something flat like a river stone um it's you 1095 it's just amazing outside of you you know you're going to have to take care of it a little to make it corrosion resistant but I love 1095. um some of this I'm judging on the usage scenario specific right and some like many of you doing well that's what you said this was going to be for all aspects of edc or your own experience with all aspects of edc but you just said you love 1095 , but that sounds like a very specific use, yeah, kind of, but the nice thing about making a video like this is that I can do whatever I want, so 1095 I think is definitely more comprehensive than this for general education, but I love it which is very useful just for like a mega pound knife that you can pull out and say if I want to use it for day to day edc, I can do that well. 1085 will work but it's great if I say oh suddenly I need to cut down a tree with my fixed blade well it's going to be a tough time but you can do it with 1095 right 420j terrible oh my gosh we should put all the 420j um all the blades 420j no coating material uh all 420j sheets on an island and we should bomb That island is terrible.

I'm sorry. If you have a knife in 420j, you should throw it away. I know that sounds bad. Well, don't throw it away if someone you care about gave it to you. but if you bought it at a gas station or something and it looks cool because it has spider webs and blue metallic stuff and I don't know, maybe it has a joker's face on its face and it's on fire first, I don't know. I don't really understand that stuff that's garbage, throw it in the trash, it's horrible um oh here we go um we don't talk about yes, we don't really talk about d2 d2 this is ingot formed steel the Ontario rat the only knife left I have to do it show it today, uh, that's not a card, so d2 steel is one of my most preferable budget knife steels and this rat, um, who has absolutely been through it, this thing definitely needs it.

I know this will make you cringe, but this needs. to be sharp d2 it's great i like the shaped ingot d2 uh it's not stainless but this guy has never done it and this is not a baby knife this is not a knife that I have ever cared for and he just doesn't care, he's not coming to the surface corrosion or something now depending on where you live and what you're using it for you might have a different experience but this knife has really been stuck into the ground and it's still holding up its just great but the blade steel has been really good honestly i like d2 um about a level b right i would prefer edc i know this sounds crazy i would prefer edc d2 than m390 but that's just my experience with it it's not what Most fun in the world to sharpen, but it's easier to sharpen than m390 and I feel like I can get over it because it doesn't chip as easily right now.

Let's talk about cpmd2. This is perhaps the most underrated steel of all time and part of the reason is that it is almost never printed as cpm d2. it is simply listed as d2 so when you see a bench made in d2 people say d2 oh it is very expensive for d it is cpmd2 this is american crucible powder metallurgy d2 very different from your material in ingot form this material has a superior edge retention, superior carbide formation and distribution on the right edge um and I the cpm process also increases its hardness, which is excellent um, it's harder to sharpen the cpm material it's harder to sharpen the d2, which is what which keeps it out of our S rank steels, but this material is very good, it's in line with cts xhp.

I'd probably still prefer to see cts xhp because it's stainless steel, it makes me feel a little bit although I don't really need that extra, it just makes me feel a little better, it depends. in the right scenario and I would say I know I'm bouncing back and forth with my logic here, but welcome to the channel, uh, Damascus boss, right, I thought all of Damascus was the same. I have a video about Damascus if you want. to find out the difference between cheap damask expensive damask damasteel and democore not everything is the same that 14.95 fixed blade you bought on amazon is made of cheap damask damask can literally have any two compositions, so if you are paying between them, I would say that between ten and fifty dollars is probably absolute garbage, um, yeah, it looks cool and it might seem like it works, oh, I can cut with it, well, yeah, I mean, but cut with something that's actually, you know, intended to hold an edge longer or intended.

You know you're going to notice a difference right, cheap Damascus is garbage, it's absolute, just a hot circle of dolphin shit, it sucks, there's no reason to put those cheap Damascus knives on a pedestal on August 10th and yes, we'll continue forward. and put aust 10a here just this that is used on the demco 80 uh 15 sorry the 80 20.5 I always thought it seemed to work much closer to 154 cm but that just proves that I really don't always know what I'm experiencing but there are probably other subconscious factors, like maybe the fact that I really like the shark lock, so I really wanted to enjoy the steel that I have to deal with on that knife, so subconsciously just in my head I thought it probably works like 154. apparently works similarly to 440c, which is a good steel.

I don't know if it makes the best sense in the world in a 150 80 20.5. I'll take him there. I would absolutely prefer a better steel, um, but that's okay. I have one that I surpassed. In fact, I'll show you. I should have taken out this knife, but this is also the 80 20.5. It is also one of my most used knives and it is working well, it is still enough, in fact I will prove to you that this knife, despite being used very frequently, is still enough, many people say that my 80 20.5 does not short, are they doing this? you're one of those people, yes, that's why it doesn't cut, you have to cut with it, this is a very loved used edge right, and I'm still cutting, okay, no it's not perfect, but it still works fine, aust 10a is fine.

The paper cut test proves nothing. All I'm proving is that the edge is still capable of cutting paper. That's all I'm saying there, so I don't know if we have it. I'm going to put that in and Look there, I guess I had two, oh, tungsten carbide, which is not steel, I have a Sandrine, um, oh, it's right there, I'll get it, I guess I have more of theseknives guys. Sorry this is a knife not worth the 300 you're asking for but I spent a good amount of time on it now I've cleaned it since I used it but there are some older videos there's actually a review I've recorded in the past but you haven't seen it yet, you will see it in the future with debris everywhere.

I spent a good hour and a half in my garage breaking down boxes of this stuff. This is not steel. It is tungsten carbide. This will hold an edge longer than anything else, but what about Rex 121 and s125v? Yes, it has better edge retention potential than the correct ones. I've never used them as far as paper goes, that's what I'm looking at. I have extremely limited experience with what I was so impressed with is that the edge is still miraculously laser sharp after an hour and a half of thick cardboard filled with clay that will ruin almost any other sheet.

This is really cool, now I have no idea. I have no idea what this is like for sharpening. I hesitate to put it in, I don't want to put it in a if it ended up being super easy to sharpen, it's obviously an S class that I have. I have no idea how tough it is, I have no idea how easy it is to sharpen, but I imagine it will be at least B grade, meaning it can't corrode and has excellent edge retention, those two right there with any decent. amount of hardness and any hint of relative, like it would be okay to sharpen, yeah, I would easily make beats here, so I think I'm going to put tungsten carbide in there for sure, uh 440c, uh, pretty much exactly, I mean, This used to be the best dog, right? this was the m390 of yesteryear, that's fine, definitely, um, uh, like super complete, a lot of people say they have exactly the same experience with 440c as they do, since they have 154 cm or cpm154, in my experience, 154 will keep a longer lead, but it probably depends on the geometry and heat treatment and what you're using it for correctly and if you're like me, just the individual's ability to grasp what they're actually experiencing.

I don't know if I'm going to do it. put it in c, okay, it doesn't seem to do anything exceptional, right, it doesn't like to take a, it doesn't seem to take the most ridiculously fine lead, but I don't have enough experience with that to be either. able to say it definitely I'm going to put it in c it's kind of like my you know when you don't know the answer on a test so you just put c well that's what I'm doing there rex 45 here's another robbery that I have a lot of experience and with this deal There's a photo on Instagram of me having finished my longest cardboard breakdown of my life.

It was almost two and a half hours in the garage. I had let so many boxes pile up, so many subscription boxes. And there just came a day when I thought I had to break these things down so they would fit in the back of the truck. It actually took two loads and I had to take them to the recycling center. Rex 45, he was a shaman, someone sent me. a sprint run spyderco shaman and rex 45 was new and they said use it you will be a user just use it so i had a new lead i took it out these things ate through the boxes i don't know if i can really tell. the difference between rex 45 390 and um maximum they are all very similar almost almost it is almost like they are a family they are like they are all cousins ​​like a little one of them is a little taller the other is a little shorter, but it is a bit of a buffer, right, that's what makes me think.

I really enjoy the Rex 45 and don't mind that it is not a corrosion resistant steel. Eh, there wasn't a single chip, I don't even know. yes there was a roll on the edge after all those boxes but my only major experience with them was right there now i have no experience sharpening it but from what i understand its very similar to k390 uh and m4 k390 is like a a lot of people say it's like m4 on m4 steroids. I could also include that family in my experience and just on paper, right, k390 m4 rex 45 and max, everyone knows the hardness and edge retention and then the corrosion resistance, I think it's a vary a little bit but everyone they're like family to me teravantium which isn't steel either that's dendritic cobalt terravantium would be like in um oh I forgot what the hell it is if you google terravantium you're just going to see it's in some knives and it's all from the same company but it's cobalt Dendritic, wow, and dendritic cobalt has absolutely been used by other companies for other knives.

This does not cost at least the knife I experienced with this nick. chibas also talked about this, the edge didn't feel sharp but then you draw it through the material and suddenly it's super capable of cutting, it's strange, I have no experience sharpening it, it can't corrode so that's it something cool, uh, it cut well, I just don't have enough experience with it, probably, if I used it, the only reason this one is here is because I have some experience with it, even if it's minimal, and because I know that People will want to know, right?

I'm going to say I would probably have a great experience with it. Oh, I didn't put tungsten carbide anywhere? What did I do? I think I did it. I put it in tungsten carbide b. Yes, that's probably it. where should that one go, now I have two steels that I have zero zero experience with, but I know I'm going to have knives on these steels, in fact, one of them is on its way to me right now and he's going to be a user, right? um let's talk about the mysterious and legendary m398, yes that is intended as an upgrade to the m390, as I understand it the m398 will absolutely hold an advantage for longer.

This is also a bowler, it will hold a longer lead than the m390, but it doesn't have as much. a lot of corrosion resistance and it will absolutely be more difficult to sharpen it will probably be more chipped. I guess I'll probably feel the same way about the m390 as I do, sorry, about the m398 as I do about the m390, right. I'm going to try it and see what I think, right, I'm going to have a knife, there's a knife being made for me in m390 right now, so we're going to, sorry, m398 right now, so I'll try it, but no I have idea.

I'm going to put it at c because I guess that's going to be my experience and finally, for those of you who stayed until the end, cut magna, I don't know, oh boy, this is an interesting heist, right, we got something amazing. as you know so this is the steel that laryn thomas or the composition that laryn thomas created with cpm or crucible so their tests had really amazing results and a lot of people who have actually gotten some knives that are made from these things remember there will be an individual heat treatment, there will be a geometry for the correct blade and then it depends on what that person is using it for and their ability to perceive what is really happening in some of these Test results have been the same or better, surprisingly better in some situations that um Laryn Thomas test results and sometimes I've heard that a couple of tests are missing in some areas.

The corrosion resistance is very, oh, I have no idea. I guess I've heard some people say "OMG it's like lc200n" and other people like "no, no, it's not even close to that edge retention." The reports seem to be incredible and most people have said that it really isn't that bad to sharpen. and it's pretty hard, I guess it'll probably end up in a or s for me, right, it depends on, I mean, I'm not a professional sharpener, I don't really like to sharpen well, so it's probably somewhere around here maybe. It'll be off the charts, maybe it'll be like something magical, like I should make a heavenly level of you know, knife range and put a magna cut in there.

I have no idea what this is supposed to be. You know this is it. uh you know, um the crown must be passed to magna ca when it comes to the world of knives, we are ready to take the m390 off the throne and aggressively hand it over to magna cut and it could be the first. steel in history that actually deserves the blind crown that is the king of knife heists, right, it could actually be that this is a heist that was actually done well, I think it was M390 made for pocket knives. I don't remember this being a steel. that was actually designed for pocket knives and has, you know, science, like universe bending attributes, right, no, it doesn't really make sense to me, but then again, I'm not a metallurgist and I'm not really that smart .

So it will probably be an S level steel. I just don't know. I hope those of you who know are familiar with my channel. I hope you guys are a little entertained if you're new to me. channel I hope you are entertained, I hope there are a lot of angry people, people have decided they hate me after this video, okay this is the type of content I do well, I hope the vast majority of you at least are. mildly entertaining, I love doing things like this, this was a lot of fun for me, make sure to follow me on Instagram at metal underscore complex if you liked this video, leave a like if you want to see my other content, of course you do.

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