I'm pretty sure that this topic has been beaten to death by now. But, I still can't get a definite answer. With stainless steel, you get better corrosion resistance, and you will hold and edge longer. With carbon steel, you will hold a sharper edge, and you could forge a knife blade longer than 2 ft without breakage. I'm personally a fan of stainless steel, just because it seems to hold up to use and abuse better in the long run. HOWEVER, I have NEVER had a factory made knife break on me. I don't think that they would try to sell you a knife that didn't do what it was meant to do, at least to a reasonable degree. (I work for a living, and can't afford a custom $600 knife.) What do you think? Is this a pointless topic, and are the two steels really not that different?
I am a woodcarver & I have not found a stainless steel that will hold a candle to good high carbon steel. if you want to see the difference buy a cheap Mora knife about $10.00 play around with that for a while you can get plain high carbon or laminated steel (layered hard inside soft). If this is satisfactory you can get a great knife from Kellum for about $125.00. I have every imaginable combination of steel save a few new powder formulas. If you are looking for something salt water resistant Spyderco makes an H1 steel , pretty good... D2 tool steel is not bad either.(not salt resistant) But if you are willing to take care of it (wipe clean & oil) after every use for my money high carbon steel is the best. You might also want to check out a company called Cape Forge, hand forged steel at a not outrageous price
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