Knife Steel and Sharpening

Begger

Everyone here has a couple kitchen knives.   Some are REALLY special to the owner or even family heirlooms.   
I bought my wife some Cutco.   Too expensive for what I got (440A steel) but quite well made and serviceable.

Here is a linke to an article about knife steel.   Some of these steels may NOT be available as kitchen knives.   However,
look around at what you CAN get, do some internet searching and decide what you can afford and what you
like.

http://bestpocketknifetoday.com/discovering-the-best-knife-steel/

A good compromise between sheer hardness and sharpen ability?   440C works as do a few of the 'exotics'.  S30V and 154CM are both highly recommended.   I PERSONALLY avoid ALL the Chinese Steels.  But that's just ME.  

Also, you'll need to keep the knife SHARP if it's going to do you any good.   Too bad the hardest steels are ALSO the most difficult to sharpen properly.  
Spyderco makes a highly regarded sharpening ceramic set.
I'd AVOID that weird belt drive thing you see in infomercials.
I have a traditional steel hone.   And a CERAMIC hone of 1200 grid and a DIAMOND hone of 600 grit.
Not to mention a traditional FLAT stone labeled simply 'coarse' and 'medium'.    I start there on blades which have been abused.   For everyday?  A couple shots of the steel followed by some LEATHER works wonders.   

mahenryak

FWIW I have the Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker Sharpener.  It seems to work well for my needs.  Very versatile.

gdenby

I have one S30V pocket knife, and it is the hardest thing I have to sharpen. I thought the knives I have w. VG-10 cores were hard, but by comparison, meh!

I'm not certain if some of the super hard and tough steels are so good for kitchen work. Really fine slicing takes a very acute angle, and getting that w. particle steels, etc. takes a huge amount of work. I believe I've read a few posts elsewhere that said that the tungsten carbide particles in steels like 230V are bigger than the plain steel holding them, and that if over sharpened, they become dull almost immediately as the carbide falls out of the steel. After which, they are as sharp as the steel by itself can hold.

BYW, grit numbers can be misleading. Various national standards exist, and different vendors assign their own numbers. Try and find what the micron size of the grit is. Much more reliable.

Begger

Hardness is generally made in the annealing / post production part of the process.  
So, a steel like S30V, can be hardened from maybe 58RC to 62 or 63RC.
Depends on what the knifemaker wants.  
Thank goodness my Spyderco S30V pocketknife holds an edge so well.  

The Japanese make LOTS of good kitchen knives with VG-10 and get good results.  

And yes, S30V is a son of a gun to sharpen.   

I worked in the grown quartz industry and have MUCHO experience with grits rated in microns.   Our finest polish was 1/2 micron, IIRC, and was Cerium Oxide.   Hard stuff and unavailable to the ancients.  
I worked for a company making micro-electronic Quartz Tuning Forks for stuff like watches and other precision time keeping applications.