Best Knife Steels Ranked by Property
The best knife steels ranked by edge retention, toughness, corrosion resistance and ease of sharpening, plus a balanced ranking of 30 steels.
No steel wins everything. Hard carbides that make an edge last also make a blade more brittle and slower to sharpen, and the chromium that stops rust is often what limits wear resistance in simple steels. So the useful question is "best at what?" Below, the 30 steels on SteelChart are ranked on each property, then on a simple balanced score.
Best for edge retention
- S90V 9/10 · powder metallurgy stainless steels
- ZDP-189 9/10 · powder metallurgy stainless steels
- 20CV 8/10 · powder metallurgy stainless steels
- CPM M4 8/10 · high-speed powder steels
- HAP40 8/10 · high-speed powder steels
- M390 8/10 · powder metallurgy stainless steels
- CruWear 7/10 · powder metallurgy tool steels
- Elmax 7/10 · powder metallurgy stainless steels
The top of this list is dominated by high-vanadium powder steels and very hard high-speed steels. They hold an edge longest in slicing tests but are the slowest to sharpen.
Best for toughness
- AEB-L 9/10 · stainless steels
- CPM 3V 9/10 · powder metallurgy tool steels
- 14C28N 8/10 · stainless steels
- 80CrV2 8/10 · carbon steels
- LC200N 8/10 · stainless steels
- MagnaCut 8/10 · powder metallurgy stainless steels
- Nitro-V 8/10 · stainless steels
- 420HC 7/10 · stainless steels
Toughness leaders are low-carbide steels: tool steels such as CPM 3V designed for impact, and fine-grained stainless steels such as AEB-L and 14C28N. Pick from here for choppers, thin kitchen edges that must not chip, or hard use.
Best for corrosion resistance
- LC200N 10/10 · stainless steels
- 20CV 9/10 · powder metallurgy stainless steels
- M390 9/10 · powder metallurgy stainless steels
- MagnaCut 9/10 · powder metallurgy stainless steels
- 14C28N 8/10 · stainless steels
- Elmax 8/10 · powder metallurgy stainless steels
- N690 8/10 · stainless steels
- S45VN 8/10 · powder metallurgy stainless steels
Steels that keep a lot of chromium in solution, or replace some carbon with nitrogen, lead this list. LC200N, at the top, is a common choice for salt-water knives.
Best for ease of sharpening
- Shirogami #2 10/10 · carbon steels
- 1095 9/10 · carbon steels
- 14C28N 9/10 · stainless steels
- 420HC 9/10 · stainless steels
- 80CrV2 9/10 · carbon steels
- AEB-L 9/10 · stainless steels
- Nitro-V 9/10 · stainless steels
- 8Cr13MoV 8/10 · stainless steels
Simple carbon steels and fine-grained stainless steels sharpen fastest, because they contain few or no very hard vanadium carbides.
Balanced ranking
This ranking uses the plain average of the four ratings, weighting each property equally. It favours all-rounders over specialists; your own priorities may weight things differently.
| Steel | Type | HRC | Edge | Toughness | Corrosion | Sharpening | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LC200N | Stainless steels | 57–60 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 8 | Premium |
| MagnaCut | Powder metallurgy stainless steels | 61–64 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 5 | Premium |
| 14C28N | Stainless steels | 57–60 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 9 | Budget |
| AEB-L | Stainless steels | 59–62 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 9 | Mid-range |
| Nitro-V | Stainless steels | 59–62 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 9 | Mid-range |
| 420HC | Stainless steels | 56–58 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 9 | Budget |
| 20CV | Powder metallurgy stainless steels | 59–62 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 3 | Premium |
| AUS-8 | Stainless steels | 57–59 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Budget |
| Elmax | Powder metallurgy stainless steels | 60–62 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 4 | Premium |
| M390 | Powder metallurgy stainless steels | 60–62 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 3 | Premium |
| S45VN | Powder metallurgy stainless steels | 59–61 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 5 | Premium |
| CPM 3V | Powder metallurgy tool steels | 58–62 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 6 | Premium |
| N690 | Stainless steels | 58–60 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 6 | Mid-range |
| S35VN | Powder metallurgy stainless steels | 58–61 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 | Mid-range |
| 8Cr13MoV | Stainless steels | 56–59 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 8 | Budget |
For head-to-head detail, see comparisons such as M390 vs MagnaCut or 14C28N vs D2, or sort the full steel chart.
Ratings are relative 1-10 scores at typical knife hardness; see the methodology. Updated 2026-10-14.