Love k390, wish more companies would use it, i think i might also do this video 👍

For the average user aus8 or aus10a. Easy maintenance like cts xhp and s35vn are great for mostly all edc tasks. I use my Cold Steel Recon 1 cts xhp hollow grind for edc and bushcraft, probably my best all around folder

14c28n, s35vn, 3v, cruwear, magnacut. Some amount of stainlessness is good living in a humid area. And I value toughness for woodworking

K390 is wicked good. I have the Spyderco police 4 in k390 and it's my 2nd favorite knife right now. The manix 2 s110v is #1. I like the manix ergos a lot

Great list Gerald. All are fantastic steels. My list is as follows, not far off at all. 1. K390 2. Rex 45 3. Maxamet 4. 4v 5. S90v I’ll throw in XHP as an honorable mention too for the stainless class and of course I love my Z-wear.

Gerald.. Where ya been man? The knife community needs you! You've always been a huge asset to the community. I hope you're doing good. Take it easy.

CruWear,VANAX and MagnaCut are my top 3. ELMAX and 3V not far behind

Excellent video. I would love to see a similar video with your favorite budget (or maybe non-powder) steels too.

I wonder why absolutely nobody talks today about ZDP 189 and yes, I have Spyderco's K390 blades and other steels like CPM 20CV, CPM S90V and S110V, Maxamet... to compare with but I love those first. My most usual EDC is a Delica and in my keyring there is always a Manbug, both in ZDP 189.

I really like S35VN and 20CV. Even 14c28n is great. A well heat treated D2 isn’t bad either.

Great choices! My go to Spyderco’s are a “Cru-Carta” PM2 in Cruwear, Endura 4 in ZDP-189 and my newest Manix 2 mint blade hq model in M4. They’re all wearing Homeslices dual grit edge that I put on and are insanely sharp and have incredible bite. They’re the three best steels I have. I have a link in 20CV and an ultratech in M390 but after your videos and others I’ve sadly realized they’re junk versions of those steels and not heat treated for crap. That’s why I’m just sticking with Spyderco from now on. Next up is either the purple DLT Cruwear PM2 or the Stretch 2 in K390. Probably the Cruwear PM2 because the K390 Stretch isn’t really in any danger of being sold out and no longer available so I’ll just get that later.

My top two are easily cruwear and k390. Things get a bit fuzzy after that. I *really* like BD1N and 9CR when they’re done well...but I think my list is tainted by the fact that I legitimately enjoy freehand sharpening. I like steels that will quickly give you a freakish edge on any stone you have lying around. K390 is the only high vanadium steel I’ve found (so far...) with that characteristic. I use diamond with it anyway but I’ll tell you...I finished my k390 endela on a .44 micron shapton and it’s remained goofy sharp ever since. I might try giving my endura that treatment just to see what happens.

That’s a good top 5. I been edc k390 endela for some time now. It never needs sharpening

Id be content with D2, 154 CM, 3V, M4 and Maxamet.

K390. I have to agree with you 👍. ZDP 189 is a great steel. Thanks for the video 😎👍

Loved your review. I have to say that my now go to steel for folding knives is Cruwear. It stays sharp and is easy to sharpen and takes a pretty good beating in the tough department. For my bush craft it’s 3V. I have a Bark River Bravo 1.25 in 3V and after a hard weekend use strops back like a champ.

Ohhh man I have the K390 enuff2 fixed blade and WOWWW was I ever to put an edge on that thing! Like super scary if you even look at it itll cut you lmao

Cruwear, K390, M4, Rex45, S90V. I've no experience with Maxamet yet, and very little with 4V, so that could change in the future. I like Cruwear, 3V and A2 for fixed blades. For budget blades, 14C28N.

I have a DULO DBK bushcrafter in K390. I've skinned two deer and a hog and still pops hair. Also have a DULO PUKKO (Laminated) in K390. Skinned a huge buck hitting bone, cutting muscle and tendon. Again, still hair poppin sharp. I am in agreement, K390 kicks ass.

YES K390 is My Favorite 😍👌

I lost my s90v milie fishing. I miss it. I live in Florida, it will stain saltwater fishing but it wipes off when you get back. My fishing trips are 2 days on the water (camp on the beach) in a 16 foot boat so fairly rough on a knife as far as corrosion is concerned. I curently own a k390 endura, rex45 pm2 , cruwear military, m4 contega, 710 d2, assorted 14 28n, 13c26, 12c27 off the top of my head. I obviously agree on the k390,cruwear, and s90v ,m4 being top tier. My favorite though is the rex 45 then k390 , cruwear, m4. The m4 is below my corrosion resistance threshold, rex 45 will hold a more acute angle than k390 by a large margin, harder than cruwear. It seems to make full use of every element. I'm obviously splitting hairs here:) but that is my ranking. I respect Larrin Thomas's work but rex45 is a much, much better steel than his testing would indicate. Geometry is king.( with some vanadium )

I only started collecting in March this year and my collection is more about variety at the moment. Currently have knives in AUS 8, 8cr13mov, D2, 20CV, VG10 Damascus, S90V, S30V, LC200n, s45vn, CPM-154, S35VN, and CPM-M4. If I had to choose three steels from the collection, I'd probably go with s90v, 20cv, and either S30v or s45vn. I recently added m4 to my collection so I'm interested in seeing how it performs.

Love the videos. I also enjoy reading all the comments.

I have a 5mm thick 4 inch fixed scandy blade in K390 at around 64hrc. It has split knotted wood without even losing sharpness. I have also seen examples where edge to edge similar knives in k390 cut through other knives without anything other than a minor reflexion on the edge

K390, M4, Cruwear for folders, AEB-L, 80crv2 for fixed blades

Damn I had wondered how well Manly did their S90V heat treating and how hard they ran em but never would I have guessed so low... Still very inexpensive knives with great performance and Uber thin bte grinds

In my experience it's gotta be k390 and s45vn. My k390 endura is a knife I'll die with. And my s45vn paramilitary, i literally used all day, everyday at work for almost a year before i had to touch it.

Cruwear, XHP, CPM-154, Maxamet & S90V if I had to choose 5. Good vid G!

Thanks for the video. I understand the choices, edge retention, toughness and fine edge. I agree with four of them but personally my list would be S90V, Maxamet, LC200N, Vanex, Cru-Wear and K390. The LC200N and Vanex for high salt / special use situations.

Rex45, M4, M390/20cv, k390, and believe it or not good old s30v. Hard to leave out Zmax, Cruwear, and 4v

When you get your hands on some Spyderco BBB 15V you will have it in your top 5 and possibly in the #1 spot lol

Nice list; very much like mine except I have no 4V :( For me K390 & Cruwear also battle for the top two spots. My kingdom for a Cruwear Endura!

Love me some k390, cruwear and Vanax. Thanks for the video 👍👍

Don't know if you'll see this it being an older video, but new subscriber here. I watched this one first to get an idea of where you're at. My favorites are Cru, K390, and Superblue, so I was in! Lol. Looking forward to checking out more of your content.

Gr8 vid mate... interesting results... thankyou... been looking forward to this for a long time....lol... 🍻👊👍

Solid choices right there. I would have to leave out cruwear, 4V, and seki k390 for the fact I have only used 1 sample from that steel. Golden k390 isnt on the same level as.the seki stuff. And repeatability is just as important to me as accessibility. I know knifecenter has that 4V sheepdog exclusive but it might be the mini.

LC200N is my current favorite. If I could sharpen better it might be something else. Stainless matters to me.

Great idea for a video, thank you 👍🤘🤘

I have discovered over time that a steel is only as good as it’s heat treat. For instance, AEB-L is a snoozer right? But, when LT Wright hardens it to a degree that it takes an hour to put an edge on it with diamond stones, suddenly this AEB-L makes my Canadian belt knife the ultimate edge retaining skinner. 440-HC is a “who cares” steel now-a-days. But Buck knives has its heat treat down to a science making my Buck 110 Hunter a bullet proof skinner requiring a simple strop from time to time. 154CM is an average steel as I understand the internet comments. But put it in a custom skinner from a custom maker and you’ll have a knife whose edge lasts and lasts.

You've named my favorites but missed tripleB or Shawn Houston/spyderco 15V! I now own all 3 the mniaz2, the PM2 and the Shaman in 15V at 65.5+

Our lists are very much the same, althougjh I've yet to experience Cruwear or Maxamet, which I am inclined to seek now. So in the place of Cruwear, I'll put XHP and Maxamet can be substituted with Vanadis 4E.

That is a expensive list. The only steel I've had experience with is s90v. I got it years ago a spyderco manix sprint run. I didn't have it 4 months it chipped to hell very easy. I gave it back to snap-on for a loss. Maybe it was my use being a mechanic I scrap gaskets cut wire and other hard stuff. Guess I'm just a budget knife guy I don't see $120 dollar difference in these steels Maybe if I get a cheap k390 somewhere. But personally I like xhp, 14c28n, D2 they have worked good for me easy to replace easy to sharpen I believe the others are gimmick really for my use. Maybe if I worked in a warehouse breaking tons of cardboard it would be different. Still don't see the value in a few less sharpenings. Do you really think $250 for cru-wear vs $30 14c28n do you really think it's worthwhile I don't see why they cost so much.

EDIT: I actually do have one specific question to ask - where would Rex 45 fit in here? I know you mentioned in the past that it was becoming a favorite steel of yours, but I am wondering whether you could follow up on that a bit. Thank you. Videos like these are really feeding the trolls inside our heads :) I do wish we would get k390, 4V or Cruwear in more production models from Spyderco. The PM2 coming out later this year definitely goes in the right direction, I guess that we just need to be patient (and keep bugging Sal about it :p ). I would love to get my hands on 4V or k390 Para 3, but those are unobtanium unfortunately (and I foolishly sold Para 3 in Cruwear).

Another question.... what's your thoughts on s110v and why do you think it's not as highly regarded as s90v if it's supposed to be the " king of stainless "?

My top 5 steels (and yes I own and have regularly used just about every popular high speed tool that’s currently popular such as Maxamet, M390, Cruwear, M4, K390, etc…): 1) 154 CPM 2) 154 CPM 3) 154 CPM 4) 154 CPM 5) 154 CPM

My take away from this video is that I need more knives. I have CTS XTP, S35VN and bit of knife envy. Nice collection. Have sharpened those yourself? The edges looks really good!

Pretty cool how he holds all the knives with his foot

CPM Cruwear/Z-Wear (both are identical) used to be my favorite steel, until MagnaCut, which is probably my new favorite. It's Cruwear but even more corrosion resistance!

my favorite steel by far is BD1N. Just an incredibly balanced steel in all elements; edge retention, toughness, stainlessness, ease of sharpening AND price and availability

Where would you place magnacut ? Thx in advance

Have you tested any Kizer 4V or 10V the 10V Maverick is only 80 bucks at BladeHQ and I love mine super thin blade grind!

I just ordered the pm2 in s90v

S90V, 20CV, CPM154, S30V, 4V which would be #3 on my list if not because of it's not stainless.

Top 5... Manix2 maxamet... K390 police... M390 pm2... 3v warcraft cold steel... M4 shaman 😉

How would s110v and s45vn come into play with this list?

My top is k390, cruwear, xhp, lc200n, and psf27

Have you gotten any chance to use/test S125V? S90V, Elmax & 4v are among my favorite steels so I'm pretty curious about s125v

I also find Maxamet easy to sharpen. My PM2 Maxamet holds an edge better than the Sage 1 Maxamet. My K390 para 3 rolled hard in the first 10 feet of cardboard on the factory edge I sharpened it and cut 60 feet and it held a straight edge but was dull. My S90V native chief is holding an edge against its first 60 feet of cardboard

M390, Lc200N, Spy27, 3V, BD1N are my favorites for different reasons.

strength is different from toughness. harder steel is stronger. also with that k390. maybe one day sc will actually do something interest and laminate it with 14c28n or something like that.

I'm trying not to favor magnacut for being a stainless steel with carbon steel properties. For right now, magnacut>cruwear>s90v.

What about M4, not easy to sharpen enough, or lower corrosion resistance? I would put M4 in top 5… but also N690 for ease of general use …

If you had to choose between cruwear and z wear what would you choose? I feel z wear is better due to the stainless aspect and has the same edge retention and toughness as cruwear. Also do you like nitro v at all due to it being tougher than cruwear? Thanks

my top 5 would be s30v, xhp, rex45, cruwear, k390 in that order

In no order maxamet, spyderco m390, k390, XHP, s90v, 10V and 3cr13🙀. That’s my top 5!

Been looking at manly in s90v, shame to hear they are a bit soft.

All I've seen in K390 is Spyderco. Anyone know of a company other than Spyderco that uses that steel?

S90, m4, cruwear, s30, maxamet is my guess, in that order; before I watch. Will see in 30 minutes if I'm correct.

Nice informative video, thank you. What is your view on CPM M4?

That shiro is sweet

8:07 that little bowie is sweet!

I have a bgm in cruwear. It’s off getting it’s first edge put on it. I have a custom one off Lanza with bright green g10 scales and a stone washed satin full flat grind. The stonewashed satin is pretty cool how from one angle it looks like it’s only stonewashed and from a different angle all you see it the belt satin finish. I love the way it looks.

All great steels. Can't go wrong with any of them. Great to be a knife user these days. My top 5 would change depending on usage. From my limited EDC tasks: 5. M390 (old faithful) 4. 20cv 3. S90v 2. Maxamet 1. K390

For me it would be m4, s90v, 15v, 4v, k390 would be my #5 thru #1. 15v filled the space maxamet used to hold and bumped it off the top 5, it does everything maxamet does yet it comes up stickier and it responds to a diamond or cbn strop incredibly well. Seki k390 just has it dialed in tho I will say golden 10v gives it a run for it's money as number 1 but beings seki is normal production and 10v only pops up rarely I gotta give it to k390. The couple pieces of golden done 10v I own are incredible on the stones and in use, I have really fallen in love with that stuff! The steel I carry the most as of the past 2 years has without a doubt been s90v, it's just a steel that performs absolutely fantastic for my needs in a knife. I love the aggression that the edge holds for a crazy long time and being in Florida I don't have to worry about corrosion. S90v lil native or native 5 is probably my single two most carried knives. Plus the knife that is literally my everyday carry and is in my purse 100% of the time is my s90v triangle tools opinel number 8 lol, no knife I own has seen even 1/10th as much use as that s90v opinel. That thing is so good I bought a #10 from them as well. S90v both poked in the mid 62s rc and they just cut forever. The #10 hasn't seen a ton of use but I have cut tested it, the number 8 sees a ton of use and with the geometry of that thin little #8 profile blade it just cuts and cuts and cuts some more. Every body should own one of the triangle tools opinel #8s or 10s in s90v, best 100 and 110 dollars I've ever spent was one those 2 knives.

Great vid Gerald, enjoyed it a whole lot. By the way how did the moving go?

Just got my bento box exclusive para 3 in k390 because you and Jared at Neve's knives both spoke so highly of it, and I don't care for any of the frn models. One quick question though, have you tested 10V steel like the REC exclusive Para 3 had? I'm curious if it stacks up favorably with K390 since you spoke highly of 4V. I also got a 204P domino exclusive from bento box. I was so happy to finally get my hands on a domino to keep my manix 2 company

What is the s90v model after the orange manix? Had a backlock

My top 5 :S35vn (on my Native5), s45vn (PM2), ZDP189(Endura), M390 ( Hogue RSK), REX45 (Manix 2 LWT). I am waiting for Stretch K390 . Definitiv not a fan of S110V.

Enjoyed

🤘🏼

Cruwear, M4, 3V, K390, CTS-XHP for me

Have you ever seen/ heard of “diamond edge knives”? They apparently friction forge their edges producing like a 67hrc area near the edge. Very very interesting, but I assume it’s kinda bs

When u tell me it’s tuff enuff strong enuff edge retention enuff and it’s all enuff for ur use, then it’s all good if not too good for me. But I very much look at corrosion resistance living in the tropics of south east Asia: Malaysia to be exact. S30v from spyderco and Benchmade is more than enuff for me. Although I do like s45vn...ur thoughts on s45?

Interesting to learn from those with more experience than myself...Thanks. My Spyderco Police K390 looks nasty compared to yours...keep it away from acidic foods...lol. I’ve been impressed by K390, Cruware, XHP, M4 and one particular knife in D2 for there ability to take and hold a fine edge. Truly disappointed in most of my S35vn and M390/20cv blades...

What do you do to make all your g10 manix 2's so smooth and easy to disengage? Nice list, I only have rex 45 and 154cm both of which I like.

Who makes the shark fixed blade you have in k390 in this video?

Any opinions on Elmax? Picked up Bradford G Necker...Thanks

What are your top five budget steels? 14C28N? AEB-L?

K390all day every day!! I'm patently waiting for a manix2 lightweight in k390 damnit!! lol

ty

Where can i find the manix in the different metals and how to find when the new models come out.

Z wear vs cruwear if you had to choose??

Always interested in this opinion. Always referenced before I buy.

M4 and Maxamet. Use Sentry Solutions Marine Tough Cloth. You will be happy.......

I wonder if there will be a pm2 in k390?

Of the 5, is cruwear the easiest to sharpen ?

Come on, no 20cv or m390 on the list! All the yt reviewers say it's the the best. Kidding, that's a good top 5👍

Great video, how would you rate 3v and nitro v?

What is the name of the little fixed blade in k390?

Surprised Rex45 didnt make the list