←back to thread

Show HN: I built a knife steel comparison tool

(new.knife.day)
135 points p-s-v | 2 comments | 17 May 25 17:13 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

Hey HN!

I'm a bit of a knife steel geek and got tired of juggling tabs to compare stats. So, I built this tool: https://new.knife.day/blog/knife-steel-comparisons/all

It lets you pick steels (like the ones in the screenshot) and see a radar chart comparing their edge retention, toughness, corrosion resistance, and ease of sharpening on a simple 1-10 scale.

It's already been super handy for me, and I thought fellow knife/metallurgy enthusiasts here might find it useful too.

Would love to hear your thoughts or any steel requests!

Cheers!

Show context
keisborg ◴[17 May 25 19:36 UTC] No.44016437[source]▶
I looked through most of the charts, and I it seems like you cannot get the best of two worlds. Can you get good edge retention, ease of sharpening and toughness at the same time?

It would be nice with an example on how knife steel properties work. I assume there are balanced tradeoffs.

replies(4): >>44016494 #>>44016990 #>>44017976 #>>44018717 #
1. p-s-v ◴[17 May 25 19:47 UTC] No.44016494[source]▶
that is correct, edge retention, ease of sharpening and toughness usually come at a trade off to one another.

A harder blade is more brittle (less tough) and keeps its edge longer... but is also more difficult to sharpen once it gets dull.... generally speaking.

replies(1): >>44019970 #
2. johnisgood ◴[18 May 25 08:58 UTC] No.44019970[source]▶
H1 and H2 seems to fare well on all properties except edge retention.

I would probably be interested in a knife that has high corrosion resistance, toughness, and edge retention; ease of sharpening might not be that much of a concern, personally, but correct me if I am wrong and it actually matters despite toughness.