Pete, I am sorry. Please forgive me.

I could have also entitled this entry: “Why Knife Steel Doesn’t Matter” or “Steel Snob Renounces Old Ways.” Either would have been as true. The bottom line is that steel doesn’t really matter. It never has, really, up to a point, and my thinking otherwise was erroneous.

Getting to this point has been a long process. It has involved two different changes in thinking or ability. And it comes at a time when the steel arms race is as intense as ever. The truth is, my old position was based on illogical thinking, a lack of sharpening skill, and poor grinds on knives.

Here is my new position. Steel does not matter if:

1) the grind and stock are sufficiently thin and even;

2) you have moderately good sharpening skills and equipment;

3) the steel is minimally acceptable blade steel (MABS); and

4) you do not have a specific use case that demands certain steel attributes.

For EDC, given these four cavaets, steel doesn’t matter. This is not to say that you shouldn’t consider steel when buying a knife. If Knife A and Knife B are identical in every way except Knife A has better steel, then opt for Knife A. Beyond that, you are paying more for steel for the Pokemon Syndrome (“gotta catch ‘em all”) that is contagious among collectors of all types.

Design, carry, handle, and grind are all vastly more important than steel (::brain explodes contemplating a WEIGHED version of the scoring system::). And if you are searching for the best of the best, then, of course, consider the steel. But TRM could put a good heated treated 440C on the Neutron’s blade and it would still be an awesome blade. The fact that they went with 20CV means that it is one of the very best blades on the planet right now. The Neutron’s trick, of course, is being super, giga thin (“giga” as an adjective came into my lexicon from my five year old who uses it like “really”…so something is “really thin” or “giga thin”).

Over and over again I have been running into this fact since the blog began over ten years ago. But it didn’t hit me just how unimportant steel was until I got a real handle on how to sharpen knives. It has taken years, and I mean years, for me to feel comfortable to sharpen EVERY knife in my collection (but one) but now I can. It is exceptionally easy to bring any knife back to a razor edge. And so edge retention isn’t that big a deal. I have rearranged my workshop and I built a pegboard-compatible storage solution for my Worksharp with blade grinding attachment (seen here) making it is VERY easy to sharpen. Knives of any steel don’t stay dull for long. As a result, the extreme edge retention steels aren’t necessary and they are, generally, more hassle thant they are worth to me.

Then there was my mistaken belief that blade stock doesn’t matter much. Its not just important, it is critical. The overwhleming cutting performance of the Dragonfly II, the Otter 365, the various Chaparrals, and the TRM Neutron all has one common element—thin stock. Comparing these knives to something like the chunky BergBlades Iron Pup, and it is clear that grind can only do so much. Why bother with maxing out the scoop of a hollow grind, when you can just start with thin stock and go from there? And there are other benefits of thin stock—its cheaper, it makes knives lighter and easier to carry, and finally, obviously, it makes knives cut better.

With a good grind, some sharpening skills, and thin blade stock the chemistry of a steel DOESN’T MATTER for EDC. It pains me to say this because I love the minutae of steel and the science behind it, but S35VN is good enough for anything we would do with a knife.

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