Are carbon steel or stainless steel knives better ?

Question

I've heard alot of things from alot of people. Stainless steel won't rust, and is much harder, but doesn't hold as good of an edge. Carbon steel is flexible for use in longer knives and swords, can hold a better edge, but can't take as much of a beating. I think I side with a good 440 C Stainless Steel blade, but that's just me. What do you think?

Answer 1

Well, Carbon is easier to sharpen, and holds an edge a tad longer. Stainless just resists rusting, but its a little harder to resharpen. Its also more brittle.

I think both will work fine. I have carried both, from a Case sodbuster to a Kershaw Leek.

Answer 2

AUS-8 stainless is the best compromise in a steel blade.  It is rust resistant (stainless steel CAN rust it's stainLESS-not stain-proof), holds a good edge, and can be sharpened by the owner (no laser sharpening requirement).  440C is good, by the way.  Carbon steel is popular because it is so easy to sharpen in the field and rust resistant coatings make them ideal for cost efficiency.  I'd be more worried about the brand than anyhting else.  A good domestic carbon steel blade is better than any chinese stainless piece of garbage.

Answer 3

yes carbon is the way to go ist is strong and will last long.

Answer 4

Carbon steel when properly hardened and tempered is miles above stainless in all aspects except rust prevention. I dry my carbon blade and wipe it down with an oil cloth. It is still sharp and rust free. By the way it is circa 1950. Stainless will rust, just not as fast as carbon steel.

Answer 5

i had an aisi 420 stainless pocket knife, from memory it has a higher manganese and a higher chromium content that standard 440. i would go stainless, because every knife needs sharpening, but a high-carbon steel knife will need it more often and wont be long until you wear away the whole blade. also from an engineering standpoint high-carbon steel will wear out your sharpeners faster, and there's the risk of the knife being only case-hardened, in which case once you sharpen it a few time you will wear through the casing and be left with scrap metal. and my 420 was used for everything from skinning to filleting to opening cans and it held a d**n good edge.

Answer 6

440 is a good compromise. The more carbon, the more brittle, but it will hold an edge much longer. The right combination of various elements in the forging process is an art.  

Answer 7

Carbon has more strength and edge retention. I have beat the c**p out of my KA-BAR, the finish is all messed up but I have yet felt the need to sharpen it and if I cared about finish I would just get some matte black spray paint. Carbon steel is good for swords but it's the quality of that steel and if it has been folded and heat treated correctly mixed with some other factors like tang that have nothing to do with the steel. Superior quality steel can be ruined without the proper heat treatment. 440C is good but there are higher grades of stainless like VG-1, VG-10 and AUS 8. My cold steel I keep on me is VG-1 stainless and it has held up rather well. But it does get surface rust as the carbon content is a bit higher than your average 440.

440A, 420, and 400 stainless are junk, they can't hold an edge, they resist rust but at a major cost in durability. 440C works in knives but not swords. I do have a stainless katana but it's basically a wall hanger and I know that.

And if a website selling knives says in their descripion "440" without a letter it's 440A.