Best Pocket Knife Blade Steel Guide

The best blade steel for your premium pocket knife.

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Essential for users wanting the best cutting edge.

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We ask for priority, use case, budget impact, heat treat, and maker known for to recommend optimal steels. These inputs prioritize edge performance. Limitation: super steels harder to sharpen.

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Recommended Blade Steel

For your priorities of edge retention, outdoor use, premium quality, and high standards similar to Chris Reeve's S35VN, I recommend Magnacut as the optimal choice. Below are the details regarding this steel, along with alternatives.

1. Magnacut

Properties:

• Composition: High chromium content (about 10-14%), carbon (around 1.5%), and balanced alloying elements.
• Edge Retention: Exceptional, thanks to its fine microstructure.
• Corrosion Resistance: Excellent, making it suitable for outdoor environments.
• Toughness: High, allowing it to withstand impacts and rough handling.

Why It's Optimal:

Magnacut combines outstanding edge retention and corrosion resistance with high toughness, making it ideal for outdoor use. It’s designed to outperform many traditional steels, making it a premium choice for high-quality knives.

Example:

• Outdoor Knives: Many custom knife makers are beginning to adopt Magnacut for their outdoor and survival knives due to its superior performance.

Alternatives

2. S90V

Properties:

• Composition: High vanadium content (approximately 9%), which contributes to wear resistance.
• Edge Retention: Excellent, but it can be more challenging to sharpen.
• Corrosion Resistance: Good, but not as high as Magnacut.

Why Consider It:

S90V is known for its incredible wear resistance and edge retention, making it suitable for premium knives. However, it may require more maintenance in outdoor environments.

3. CPM-3V

Properties:

• Composition: High carbon (around 0.8%), with added toughness due to its unique alloying.
• Edge Retention: Good, particularly in tough applications.
• Corrosion Resistance: Moderate, not as high as Magnacut or S90V.

Why Consider It:

CPM-3V is renowned for its toughness, making it a great choice for outdoor use where durability is critical. However, it may not match the edge retention of Magnacut.

In summary, Magnacut stands out for your specified needs, providing a balance of edge retention, corrosion resistance, and toughness that is ideal for outdoor conditions.

Brought to you by TheToolCollective.com

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The Tool Collective are a multi talented group of passionate hobbyists on a mission to create highly useful and intelligent decision making tools to help others who share our passion and interests. Given the majority of our hobbies are outdoor hobbies, almost all of them require the use of knives in varying types and uses. Even for daily use, we carry pocket knives and are one of the most useful and "worth the money" investments you can make. From premium foldables for EDC, to premium foldable knives for hunting or fishing, we have them all. We made this batch of tools to help others pick out the perfect high quality knives and blades for their use case and needs. Enjoy!

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