Knife Blade Steel Comparison

Have you heard knife snobs talking about the blade steel they carry? If you hear terms like S30V and M390, 440C, Stainless steel and others thrown around in knife banter but don’t know what these words mean, you are not alone! I have carried a knife since I was young many of my days and every day now but I didn’t always know much about the different material options available for knife steels. I have learned lately that it does matter and the higher prices are often worth it.

Some of my favorites when it comes to a good tough steel on a edc knife include; M390, Maxamet and S30V, S35VN. These are not all in the same category but they are favorites for different reasons for me.

Bladehq has some great information about blade steels and the qualities of each. I’ll give you a little preview here but after reading through this you might want to head on over to their page and check out the full details.

Here are a couple images that show an overall comparison. (And yes, the ViperSharp can sharpen anything you throw at it!)

This first image is a great overall comparison showing you how different steels stack up to each other. You won’t likely find a steel that is high ranked in all aspects because the tougher it is and the better it holds an edge, the harder it will be to sharpen. With this information you can decide what is most important to you to help you make your choice. for me, I like edge retention over most aspects. I want my knife to stay sharp as long as possible.

These next charts (also shown on their post) show the comparison in a different way and they also compare more steels.

So now you know!

And just remember that the ViperSharp can sharpen them all!