Better fixed blade steels in the UK/EU these days?

[sidpost]

With supply chain and other COVID-induced problems, I see some changes in what various fixed blades are using for steel in their blades.

Morakniv Garbergs use 14c28n which looks to be a good option and, Casstrom seems to have changed from K720 to Sleipner. In the USA, Magnacut seems to be the new 'sweetheart' of the stainless fixed blade community.

What are the better fixed blade steels today for knives in Europe? I'm thinking mainly about blades similar to the Casström Lars Fält and similar knives. Personally, I tend to favor semi-stainless options generally but, the new Magnacut is changing that!

TIA,
Sid

 

[Bearmont]

The whole fashion of knife steels and how it's changing over the years is so silly. Old steels don't get magically worse. Remember that 440c was once The SuperSteel. Also, performance is hugely dependent on blade geometry, grind, heat treat. Not all products are a sensible marriage of all of these.

Short answer: Elmax is probably the current "high end" European steel. As a hard and abrasion resistant stainless, I'd want it for a classic cutter, nothing too large and not to be abused, so it'll basically stay sharp for a very long time.

For choppers things aren't really changing in the same way. We're still doing high-carbon and tool steels and for good reason. 80CrV2 would be a fine choice here.

 

[mikehill]

M390 works for me in a fixed and is easily available and not too expensive.

 

[gra_farmer]

Agree with both @Bearmont and @mikehill, that is the trend I am seeing too. The budget stainless that is really coming up the ranks is 14c28n (similar to AEB-L), thanks to Realsteel mainly.

14c28n is a really good balanced steel, but elmax and m390 are the current top European steels, with the K390 type steels starting to get a look in. All thanks to LionSteel.

I too remember 440C as a supersteel, with the early stuff being very hit and miss. There is still a place for older steels, D2 is the perfect example, that in recent years has only really become more available.

The carbon steel religion all stems from the hit and miss of the early stainless steels, easier to obtain consistency in carbon steels.

 

[gra_farmer]

As for UK steels, we are very very behind, Sheffield steel is getting worse, the last Sheffield steel I used was soft as butter.

If you want a half good Sheffield steel knife, I would go for an older 1990s or earlier, the Rogers 'cut my way' were quite good

 

[Murat_Cyp]

14C28N is a great steel!

You will be pressed hard to find a better steel than 14C28N in stainless. I have most of the usual suspects and 14C28N mostly works better than other stainless steels.

I also have a custom knife in MagnaCut with a great heat treat but still 14C28N would be my choice if the hardness of the knife is less than 62HRC. 14C28N is cost effective and easier to sharpen than magnacut. For best edge performance you need diamond/cbn for magnacut let alone the cost of the steel would make the knife more expensive. However, MagnaCut have certain advantages and one of the major advantages is that it comes with a very good (almost custom level) heat treat recipe. So if you are buying a production knife, there is a better chance the heat treat would be better on MagnaCut.

 

[sidpost]

Stain resistance and toughness have both improved greatly with modern steel formulations. That is not to say older carbon steel like sawmill blades are not really good for people's use today.

Powdered steels offer a lot in various knife configuration and use. AUS-10 seems like a similar steel to some of the more modern Chinese copies. Really, I'm wondering what steels out of the EU foundries are being overlooked in the Western mass media market.

 

[Kato28]

There are enough people looking for the best new thing and most companies are happy to provide that at a cost.

Powdered steels are great until you have to sharpen them and they are usually not as tough to beat around the camp on knotty oak branches.

I personally like the Sandvik steels, they have decent edge retention and are a breeze to sharpen.

 

[Kav]

I’ve been thinking about replacing my flint dagger with copper to match my axe.-Oetzi

 

[Kadushu]

I'm keeping an eye out for Apex Ultra. It's a new carbon steel and there's not much of it about but hopefully that'll change soon.

 

[demographic]

There are enough people looking for the best new thing and most companies are happy to provide that at a cost.

Powdered steels are great until you have to sharpen them and they are usually not as tough to beat around the camp on knotty oak branches.

I personally like the Sandvik steels, they have decent edge retention and are a breeze to sharpen.

Hard to sharpen? How so?

I have a DMT diafold that I bought for twentysomething quid in about 1999 and a bit of leather glued to a bit of wood charged with polishing compound and I've managed to sharpen my Fallkniven powder steel edged knives and a ZDP189 blade with them just fine.
What part are you struggling with?
Admittedly I'm not sharpening em on my sandstone front step but just who does that anyway?

 

[fielder1963]

14c28n is a great steel and much underrated.

 

[Bearmont]

12c27 and 14c28n are rather similar to more refined versions of 440B or AUS-8. They're considered high-end, yet people turn their nose at AUS-8. Sleipner is just a better D2. So much marketing in steel as well and ironically not even by the steel suppliers but the customers.

I'm just not that fussy anymore. The only thing that'll really bother me is too brittle or too hard a steel for a given task.

 

[Tiley]

Is there too much choice? There seems to be a burgeoning number of 'new' steels, most of which behave similarly, which means that customers' interest in the material of their blades will inevitably wain. It's hard to say whether that's a good thing or not - choice can be a double-edged sword, probably made of 14c28n at the moment...

 

[sidpost]

Magnacut seems to be a really good steel for knives right now. Sort of an M4-Stainless with the right heat treat.

That being said though, I still tend to think 14cn28 and AUS-10 are great options for slip-joint knives and small fixed blades but, I'm holding out for Magnacut right now.

 

[Kav]

Steel ‘formulas’ are much like a beef stew with wine added. You
May use a Cabernet Sauvignon but a different vintage or winery. And the parsnip was a little small so a bit more potatoes went in and that pinch of sea salt a little more than usual.
It’s still a Delicious Beef stew within the parameters of your experience.
Mill runs can also vary. As long as the alloy falls within the parameters
Of said steel they are Sandvick, O1 etc That’s why, IE two Mora #1s may perform a little different from different ‘vintages.’
They’re all great knives done properly.
Few of us will break everything forged like Seigfried, or pull one out of a rock and mess with the Royal line of succession.

 

[Kadushu]

12c27 and 14c28n are rather similar to more refined versions of 440B or AUS-8. They're considered high-end, yet people turn their nose at AUS-8. Sleipner is just a better D2. So much marketing in steel as well and ironically not even by the steel suppliers but the customers.

I'm just not that fussy anymore. The only thing that'll really bother me is too brittle or too hard a steel for a given task.

You're right and there seems to be a huge emphasis on edge retention by knife reviewers which is a double edged sword in itself because those harder steels are often a pain to sharpen. It's also a little ironic that the people whining about edge retention will often say that they only cut up cardboard boxes with their knives, meanwhile bushcrafters out in the wilderness for weeks on end are using old fashioned carbon steel knives and getting by just fine.

 

[Sebc]

I think it priorities in steel depends on what your using them for. Lots of people use knives for general everyday stuff which benefits from edge retention over toughness.
For bushcraft I'd take cruwear over o1 or similar any day. Tough, good edge retention, easy to sharpen.

 

[sidpost]

Couch-bound Commandos and Chair-born Rangers can whine all they want about steel selection choices but, the reality is that most of us do fine with the well-proven knife steels in use for decades.

Heck, properly heat treated 1095 has served me well for decades in a New Livesay "Wicked Knives" model that has been abused in the bottom of my toolbox in the weather for years without undue damage.

Do I want to use a smooth river stone to sharpen it? Not really but, I could if I needed to. Try that with any of the high Vanadium powdered metallurgy steels so trendy among some user groups today.

 

[Sebc]

Interestingly I sharpened my cruwear pm2 on the side of my stone house too see if it could be done. It was slightly more difficult than doing that with an older steel but worked fine.