What are your favorite custom knife steels? Mine are 440C, ATS34, BG42, VG-10, 154CM, and AUS-10 There are more, but I forget them. There is a powdered steel that is supposed to be the best; do you folks have any information on it? Thanks

All those are fine and dandy, but it's really hard to beat high carbon steel, the others may shine pretty but I can get High Carbon so hard it will cut those other knives..Remember that is what files are are made from, and they are made to cut steel.

Maybe one of these days I will buy a file knife. Thanks for the info.

Files make great knives and so do leaf springs.

All have pros/cons.

The powdered steel you're referring to, do you mean 3G?

Yes sir you are correct. Hard you can get it but dont count on it being in one piece after accidentally dropping it. coming from a knife maker and son of a knife maker many years in the buisness i will say you are correct about high carbon. as far as holding and edge and ease of sharpening 1095c is great. In fact high carbon steels can be hardened to 62c and a file will not scratch them. But if you drop a file it will break. New files are made of cast pot metal and are cheap ****, old files are not cast. Honestly our favorite steel for a good dependable durable long lasting knife is L6. Old sawblades from mills are IMO one of the best. Tool steels are tougher to work with and for some reason dont like to treat at the right rc. A2, D2, M2, O2, ATS34, they are good tool steels but for a good knife blade an ol mill sawblade is the best. You can get it to a hardness strong enough to cut the competition and hold the edge, but forgiving enough to not break when splitting a pelvic bone on a whitetail.

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Knives are made for cutting, not splitting bones...

Generally speaking I agree and for hunting practices yes.. But some Militaries may want their soldiers equipped with a steel blade that will slice off a persons arm, head, leg.. These all entail going through bone and the blade of the knife not break.Just putting it out there.

Made for cutting yes. but i don't recall carrying a saw to cut the bone. id rather have a knife that can do it. 2 small taps on the back of the blade with a rock the bone is split. you can stick with your extra hard cutter but If your steel is too brittle it will break if you make the wrong move. Also I'm somewhat clumsy and Ive dropped just about all my knives once or twice. Nobody want a knife they have to pamper and worry about it breaking. At least i don't. My hunting knife is one that if i accidentally drop it on a rock it doesn't give me a heart attack.