The best steel? Larrin names six

最好的鋼材？Larrin 點名 6 個鋼材

2026.06.1812 min readDeep dive

Steel TalkLORE LAB

Larrin's point isn't which steel wins. It's that the difference within a category is far smaller than the difference geometry makes.

Larrin Thomas was interviewed about which knife steels he considers the best, and his answer was more interesting than a list.

Most users, he argues, compare steels inside the same category: S30V against M390/20CV. That's like comparing a Honda Civic with a Toyota Corolla: barely a difference. If you want a comparison, compare a Hummer to a Lamborghini, or to an F1 car.

He describes three different flavours of steel. Switch flavour rather than model and you'll actually feel it. He is also explicit that blade geometry outweighs steel choice.

The concept you need: the stress–strain curve

• Yield strength: up to here the material behaves like rubber; stretch it and it returns. Past it, deformation is permanent.
• Ultimate strength: permanently deformed, no going back. Bend metal and you feel the force rising; past the ultimate point it bends easily.
• Fracture: it breaks.

Translated to an edge

• Yield strength: the most stress the apex can take while staying undeformed, un-chipped and sharp.
• Ultimate strength: the apex has deformed, the edge has rolled, chipping is next.
• Fracture: the edge breaks.
• High HRC raises yield and ultimate strength, and usually lowers toughness.
• High toughness delays both fracture and the ultimate point: the edge may roll, but it won't chip yet.

High toughness: 14C28N and AEB-L

At 60.5–61 HRC, 14C28N has roughly 30 ft-lbs of toughness with about 5–6% carbide. That toughness lets us use lower angles per side, which raises sharpness. Its weakness is hardness (the yield strength is lower), so the fix is a micro bevel around 20° per side.

AEB-L runs 60–64 HRC with 10–35 ft-lbs and the same 5–6% carbide. Heat treated to 63 HRC it takes a smaller micro bevel, around 15° per side. Kitchen-knife 14C28N usually sits at 58–59 HRC, which is tougher again. AEB-L's range is wide enough that 60 HRC makes a very thin chopper and 63 HRC a very thin small knife.

Balanced: CPM-154 and MagnaCut

This is what balanced looks like: enough toughness (roughly 5–10 ft-lbs and up depending on hardness), a wide usable hardness range, and enough carbide to resist wear, at the cost of being harder to sharpen.

High wear: S90V and S110V

• Carbide content above 15% (S90V around 19%, S110V around 27%) makes sharpening very hard work.
• Toughness is comparatively low, under 10 ft-lbs.
• High hardness is achievable, but with limited toughness, low angles invite chipping.

Conclusions

• The old assumption that high HRC means brittle doesn't hold: AEB-L at 63 HRC still gives reasonable toughness (10–11 ft-lbs).
• Low-carbide steels are tougher but wear faster; high-carbide steels are the reverse.
• Toughness lets you thin the stock behind the edge, because chipping is prevented and a rolled edge is easy to fix.
• Hardness lets you go to a lower apex angle, because it resists the stress that deforms an apex.
• 14C28N: 20° per side micro bevel. AEB-L above 62 HRC: 15° per side with a thin BTE.
• CPM-154 depends on the maker's heat treatment. MagnaCut is strong on both counts (thin BTE and 15° per side) but harder to grind.
• S90V and S110V give exceptional wear resistance but shouldn't be run thin; 20° per side and up. Production heat treats are often conservative (Benchmade S90V is 59–61 HRC).