The famous American knifemaker BILL BAGWELL talks about knife material selection: pure carbon steel, stainless steel, Malaysian steel, which one you choose is entirely up to you. But remember, the blade steel is the single most important factor in determining how well your knife performs. Different blade steels exhibit different performance characteristics; many popular blade steels are often the wrong choice when used as a material for making cutting tools. Moreover, in fact, the knives made from the best knife steel are often third-rate. Today's knives are typically made from these three types of steel. From a metallurgical point of view, the simplest steel is usually called straight carbon steel (today, no commercial steel is truly pure carbon steel anymore, they all contain other alloy components). The pure carbon steel we are talking about here refers to steels such as 1040, 1060, and 1095. Their internal structure is simple and straightforward; and when properly treated, they are extremely tough, resistant to impact, and capable of cutting. Their superior cutting quality and high strength make them an obvious choice for making a fighting or survival knife. Their only drawback is that they will lose their luster with use and lack of maintenance will lead to rust problems. This factor causes many people to ignore their usefulness and look for other knife steels. However, in this way, people gain some fashion and convenience while sacrificing cutting performance and strength. For this kind of exchange, I don't want to let it happen with a knife that may put my life on the line. Stainless steel is the second type of steel that interests us. Common stainless steels include 440C, 154CM, A2, D2, F6, etc. This type of steel was developed for the special requirements of industry, not for the needs of handheld knives. Their popularity is fueled by a typical series of poor performances and public praise. Take 440C as an example. This steel does not have excellent cutting properties in any effective hardness range and tends to be brittle at higher hardnesses. When 440C reaches the appropriate hardness so that the blade has a passable edge retention, it becomes almost impossible to sharpen. In other words, a 440C steel knife either has very poor retention; or the overall strength is very low and is so brittle that you cannot resharpen it. If 400C is such a poor choice, why has it become so popular? There are two reasons, both of which are because of the bright surface of 440C. 440C is the so-called surgical scalpel steel. Americans usually think: Since 440C is a material for making scalpels, its performance in cutting other things must also be super strong. But the facts speak for themselves. The real reason 440C is used to make scalpels is that its excellent anti-rust properties make bureaucrats think it is easier to sterilize or more "hygienic" than pure carbon steel. As a result, many states in the United States have passed legislation requiring the use of stainless steel utensils in surgical procedures in order to "hygiene". Another reason the 440C has become popular is that America’s elite knife collectors use knives as works of art rather than tools or weapons. In the last decade, many knife collectors have demanded that their knives be absolutely tarnish-free and fingerprints not allowed to be stamped on their knives at exhibitions, and custom knifemakers have immediately focused their greatest attention on this small group of people. The result is that the cutting properties of a knife have been largely abandoned because a new generation of these custom knifemakers simply don't know the difference between a real knife and a "knife" that doesn't really cut anything. In the mid-to-late 1970s, 154CM became rapidly and widely popular as a steel material for making knives. It was a typical case of public shopping being deceived. From the perspective of a knife user, 154CM is indeed a bad choice, a tool that is super wear-resistant but not very wear-friendly. And what is extremely uncomfortable is that when the thin edge of this steel is squeezed, such as using a 154CM knife to chop trees and chop firewood, the edge always tends to shatter. The cutting performance of this steel is second-rate at best, and its cutting edge has a certain "slippery (rather than micro-toothed)" characteristic that forces you to press hard when cutting. Although the 154CM has many of the above-mentioned shortcomings for knife users, from the perspective of a knife maker, it has several real advantages. First, this kind of steel has good red hardness, or it can maintain its toughness better in rising temperatures. Second, it is less prone to warping during heat treatment. Third, it has an "intrinsic charm" that adds luster to the entire knife. These advantages bring many benefits to knifemakers. The excellent red hardness means that the knifemaker can polish it immediately after heat treatment to 154CM without worrying about the loss of tempering toughness. The knife can also be quickly thinned in a short time (without worrying about annealing), thereby increasing production. The characteristic of 154CM that it is not easy to warp during the heat treatment process allows the knife blank to be made very thin before undergoing heat treatment, which not only helps to save heat treatment time, but also makes the scrap rate very, very low. However, the real advantage lies in the "inherent charm" of 154CM in industrial applications, except of course in the scope of tool applications. If you think back to the early 1970s, you remember that the United States had not yet experienced the oil crisis, and that at that time the vast majority of Americans still believed that the world loved them and that Americans were the smartest people on the planet.

After all, we Americans had already flown the world's largest commercial aircraft, the Boeing 747. What’s amazing is that in order to welcome this great national moment, we even designed and constructed a new engine, and the turbine blades that propelled this human miracle into the sky were made of 154CM steel. The connection between the metallurgical requirements of a jet engine's turbine blades and the steel used in handheld knives has always been a bit elusive to me. As someone who has experienced it, I guess the real reason why people were crazy about buying 154CM steel knives at that time was that they felt like they were holding a small piece of Boeing 747 in their hands. Under the technological halo of the Jet Age, the knife-making industry has successfully sold a large number of knives with fragile edges and difficult to sharpen to people. This has made many custom-made knifemakers rich and wealthy, and they have grown into capitalists in this era of symbolism. . Various knife magazines also contributed to the flames without knowing what was going on. They first colluded with the bad customs in the knife world, and then infected the entire knife news and publishing industry at that time. It is through this method that custom knifemakers sell this steel, which should have nothing to do with knifemaking, to countless consumers and the next generation of the growing knifemaking industry. The third type of steel represents (or combines) the inherent potential of all the best knives currently available, and is the most intoxicating type. It is Damascus Steel. In the simplest terms, it is a rolling combination of steel and iron. Most Malaysian steel knives are between 250 and 1100 layers. This is the famous "corrugated steel" of military legend, and when it is properly shaped, forged and heat treated, the resulting knife is unparalleled. An excellent Damascus steel knife can have a sharp edge that no other current steel material has, as well as super impact resistance and incredible long-term sharpness. Plus, it's very easy to sharpen. The only drawback is that excellent Damascus steel is extremely difficult to make. This means that high-quality Malaysian steel requires a high level of craftsmanship and unremitting work efforts, and it is very expensive. The production process of this type of steel is difficult to grasp. In addition to the high threshold for making billet steel, it is also more difficult to heat treat it as a knife. There are a lot of processing links, and any mistake made by the knifemaker during the processing will directly turn Dama Steel into an inferior knife. When Damascus steel is truly treated properly, the knives made from it become “unique” in a substantial sense. But if the knifemaker does not handle Damascus steel properly, the knife buyer will end up with a beautiful and expensive thing that is inefficient at cutting and has poor edge retention, or it has cutting ability but an extremely fragile edge. The best advice I can give to anyone thinking of getting a Damascus steel knife is to stick to the following two principles when choosing one. First, make sure the person making the knife for you is also the person who made the piece of Malaysian steel. If he didn't make the Damascus steel, he almost certainly didn't know how to properly heat treat the finished knife. The metallurgical structure of no two pieces of Damascus steel is exactly the same, and no matter who makes it, the person making the knife must first be very versed in the inherent properties of the corresponding material. Second, ask the person who made the knife how well his knife cuts. Ask him if his knife can cut through a Grade 2A support rod with both hands and still be razor-sharp, which is the benchmark for a Malaysian steel knife with cutting capabilities. If his knife cannot do this, and you are a knife user who pursues the expressiveness of a knife, then obviously you should give up buying it. Remember, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and with so many Malaysian steel knives out there, sometimes you really can’t expect to get the best value for your money. So, what are the conclusions in summary? And what kind of steel can I remember? For most use cases, a good knife made of pure carbon steel should be the best choice. In this regard, I personally prefer knives made of excellent 1040 steel. It has no rivals in the knife world and can be said to be unique. Rust problem? Remember, men have been plying the seas for centuries with their pure carbon steel swords, and their swords didn't turn into piles of rust overnight. Of course, if you can properly maintain the knife and resist moisture, then the pure carbon steel knife will also contribute its strength, sharpness and easy-sharpening qualities to you, which are things that stainless steel cannot contribute. If I could only choose a knife made of stainless steel, my first material target would be D2. D2 steel is processed to a point where its overall cutability is superior to other existing stainless steels without becoming any more brittle than any of them. Dama Steel takes us to relive the historical memories of the ultimate killing blade. A properly handled Malaysian steel knife is unbeatable, but as a knife user you first need to be very careful about who and how you spend your knife dollars. There are very, very few people in this world who truly understand Damascus Steel. These people understand that not all that glitters is gold.

I hope you do the same