Hit 1000 finished knives and it changed my mind about steel types

I always thought high carbon steel was the only way to go for quality blades. But last month I finished my 1000th knife and decided to actually count how many came back for sharpening or complaints. Out of that 1000, about 200 were high carbon and I had 30 returns. Out of 300 stainless blades, only 5 came back. That surprised me enough to start testing 440C more seriously for kitchen knives. Has anyone else seen better durability with stainless over carbon in actual use?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylan_bell27d ago

Dig into that paperwork you mentioned - were the carbon steel returns mostly from customers who got the care instructions with the knife or from the ones who just bought it off the table? I'm wondering if the problem is the steel or the education gap.

margaretm2327d ago

WELL that is some REAL data right there. I've got to ask though - were those high carbon returns mostly from people who knew how to care for carbon steel or from folks who just bought a knife 'cause it looked pretty? Because I've seen plenty of people treat a carbon blade like it's stainless and then wonder why it's all pitted and rusted. That would skew your numbers something fierce if the stainless buyers were more careful with their knives in general.