Knives

The Knives category features a wide range of high-quality, durable knives designed for various purposes such as rescue, combat, survival, utility, and everyday carry. From well-known brands like Boker, Cold Steel, Gerber, Ka-Bar, and Spyderco, to innovative designs like the Supreme Pocket ChainSaw and ZAK Belt Clip System, this category offers something for every knife enthusiast. Whether you need a reliable tool for outdoor adventures, self-defense, or everyday tasks, you'll find the perfect knife in this diverse selection. Choose from fixed blades, folding knives, automatic knives, and specialty tools to meet your specific needs and preferences.

Budget Stainless Steel

• 420HC: 420HC is a great example of what budget stainless steels do well, as well as what they don’t. On the upside, it’s easy to maintain, inexpensive, highly rust-resistant, and versatile enough to work on just about any knife. On the downside, it’s relatively soft, so if you want a hair-popping edge it’s best to keep a strop or sharpener handy. 420HC is also a great example of the fact that with the right heat-treatment, you can stretch a steel even further: Buck Knives is famous for their proprietary heat-treatment process that measurably boosts its edge retention.
• 1.4116: This common grade of stainless steel is similar in most respects to 420HC. You can expect great stainlessless, toughness, and workability at the expense of edge retention.
• X50CrMoV15: Another name for 1.4116, often used on kitchen knives.
• 12C27: Manufactured in Sweden by steelmaker Sandvik, this alloy is the stainless steel of choice for Morakniv. Purported to be “cleaner” and easier to sharpen than similar steels due to Sandvik’s low tolerance for impurities.
• 8cr13MoV: A common budget option owing to its solid all-around performance, low cost, and wide availability in China. If heat treated well it represents a good balance of toughness, edge retention, and stainlessness for the price without excelling in any particular category.
• AUS-8, AUS-8A: While AUS-8 is virtually identical on paper to 8Cr13MoV steel, it’s manufactured in Japan and generally only found on knives made in Japan or Taiwan. AUS-8A is just the name for AUS-8 that has been annealed (cooled slowly to make it more workable) at the factory, which has no effect on its performance as a blade steel when delivered on a finished knife.
• 440A: High chromium content (~17%) helps ensure that this steel is extremely stain resistant.
• 440B: Nearly identical to 440A, but with added carbon to increase its working hardness and edge retention.

Budget Carbon Steel

• 1055, 1070, 1095, 10xx, etc: It doesn’t get much simpler than this family of carbon steels, and that’s not a bad thing! Tough, reliable, and easy to work with, these are some of the most popular choices for survival and bushcraft blades. We’ve lumped all the 10xx steels in here together because there’s an easy way to tell them apart: the last two digits in the name correspond with how much carbon is present in the alloy. 1055 has 0.55% carbon, 1070 has 0.7% carbon, 1095 has 0.95% carbon, and so on. As the amount of carbon goes up, the attainable hardness increases and the toughness decreases. You can expect these steels to patina—or even rust—if you’re not careful about keeping them clean, dry, and/or oiled.
• SK85: Japanese grade of steel with 0.85% carbon that should deliver performance roughly equivalent to 1085, perhaps with slightly better corrosion resistance thanks to small additions of chromium and nickel.
• SK5L Previous name for SK-85 which is still in common use.
• D2: Powered by a relatively high carbon content (1.55%), D2 leads the budget steel category in edge retention. In fact, depending on the heat treatment and edge geometry, it can outlast most—if not all—of the mid-range steels! So, why is it here? Well, it’s generic: many steel companies make it, some with more quality control than others. And even at its best, it makes a couple of compromises to deliver that long-lived sharpness. Despite the significant amount of chromium in the mix (and with it, a reasonable amount of stain resistance) D2 is technically not a “stainless” steel, so care should be taken to keep it clean and dry. It doesn’t easily discolor the way a simple carbon steel does, but it can and will rust on you. D2 is also not the toughest steel, and has a reputation for being more challenging to sharpen.

The Best Mid-Range Knife Steels

• K110: Brand name for D2 steel manufactured by Böhler-Uddeholm in Austria. Thanks to their quality control, it has earned a superior reputation to generic D2.
• 14C28N: Although 14C28N can be had for quite cheap, we think it represents a meaningful step up from the budget category thanks to its unique combination of high toughness, high stain-resistance, and decent edge retention. Made in Sweden by steel company Sandvik, 14C28N is a clean, high-quality alloy that outperforms its price point.
• 440C: There was a time when 440C was just about the best blade steel you could get your hands on. While today’s best metallurgic concoctions have outclassed it in one way or another, 440C is still a solid choice.
• VG-10: This time-tested blade steel is made in Japan and found on a huge range of cutlery including kitchen knives, fixed blades, and pocket knives. Made in Japan by Takefu, it offers good edge retention and stain resistance.
• AUS-10: Very similar to VG-10 but without the addition of cobalt. Made in Japan by Aichi.
• N690: A quality stainless steel made by Böhler-Uddeholm that offers solid edge retention and great stain resistance.
• Nitro-V: This US-made steel is tough compared to other stainless options, and offers solid edge retention and stainlessness as well.

The Best Premium Knife Steels

The only real line that separates premium blade steels from everything else on this page—other than cost, of course—is a technological innovation called powder metallurgy. By pulverizing the constituent elements of a steel into a powder before compressing and sintering them together, powder metallurgy distributes the elements more finely and more evenly, which improves performance across the board.

Premium Stainless Steel

• CPM-154: You can really see the positive effects of the powder metallurgy process with CPM 154. It is chemically identical to the traditionally-formed 154CM, but the fine and homogeneous distribution of elements makes it significantly tougher and easier to grind / polish.
• RWL-34: Similar to CPM 154, RWL34 is a powdered version of 154CM. Manufactured by Damasteel in Sweden and named in tribute to the father of modern knifemaking: Robert Waldorf Loveless.
• CPM-SPY27: You’ll only see this blade steel on Spyderco knives, since they developed it in-house for use on their blades. Designed to be well-rounded, SPY27 should deliver performance similar to S35V, and has a reputation for being easy to sharpen.
• CPM-S30V: S30V was developed in 2001 by steelmaker Crucible Industries in coordination with leading knifemakers specifically for use in high-end pocket knives. They wanted to make something that was simple to heat-treat, well-balanced to suit a wide range of applications, and better than everything else at the price point. And they succeeded! For years, S30V was the standard-bearer for modern metallurgy to the point that it became almost ubiquitous on knives above a certain price point.
• CPM-S35VN: In 2009, Crucible revised S30V to make S35VN, which traded some edge retention for more toughness and greater ease of sharpening.
• CPM-S45VN: In 2019, Crucible rebalanced the formula again to make S45VN, which boosts the edge retention back up to match S30V while also offering improved toughness and stain resistance.
• Elmax: This powder-metallurgy steel is both highly wear-resistant and rust-resistant, making it a great choice for premium folders and small to medium fixed blades.
• M390: A go-to option for premium knives. Made by Böhler-Uddeholm, this powder-metal alloy offers high edge retention and excellent stainless properties.
• CPM-20CV: Chemically identical to M390, made in the USA by Crucible Industries. This powder-metal alloy offers high edge retention and excellent stainless properties.
• CTS-204P: Chemically identical to M390 and CPM-20CV, made in the USA by Carpenter Technology. This powder-metal alloy offers high edge retention and excellent stainless properties.
• CPM-S90V: Chart-topping edge retention and great stain resistance make this steel a top-tier choice for premium knives.
• CPM-S110V: One of the most corrosion resistant steels on the market, with top-tier edge retention to boot. It has a reputation for being difficult to sharpen.
• ZDP-189: Thanks to its unusually high level of carbon, this powder-metallurgy stainless steel achieves extreme hardness for high edge retention. Frequently used as a core steel in laminated blades, and manufactured by Hitachi Metals in Japan.

Premium Carbon Steel

• CPM-3V: Powdered tool steel made by Crucible Industries. It is known for its combination of extreme toughness and good edge retention, making it a popular choice for hard-use fixed blades and folders.
• CPM-4V: This powdered tool steel rebalances the 3V formula for better edge retention and slightly reduced toughness.
• CPM-CruWear: Powdered tool steel made by Crucible Industries. While not as tough as 3V, it still offers high toughness and a higher degree of edge retention. It also seems to resist corrosion better than other tool steels on this list, although not enough to designate it as “stainless.”
• CPM-M4 : This non-stainless powdered tool steel delivers both high toughness and high edge retention, with very little stain-resistance. Will patina/rust rapidly if not cared for. Suitable for everything from small thin folders up to large chopping fixed blades.
• K390: Not be confused with M390, K390 is a non-stainless powdered tool steel made by Böhler-Uddeholm with extremely high edge retention and high toughness. Excellent choice for any knife that needs to hold an edge for a long time against both abrasive and strong materials where stain-resistance is not a factor. Patinas/rusts rapidly if not cared for.

The Best Super-Exotic Knife Steels

These steels are so exceptional in one category or another that they almost defy categorization—so, that’s why they’re here!

Exotic Stainless Steel

• H1: This is the only blade steel on the market that is really, truly, 100% corrosion-proof. After exposure to corrosive elements that would tarnish even the most stain-resistant steels out there, H1 simply will not rust. H1 is perfect for those who work around water or in other damp environments. While tough, it is not particularly abrasion-resistant and will need more frequent sharpening.
• LC200N: LC200N is comparable to H1 in terms of stain-resistance (though not quite as impossibly rust-proof), but with significantly greater edge retention.
• MagnaCut: A revolution in powder-metallurgy, this is the first steel to combine high degrees of edge retention, toughness, and corrosion resistance all in one remarkable alloy.

Exotic Carbon Steel

• Maxamet: Maxamet is so packed full of ultra-hard carbides that it begins to blur the line between steel and cemented carbide. Needless to say, it offers an absolutely monumental amount of edge retention against abrasive materials. It is not stainless, so it can rust, and will take on a patina over time if you don’t keep it oiled.