Which is better? I have always thought carbon, because it stayed sharper and was easier to resharpen, but I don't know. Every knife seems to be made in SS now.

I despise Stainless because I can't get it to take an edge. Maybe others have better luck, carbon steel for me every time. JMO.

Until lately (the last 20 years) stainless steel blades were hard to impossible to sharpen. Queen knife company was the first to use stainless steel in production knives. They were held with disdain and sales dropped dramatically. High quality stainless steel can now hold good edges. However collectors and user of classic knives stick with carbon steel. Us collectors has a saying " knives that don't have bone handles, nickel silver bolsters, brass liners, and doesn't rust, doesn't go into my pocket". I think of the 500 or so antique knives I have owned, I think there was 6 that had stainless steel.

I carry a Victorinox Swiss Army knife--the one they actually used to issue to their soldiers--for the tools. I also carry a carbon steel pocketknife, usually a stockman or trapper, for cutting stuff. Good 1095 carbon steel, properly heat treated, takes and holds a really nice edge and is easy to re-sharpen.

In a sheath knife my best have been Bark River Knife & Tool products. Mike Stewart makes some very good knives in 12C27 stainless, but the ones I've owned have been cryo-treated A2 tool steel, fairly resistant to staining but not stainless. Did love my Buck Personal 118, though, before I gave it to my son.

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Oh well, what the hell.

I have Benchmade knives that either have an S30V or 154CM stainless steel blades and I don't have a problem. And I have a Buck with 440C blades and those aren't a problem either.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

I have stainless, carbon, high-carbon and ceramic knives. They each have their own uses. Typically, stainless steel is a soft metal so, you'll need to sharpen it more frequently however, because of this, it flexes better when encountering bone. My filet knives are carbon as are my slicing knives. They stay sharp a long time but don't get heavy use. High-carbon is more brittle but it will hold a razor sharp edge for a very long time. When butchering out game or a side of beef, its high-carbon all the way because I don't want to stop half way through and do the sharpening. Ceramics are cool. Ceramics don't let vegetables brown where cut (lettuce, etc.) and your eyes don't water when cutting onions. You can't beat ceramics for veggies and, yes, they are as sharp as a shard of glass.

The only dangerous knife is a dull knife.

I find stainless more difficult to sharpen, but carbon steel blades tend to turn red in my pocket.

A surgeon’s scalpel is made from stainless steel, so if you get a high quality stainless steel you can definitely put an edge on it. I usually look for 440C stainless steel with a Rockwell Hardness rating of 59 to 61 depending on what I will be using the knife for primarily.

My personal preference is for stainless steel in guns and in knives, but I cannot say that it is better than carbon steel, just easier for me to maintain.

Depends on the steel and it depends on the heat treatment.

Most regular production stainless knives use 420H or something similar as it will take a decent if not great heat treatment but won't wear out their tooling too quickly.

Higher end stainless knives are made from the better steels like ATS-34, 154Cm or good old 440C. These can be heat treated to the 58 - 60 Rockwell C range and will hold an edge well but can be hard to sharpen without the right stones or equipment.

Good old Carbon steel also comes in several flavors. 1095 etc, A2 or D2 tool steel and others Again the regular production folks choose an alloy that's easy on the tooling while still taking a good heat treatment. Carbon steel sharpens nicely and looks great after becoming "toned" or dark grey from oxidation.

The old Schrade cutlery had two main lines; The Schrade OldTimers and the Uncle Henry line. Old Timers were mainly carbon steel and the Uncle Henry used Schrade + stainless ( probably 420) Schrade gave them both a very good heat treatment and both were excellent knives. These were the USA made Schrades not the current Chinese made ones.

Kitchen cutlery is a different story as far as steels and heat treatment. They are generally heat treated a little softer than pocket or hunting knives and need to be sharpened or steeled more often. If your buying cheap or low end kitchen knives buy the carbon steel ones and they will be usable but the low end cheaper stainless kitchen knives are an abomination. The higher end kitchen knives are mostly stainless but a good alloy is chosen and heat treated appropriately. Still softer than a sporting knife they will still take a good edge and keep it reasonably. I use Wusthof while my wife used some old cheap knives I hated. ( she says mine are too sharp) I bought her a few Warther Cutlery knives made in Dover Ohio. They look like old country knives your grandmother may have used but they are very good but not cheap. I don't use hers and only sharpen them when she asks; I cringe when she puts them in the dishwasher but keep my mouth shut.

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Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA

In reading about and buying knives over the years, all I can say with certainty is that there is a dazzling array of steels available for knife making, some carbon, some stainless, with a wide range of properties, way too many for me to keep track of. I have some stainless blades, from Kershaw, Benchmade, Buck and others that take and hold an edge very well.

That said, some of my favorite knives have carbon steel blades. These include knives from Condor, Opinel, Anza, and Mora.

What a great bunch of replies! What I'm considering is a Schrade lockback - will probably have to go with an older model. Thx.

Yes, one made in the US.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

I have collected pocket knives for a long time and have carried 1095 carbon steel and 440c stainless from various manufacturers (all USA made) and to me it is no harder to sharpen stainless than carbon steel and both seem to hold an edge good. I have always used the heck out of my pocket knives. I switch off now and then.

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James
On the Llano Estacado

All the professional chefs I have known use carbon steel, but they are more conscientious in their maintenance.

It depends. I've got a Hen & Rooster trapper knife that has ss blades. It was not hard to bring the blades up to a nice sharp edge. I've not had trouble maintaining them. I do find Case ss blades difficult to sharpen. I have a couple of Benchmade knives... the blades are not hard to sharpen, but they certainly do hold an edge very well. As sacrilegious as it may sound, the Old Timer 8OT with carbon-steel blades was one of my favorites. It was extremely easy to use and to sharpen.

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<><

I abuse the heck out of a knife, I cut wire, dig dirt, open cans. My go to knife for outdoors is my K-bar 5 1/2 fighting knife. My pocket knives are buck or case, American made. I have a diamond stone or a carbide sharpener and a ceramic rods to sharpen and reedge. I have a couple of Bark River knives I think they are a quality knife.

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Carpriver.

No sacrilege there! The 8OT, made in this country before Schrade's QC began to slip a little right before the company went under, is probably my all-time favorite pocketknife. Second probably is the 94OT 3 7/8 inch trapper, just for the way it feels in my hand.

The China-made "Schrades" I've seen can't begin to compare. Pretty cruddy.

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Oh well, what the hell.

A lot of good information here and a lot of opinions.

Generally speaking, the stainless blades today are much, much better than the stainless several years ago. First off, as many knife makers will tell you, the "stainless" steel used in high quality knives today is just that...stain less, not stain proof.

Depending on the steel, it's usually a combination of several things (i.e. chromium, carbon, nickel, vanadium, etc.) in different proportions. In order to be termed "stainless," it has to have at least 13% chromium in it. If it only has 12% chromium, it is termed "semi-stainless."

If the stainless steel has more vanadium in it, it will be a little easier to sharpen.

So, without going into a lengthy dissertation, there are different types of quality stainless steel used for knife blades, all with different properties.

I used to restrict myself only to high carbon blades. (Oh...that's another thing. Just because somebody says that a blade is "high carbon," doesn't necessarily mean it's good steel. There are many different types of high carbon steel, just as there are different types of stainless steel.) I still tend to lean toward high carbon steel blades...but I don't restrict myself as much now. Your 440C, AUS8, S30V, and others are all quality stainless blades...they keep good edges and can take an edge without a huge amount of effort.

The bottom line, if you find a knife you like that does the job you want it to do, and keeps a fairly good edge and can be sharpened fairly easily, go for it. Lots of good steels out there, both stainless and high carbon.

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Pack light and cinch tight.

IMHO Spyderco H1 steel is the best stainless you can get. Holds an edge very well, and sharpens easy cheese. I happen to have everything stainless, just bcuz I am growing up in a generation where everything is. I sharpen my knives monthly anywho because I enjoy it, and I never have any problems with anything.

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Still just a kid at heart

I just go by this: List of blade materials - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have it saved in my bookmarks.

The Knife Steel Chart is the definitive resource for all your questions regarding the different steels used in knives. You can also download it as an app for your iPhone...

Knife Steel FAQ

It's Carbon Steel for me! I carry an old Marble's Carbon Steel pocket knife and yes it has some staining on the blades but I can shave with it if I had to! My Sheath Knives are Carbon as well. Only own ONE SS knife and that's a Kershaw (with a pocket clip) that a friend gave me for my birthday last year. It's OK for most tasks, but I would not shave with it.

I don't know what steel is in it, but the Kershaw Leek with black finish takes and keeps a wonderful edge. I use mine for everything, from opening mail to cutting meat to carving wood.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I've got a few knives and i bought an older Schrade lockback on ebay ( stole it really) to replace the one i belt carried as a younger man. And very soon stopped carrying it, because my Benchmades and Kershaws of today have better edge holding capabilities and are far lighter. Get what you want, of course, but knife making has come a long way in the last 40 years...

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I used to be disgusted..

Kershaw propriety 14C28N Sandvik with a carbon like coating; not stainless.

In general terms I prefer carbon steel over stainless, except for something like a dedicated fishing knife. I'm a free sweater living in a humid part of the country and get pepper spots etc., but I'll trade that off for the edge I get with carbon. And I don't mine the look of a well earned "patina".

Carbon steels in general tend to have a finer grain structure than stainless, thus allowing most folks to get a finer edge. Some of the new powder steels address this grain issue, but I think they're still pretty expensive. The Japanese are doing a lot of work with these new super steels.

This is one of the reasons why woodworking tools like fine chisels, plane irons, shaper knives etc. are carbon steel and not stainless. My high speed steel knives for my shaper make much smoother cuts than the carbide tipped knives, because of the grain size and thus the fineness of the edge.

If you want to experience some of the newer steels without paying huge money, Spyderco offers a lot of them before the other big companies do, for reasonable money.

Certainly both stainless and carbon have their place, and the card that trumps everything is a proper heat treat.

Here's an article that is pretty good, and lists a lot of the different steels and discusses their qualities. Note that he points out that unlike stainless carbon steel can be differentially heat treated:

The Knife Steel FAQ by Joe Talmadge Custom Knives at Knife Art

Most of my knives are carbon of some sort. I've had good luck though my with my stainless Benchmade and Spydercos.

Anyone have a stainless Randall? I'd assume they do their stainless right.

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Cheers, Charles
SWCA #2442

I love the chrome vanadium blade on my Case XX, holds an edge and no rust.

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Back to back World War Champs.