Which knife steel for which knife?

The best knife steel is always the steel whose properties match the intended use. A kitchen knife has different requirements than a bushcraft knife, an EDC pocket knife, or a fishing knife. The most important factors are edge retention, rust resistance, toughness, and sharpenability.

Kitchen Knives

For kitchen knives, a fine edge, good cutting properties, and sufficient corrosion resistance are particularly important. Rust-resistant knife steels like 14C28N, for example, are expressly recommended for chef's knives.

For a kitchen knife, good sharpenability can also be more important than maximum wear resistance. A steel that can be sharpened quickly and easily can be more practical in daily kitchen use than an extremely high-performance steel with maximum edge retention.

EDC and Pocket Knives

For EDC and pocket knives, a balanced combination of edge retention and corrosion resistance is particularly practical. The knife is often carried but not always cleaned immediately after every use.

Modern rust-resistant steels such as M390 or CPM S35VN are therefore often used for high-quality pocket knives.

Outdoor and Bushcraft Knives

For outdoor and bushcraft knives, toughness can be a particularly important characteristic. The blade can be subjected to greater mechanical stress than a typical cutting knife.

CPM 3V, for example, is known for its high toughness. In wet conditions, however, a rust-resistant steel can offer advantages. The choice therefore depends on whether mechanical resilience or corrosion resistance is more important.

Hunting and Fishing Knives

For hunting and fishing knives, corrosion resistance is particularly interesting because the blade can come into contact with moisture and organic residues.

14C28N is expressly recommended by the manufacturer for hunting and fishing knives. For applications with particularly high corrosion exposure, correspondingly corrosion-resistant steels are suitable.

Maritime Environment and Saltwater

For regular contact with saltwater, corrosion resistance should be given particular weight. LC200N was developed for applications requiring high corrosion resistance and is therefore particularly interesting for maritime knives.

Work Knives

For work knives, the optimal steel choice largely depends on the load. For pure cutting tasks, high edge retention can be interesting. For mechanical stress, however, toughness becomes more important.

Which Steel is the Best All-rounder?

There is no universally best knife steel. The properties of the steel, heat treatment, and blade geometry must be considered together.

For an all-rounder, balanced steels are interesting, which do not only maximize a single property. 14C28N, for example, is designed for a combination of hardness, cutting performance, edge stability, and corrosion resistance.

Discover knife steels by properties and steel type.