Tall_Vol44
FNG
I know this post is a few months dead, but I like knives and have gone through a lot of different ones from different people and I'm rarely knowledgeable about anything on these forums... So here we go.
OP - I prefer non-stainless steels the more I use them. Generally tougher and easier to sharpen vs stainless options with similar-ish edge holding capabilities. It's a deep rabbit hole to go down for sure. Keep in mind I also use a guided sharpening system, so reprofiling and resharpening are expedited. At the end of the day, the heat treat will matter more than the steels.
On to my thoughts on the steels.
My favorite right now is cruwear. I've got cruwear in bark River, spyderco and Benchmade models. It performs very well across the board. Super super easy to keep sharp and I consider it very easy to reprofile. And it gets scary sharp. Sticky sharp if you know what I mean. I've not had issues with rust or corrosion that I can see. I did buy a Spyderco used and it had some surface rust that came right off with a little oil and rub down. Zero issues with rolling or chipping
M4 I've got in benchmade, spyderco, and hogue now. I also now have a guided sharpening system. I consider m4 relatively easy to sharpen, definitely takes longer than cruwear. I've used the hogue the most and it holds the scary sharp edge a bit longer than cruwear. I haven't needed to attempt stropping it back to sharp, but I have reprofiled it twice now. Zero issues with rolling or chipping. I'm a fan of m4 and it's probably right behind cruwear for me.
I have 1 knife I've used in magnacut and it's a sebenza. I ran the factory edge for a few weeks and wasn't impressed. So i reprofiled it to 15° per side... That's when I awoke a sleeping giant. Gets scary sharp and have had zero issues with rolling or chipping. In my experience magnacut was a bit more difficult to reprofile and holds an edge about as good as cruwear. If you needed stainless I would recommend it over anything else I've tried. Much easier to keep sharp vs other high end stainless steels. But I'd probably still pick Cru wear over m4 personally.
S90v... For me it's much more difficult to get scary sharp. And then it doesn't hold the scary sharp edge for long, but it does hold a good workable edge for a very long time. I think I only have used benchmade knives in s90v. It's rather chippy, and a pita to reprofile and sharpen extensively. I would use any other steels mentioned before using s90v.
3v is good. I like it for general use knives. Hold a decent edge, can easily get scary sharp. And relatively easy to keep scary sharp. I've got and abused carothers knives in 3v and they are impressive. Easy to sharpen and keep sharp. In my experience, 3v doesn't hold an edge as long as the others mentioned when cutting abrasive things, but it isn't going to chip in you and can be kept very sharp with just stropping. Big fan of 3v, but would choose something else with better edge holding/wear resistance if I was going to be processing a lot of game.
20cv/m390, you didn't mention but I felt needed to be mentioned, & they are ok. Get scary sharp but lose that scaryness relatively quickly and then keep an ok working edge for a while. Nothing about these steels does it for me. Not easy, to sharpen, and not incredibly tough on paper, but have not had any issues in use.
Lc200n - probably my second favorite stainless at this point behind magnacut. I have this in a spyderco Caribbean. Super tough and gets scary sharp easily. Easy to sharpen, easy to keep sharp. Not the best edge holding, but better than older simple high carbon steels. It is super easy to touch up. Not sure if this would fit what you're looking for but it's worth trying out.
Elmax - I have BR, Rainier, and kunwu knives in. For me, it was moderately difficult to reprofile with all 3 makers. It does seem to hold a very sharp edge for a long time... longer than it should when compared to what it says it should on paper. Haven't had any issues with elmax besides the increased time/difficulty to sharpen. I haven't made up my mind on how much I like elmax yet. Definitely preferred over s90v.
Going to try k390 out next. Curious to see if it's as good as all the hype it gets.
So in order for me
Non stainless - cruwear > m4 > 3v
Stainless - magnacut > lc200n
OP - I prefer non-stainless steels the more I use them. Generally tougher and easier to sharpen vs stainless options with similar-ish edge holding capabilities. It's a deep rabbit hole to go down for sure. Keep in mind I also use a guided sharpening system, so reprofiling and resharpening are expedited. At the end of the day, the heat treat will matter more than the steels.
On to my thoughts on the steels.
My favorite right now is cruwear. I've got cruwear in bark River, spyderco and Benchmade models. It performs very well across the board. Super super easy to keep sharp and I consider it very easy to reprofile. And it gets scary sharp. Sticky sharp if you know what I mean. I've not had issues with rust or corrosion that I can see. I did buy a Spyderco used and it had some surface rust that came right off with a little oil and rub down. Zero issues with rolling or chipping
M4 I've got in benchmade, spyderco, and hogue now. I also now have a guided sharpening system. I consider m4 relatively easy to sharpen, definitely takes longer than cruwear. I've used the hogue the most and it holds the scary sharp edge a bit longer than cruwear. I haven't needed to attempt stropping it back to sharp, but I have reprofiled it twice now. Zero issues with rolling or chipping. I'm a fan of m4 and it's probably right behind cruwear for me.
I have 1 knife I've used in magnacut and it's a sebenza. I ran the factory edge for a few weeks and wasn't impressed. So i reprofiled it to 15° per side... That's when I awoke a sleeping giant. Gets scary sharp and have had zero issues with rolling or chipping. In my experience magnacut was a bit more difficult to reprofile and holds an edge about as good as cruwear. If you needed stainless I would recommend it over anything else I've tried. Much easier to keep sharp vs other high end stainless steels. But I'd probably still pick Cru wear over m4 personally.
S90v... For me it's much more difficult to get scary sharp. And then it doesn't hold the scary sharp edge for long, but it does hold a good workable edge for a very long time. I think I only have used benchmade knives in s90v. It's rather chippy, and a pita to reprofile and sharpen extensively. I would use any other steels mentioned before using s90v.
3v is good. I like it for general use knives. Hold a decent edge, can easily get scary sharp. And relatively easy to keep scary sharp. I've got and abused carothers knives in 3v and they are impressive. Easy to sharpen and keep sharp. In my experience, 3v doesn't hold an edge as long as the others mentioned when cutting abrasive things, but it isn't going to chip in you and can be kept very sharp with just stropping. Big fan of 3v, but would choose something else with better edge holding/wear resistance if I was going to be processing a lot of game.
20cv/m390, you didn't mention but I felt needed to be mentioned, & they are ok. Get scary sharp but lose that scaryness relatively quickly and then keep an ok working edge for a while. Nothing about these steels does it for me. Not easy, to sharpen, and not incredibly tough on paper, but have not had any issues in use.
Lc200n - probably my second favorite stainless at this point behind magnacut. I have this in a spyderco Caribbean. Super tough and gets scary sharp easily. Easy to sharpen, easy to keep sharp. Not the best edge holding, but better than older simple high carbon steels. It is super easy to touch up. Not sure if this would fit what you're looking for but it's worth trying out.
Elmax - I have BR, Rainier, and kunwu knives in. For me, it was moderately difficult to reprofile with all 3 makers. It does seem to hold a very sharp edge for a long time... longer than it should when compared to what it says it should on paper. Haven't had any issues with elmax besides the increased time/difficulty to sharpen. I haven't made up my mind on how much I like elmax yet. Definitely preferred over s90v.
Going to try k390 out next. Curious to see if it's as good as all the hype it gets.
So in order for me
Non stainless - cruwear > m4 > 3v
Stainless - magnacut > lc200n
