[Tom H]

It has been said that knife blades made of stainless steel do not hold an edge as well as the non stainless steel blades. I am shopping for a good pocket knife to whittle with, but most have stainless steel blades. Just how much of a difference is there between stainless steel and a good steel knife blade? Tom H

[wood-whittler]

tom,

most of my case pocketknives have stainless and they seem to hold an edge just fine.

bart

[brushpilecarvings]

I also use stainless steel blade knives, and they hold an edge well. Some may take a while to initially sharpen, but they stay sharp. I've also used HCSS (High Carbon Stainless Steel), the main brand being Old Timer by Schrade (when they were still made in the USA). HC Stainless also holds an edge very well.

[Ashbys]

Tom ,
the difference is major ! Stainless Steel has little or no carbon High Carbon stainless is 3% max . Carbon gives steel hardness. Some of the higher stainless will hold an edge but it will dull faster and take longer to get the edge back.

Stainless has one enduring property over cabon steel.... it doesn't rust as eaisly . It can rust and yes I can prove that. The reason knives have over the years started using stainless steel in the blades is because of two reasons. The first is storage , the conditions do not have to be as mostiure concerned as they were with carbon blades, they can be stored for long periods of time without being in heavy oil or as anyone that remembers the old barlows use to come wraped in a oil paper wrapping. The second reason stainless is being used is becasue of where they are made. Most knives are now being produced in slave labor countries like China. Which means they have to be improted to the States in cargo holds. So the saltwater in the air which would destroy a carbon blade is not considered an issue with stainless.

Ask any knife maker and they will tell you , you want a knife to hold and edge or to take punishment use a carbon steel blade.

Ash

[Lynn O. Doughty]

My Old Reliable uses stainless blades. Extremely sharp!

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I have a couple of stainless and don't care for them at all, they just won't take the edge the carbon will...and I guess after you have used a converted straight razor, nothing is quite the same....altho I have some great carbon steel knives......the stainless in my opinion is good for a pocketknife where it won't rust from the perspiration......but then...I try not to perspire much anymore, retired you know LOL (oh, you might take a look at an "Oar Carver" its a good knife. And Rick sells a converted Kershaw, that he says is a good knife, but it too is stainless?)

[Ashbys]

Here you go, everything you wanted to know about knive blade steel but was afraid to ask.

http://www.sff.net/people/pff/steel.txt

So basically ,

if you know your steel then you will have a better concept of what your getting. Just because one stainless works , does not mean all do.

Lynn ,
ouside of basswood , what other woods do you use ? Just wondering if your ulitily
knife works as well in walnut for you as it does in basswood .

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

I used to preach the gospel of carbon steel. But after having several dozen stainless knives, I've got to say that for practical purposes, at least, there not a bit of difference. I have stainless knives in aus6a (Kershaw) , 420hc (Case, Buck), 440 (Rough Rider, Steel Warrior), 440c (U.S. Classics), and a couple unknown steels (Frosts, Mora, Swiss Army Knives). They all take an exceptional edge and hold it well. I also have an abundance of "Carbon Steel" knives included half a dozen made from straight razors. I can't say that for whittling/carving one is preferable to another. Get them sharp and they'll stay that way. Good blade geometry and proper sharpening seem to be much more important than the type of steel in modern knives. I suspect much of the bad rap stainless has gotten stems from the early stainless alloys which were not real good. There are also an abundance of semi-stainless out there also. Mostly what determines stainless or non-stainless is the amount of chromium in the alloy, so there are a number of steels that are kind of in between.

Short version - I don't let the type of steel influence by buying decisions any longer.

[Kenny_S]

I have and use both. SS a little harder to get an edge on but stays. I carry both a Case and Boker, Case SS and the Boker carbon. both sharp. Some like SS, some don't.

[dart]

The chrome-vanadium Case brand knives are what I like. Then the Schrade Old Timer carbon steel blades are great. Those are the original Schrade USA made knives.
I like SS ok if it is a good grade of SS , say a Spyderco or Kershaw. But for carving I usually make a knife blade from an old hacksaw carbon steel blade. It is fun to make a knife then use it, at least for me it is.