Blade Steel Testing - 10 of the Same Knife, 10 Different Steels, MULE Series results!

[@christianmolick8647]

Check out his Blade Show and Shot Show coverage and I think you will agree that meat or not, Eugene Kwon is a machine!

[@CedricAda]

WHO TOLD YOU EUGENE WAS A MACHINE WE SPECIFI- oh, haha yes, he certainly is a consistant content creator. *nervous laughter*

[@LiquidMemes]

@@CedricAda That music hits me right in my pokemon memories

[@khaliljedidiah8096]

i know Im asking the wrong place but does anybody know a method to log back into an Instagram account? I somehow forgot the login password. I appreciate any tricks you can give me

[@nehemiahivan179]

@Khalil Jedidiah Instablaster :)

[@khaliljedidiah8096]

@Nehemiah Ivan I really appreciate your reply. I found the site through google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff now. Takes a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@whhitestallion]

Magnacut is impressive too. Came back to add it. He had two of them. One hit 750 and the other hit 850

[@daeholm]

Shoutout to Spyderco. What other knife company would make the same knife in all these different steels just for the hell of it? The knife world would be a much less interesting place without them that's for sure.

[@nintendontbutdo5507]

Love spyderco and i would stop loving knives if spyderco was not there for sure. They are so great with what they offer for sure :)

[@satan101101]

That was the selling point of Spyderco for me,They offered so many types of steel and that’s encouraged me to collect their knifes as many variations as possible 🤣

[@AMNE17]

You're the second content creator that truly inspired me to go through with the patreon account. Thank you for going through this and uploading it for all of us, Pete! You are a true gentleman and a scholar.

[@CedricAda]

thankyou mate! i just saw you jump on there, its much appreciated

[@joshhopps8494]

Likewise . Gentleman, scholar, weirdo. My kind of people

[@mmllrjr]

who’s the other?

[@ChaplainDaveSparks]

Every time you said _"Twisted Sisal Rope"_ I could mentally hear the song playing _"We're Not Gonna Take It"!_

[@stacesmith8135]

I know I've said it before... but you make some of the most entertaining and enjoyable content in our community. Thanks 🙏👍🏻👊🏻

[@Steelydan670]

I’m glad you came back to the bigger picture at the end of the video. I’ve been a custom knife maker for about 12 years and I’ve used and tested most of these steels in outdoor use applications (not abuse tests and not repetitive scientific method testing). The steels you listed as what most peoples favorites hit the nail on the head. 4V, M4, and 52100 are my favorites on your review overall. Vanadis 4E, similar to 4V, and CTS PD-1 (vastly different from BD-1) are at the very top of my list as well. But... I enjoy the edge quality and bite I can get on 52100 better than anything else. I don’t have any desire to work with or even own a knife in 110V or, god forbid, Maximet. You do a nice job with these videos. Keep up the good work!

[@CedricAda]

yeah I do try and emphasize that this is a rather small niche in knife steel attributes that often folks rate as a third or fourth most important one. If I was a knife maker, I’d be wanting something that offered decent performance without eating all my belts up, could sit on a shelf for a while without corroding away, so I definitely see the appeal of things like CPM154 and Aebl, and the sandvik steels too

[@olmanoutlaw]

A little-known gem is what I carry daily. Been dealing with knives for almost 47 years and the $60 Boker Kalashnikov in CTS-XHP is one of the best knife deals out there. If you can still get it at that price. And proper heat treating is the key to any knife steel. You can see this in many variants of D2, 420HC, 44C, etc. No one does D2 like Bob Dozier. No one does the cheap 420HC like Buck, and no one does the cheap 440C like Boker. 440C was my steel of choice for more years than any, up until I moved on to the Boker CTS-XHP. And generally, I don't like having to miss a car payment to buy something I'm just using as EDC. People overpay for knives of all types every day. If I pay a ridiculous amount of money for a knife it will be one to put up and not use, which some would find to be stupid. My cheaper taste in quality knives still gets the job done. My "bug out"/survival knife is a $50 Gerber Strongarm. Excellent knife for the money. Those are my opinions and to each his own.

[@d4mdcykey]

Dude, that Intro was one of the best ever, I was howling; Eugene is one of my absolute favorite and thorough Reviewers on KZbin and gets his hands on some of my most coveted pieces. Brilliant as always, Pete.

[@tobeforgottenisworsethande8995]

A lot of masonic symbolism tho. Lmao. Didn't expect that on a knife channel

[@TheAustralian1x]

That intro makes me not wanna watch, then you started speaking. Id scratch that intro

[@49giants3]

Some people would consider BD1 to be of higher quality than 9cr18mov, but this test speaks for itself. 9cr ain’t nothing to turn your nose up to. Thanks for another amazing video Pete

[@Shanes_Sharp_Sheet]

Thanx Pete!! I know you put a lot into these vids, just want you to know its highly appreciated! For real life!

[@anteck7goat]

So I sharpen quite a lot. This is just my experience, XHP just wants to get sharp. I use a KME as well, and of all the steels I sharpen it just comes out sharper, even trying my best with the same progression. So it could be that XHP just sharpens that much better/easier allowing it to cut longer, because it starts with a better edge. I say this not to discount you, it just would demonstrate that the ability to sharpen a steel easily to an extremely sharp edge plays into its ultimate edge retention. We aren’t all big brown bear or michael christy. Frankly 99.9999% of us probably aren’t as good as you Pete.

[@barkingspider2007]

XHP holds an edge very well. The Benchmade Grip I use for field dressing deer stayed razor sharp after the whole season. (4 deer) Glad to hear it is easy to sharpen...

[@wadejensen3301]

You are doing a great job mate! As a knife maker I choose my steels based on the knifes primary use....but your tests are great for ascertaining edge retention! I always consider factors like who is using the knife, can they sharpen? Do the have the correct stones....will they care for the blade? Etc etc

[@natek1993]

Thank you for all you do. The Knife Lab is the greatest place on planet earth. Legendary Laboratory.

[@michaelegan8686]

Unbelievable amount of work to achieve these amazing results. Your my blue collar knife knowledge guy. You test knives like we all use them. Heat treat and sharpening are vastly underrated in the knife world. I worked in machine shops, one across from a large heat treating facility. I know how important heat treatment is. Don't become a steel snob, Learn to sharpen and have fun. I'm 71 years old. There have never been so many choices in steels.

[@speedwolf5212]

I can’t help but be impressed at how well Zdp-189 performed. Salute to you Cedric for all this testing (and for creating the best damn intros on KZbin)

[@daryooshfatemi]

You are getting better every time providing us lots and lots to learn. Thxxx

[@JacksonKnives]

So happy to see this come together. Now I want to see some edge stability testing at 0.01"BTE/12DPS. ;)

[@Ekybob_Plays]

"I'm not a robot.." is precisely the sort of thing a robot would say. Or a mutant alien. I'm watching you.

[@Dreoilin]

your content is not only entertaining but educational, one can not ask for anything more.

[@205jab4]

Xhp is the my favorite bc it holds a good edge, as we seen here, but also it is relatively easy to sharpen and can even be brought back with a strop. In my opinion, its just a win. Great vid.

[@Thomas-dz4eg]

Thank you! You are a valuable resource for us new knife nerds.

[@FarrYaweh]

CTS XHP is very under rated I have a few customs in it and get amazing performance and edge retention from it. I believe it boils down to the heat treat.

[@redastrachan8978]

I hit the, 'Like' button, even before you start.

[@simonbaptiste344]

There are undoubtedly variables in your testing but I think they definitely contain a lot of validity as well.

[@davidinghram2494]

Very interesting, thanks. I just bought a blurple Para 3 with s110v. Nice to know how it actually compares. In late November I got a ZT0562ti with the cpm20cv. I put it to work right away. It cleaned 4 deer from ground to freezer and only needed a very light touch up on the blade to return to razor sharp.

[@kevinj2334]

10 mules video, best intro from you I've seen to date

[@franka9760]

Only took me three years to get to it... but one of your best ever!

[@gnomersy1087]

Out of curiosity could you get mules of cheapo steels? 420HC, 440C, 8CR13, Aus 8, 12C27, 14C28, 1095, and 5160 are some things I would be interested in on the budget end. Also kinda felt it was odd that S30V and S35VN weren't on the list when they're so common. Thanks for the interesting broscience as always Pete.

[@CNYKnifeNerd]

The mule team was a series by spyderco. Hes not getting these custom made. Lol. You could try asking spyderco, instead of a random youtuber, but since the series ended in 2017, and the whole point was to test new steels, it kinda seems pointless to make them out of trash steels that have been around for the better part of a century.

[@gnomersy1087]

@@CNYKnifeNerd Fair enough. I didn't know that the mule series was a limited run by spyderco I assumed there was a channel to just request a steel from them similar to a custom shop.

[@Nerdferly]

I come for the intros, but stay for the knives

[@slick_slicers]

Glad to hear you sounding better!

[@geraldkoth654]

I have two Chaparral Spyercos in XHP and that stuff is hard from Taichung (HRC 62) who also did the Mule (HRC 60) The Mule M4 had two hardnesses HRC 60 and 62. My XHP sharpens to razor just as you did 17 degrees and polished. It will chip against other steel like a staple (first edge), but man does it cut. And a huge plus of that knife is the back lock. In a test the blade breaks before the lock. All the other locks tested broke before the blade.

[@monkpato]

Great video! Solid testing and very good common-sense commentary. A model of it's type. I just found your document with all your testing results and I thank you for it!

[@jonathanrowan4802]

I’m just a guy in Texas that’s glad you did this cause I was curious too. Haha thanks for the great content buddy.

[@mattnelson8158]

Will you be able to get all the HRC numbers once they get tested?

[@CedricAda]

i believe their next stop is to hrc testing!

[@cameratool]

Since all the mules are the same looking it would be trivial to have your wife tape over the steel identification markings so you wouldn't know what you were testing. For most science, tape over before sharpening and then again before rope cutting. Don't remove any tape until all blades have cut rope.

[@CedricAda]

That is an excellent idea, double blind testing

[@cameratool]

@@CedricAda Safer than wearing a blindfold, even though you probably have enough muscle memory to pull it off.

[@brendanh7228]

Have a hard time getting mules. Every-time they go on sale its 3 or 4 am here in AUS. Where do you order yours from?

[@Gorebashed]

Great stuff! Hope your shoulder is doing alright after all that.

[@harrisquicksilver6595]

Pete where does magnacut fall on this list???

[@ArrKayCee]

Oh God I just had a horrible thought, what if grunt changes the manufacturing process or where they source their materials?

[@marvinbrock960]

Looking at that chart, I see 2 categories… steels that can be resharpened in the field with standard Smith stones / ceramics… and those that require diamond like surfaces.

[@nataranga]

Superb effort thank you nobody else has like this video it’s very useful thank you very much

[@macro820]

I'd like to know the HRC for the 20CV and M390, wouldn't be surprised if SFO is running them soft

[@CedricAda]

daves gonna have them all checked when they get back!

[@Gorebashed]

Cedric & Ada Gear and Outdoors Just what I was hoping for!

[@jeffhicks8428]

Whats the hardness on these samples? That seems like some pretty important info. Are they all at the same hardness?

[@WillEDC]

Wow so much work in this vid. That intro is crazy

[@stoicaalex90]

Hi In terms of edge retention, What steel at what HRC would you recommend for a kitchen knife (not abused in bones and frozen stuff)? Could I have your opinion for best stainless and then best carbon knife? I really don't have time to sharpen them so I would try the extreme: ZDP189 as stainless CPM rex 121 as carbon Is that silly? Thank you

[@sputumtube]

I've got a Mule in Cruwear. Surprised to not see it on the list...

[@CNYKnifeNerd]

Already did it

[@sputumtube]

@@CNYKnifeNerd Oh right - I must have missed it. I'll go have a look. Thanks. :)

[@brunocavallina6291]

Good moorning. About you 154 cm Tops is a good steel for bushcraft and survival? Thank for the answer ,bye

[@jbbolts]

you are a machine thank you for all you do.... in your opinion how would you say vanadis 4e would rank among these?

[@zdp-189]

I keep hearing "Twisted Sister rope" EDIT: A free Excel spreadsheet! You're the man, thank you!

[@macro820]

I didn't realize till Sal said in on the forum last week that BD1 was developed between Spyderco and Carpenter to be the USA version of Gin1

[@macro820]

Checked I guess zknives does reference Gin1 on the BD1 page

[@TrustNoOne88]

Wow what a great show!

[@BladeAddict8]

Awesome test. I would like to see where cruwear stacks up against the pack.

[@TheBigToe69]

His cruwear mule fell in the 400 range. He’s got another video with 14 mules being tested.

[@gravytrainoutdoors]

Hey Pete, have you ever tested any high end commercial Damascus blades? It would be interesting to see your results with something from chad Nichols or a damasteel product

[@brianlalor]

S110V baby. I knew my Para 2 was the bomb. After my wife and children lets just say, we are pretty much joined at the hip:-)

[@connerwhite7743]

Thanks Pete. You're a scholar and a saint.

[@Mikegritz]

Nice work. Would like to see something related to toughness, or ease of sharpening.

[@mibo747]

What a ENORMOUS hard work !!! Thanks a lot for the video!

[@sferrell1987]

I have used a great deal of XHP and the results on this video don’t surprise me at all. I think Carpenter just figured out how to process the steel in an ideal manner. K390 is probably my favorite at the moment and that’s largely due to me being able to achieve high polish edges that have the bite of a serrated blade. It’s strange how it cuts. More like a laser than a knife. Rex 45 and Hap 40 act very similar to this. At least in my experiences they do.

[@anthonyp7051]

Shoutout Dave&thx Pete! Reaching greatness for discipline

[@John-lr3ix]

Are all the steels hardenee to the same hardness ?

[@Jmwtime]

I know you don’t want random knives sent, but what about a couple screws to tie down that board?

[@1312020m]

Im pretty surprised at how low 4v came out, ive gotten extremely impressive performance from Spydercos 4v.

[@ronniesuburban]

Helluva lesson, Pete! Many thanks.

[@tomdickharryjane]

Thanks for all your efforts for all your videos. Now I gotta get me a Maxamet Spydie.

[@kommissarjupiter7667]

Searching Eugene Kwon now on KZbin brings up some interesting results

[@Onthebluffs]

Wonder where s30v would stack up on the list?

[@dominik87dg1]

Hello. Please advise which steel will be better on e.d.c ZDP-18 or CPM S110V in spyderco knives? I have no experience with these steels because I have used s30v so far. How big is the difference in sharpening and focusing? I would be grateful for advice from a more experienced user.

[@profesorEDC]

Fantastic vid Pete! Super arm

[@LIE4ME]

Will you one day discuss how you met Hanz Zimmerman and how he became the music director for your channel. The way he scores your sisal cutting... it moves me! Is he into knives as well?

[@PrimitiveFusion]

The ergos of the scaled mules look comfy.

[@PB8man]

What drove your choice in steel? I would have expected 420, 440, etc since there are a metric ton of knives in those metals

[@brandonwagner9329]

Thankyou so much for doing this.

[@Case16710]

It’s terrible but every time I hear the door banging in the knaf lab, I can’t help but thinking it’s your kid trying to get out. I know it’s not true but it popped into my head one time, and I can’t stop thinking it now. Cracks me up every time.

[@hulladek3]

What about D2 and 440c?

[@CSLFiero]

I would watch whatever impact toughness test you could come up with. Some steels are meant for swinging!

[@ImNoBSING]

This!!

[@clydem56]

Was cru-ware one of the tests under another name?

[@youreright7534]

Gotta throw cruware in there, people always compare maxamet and cruware and everyone says they're very similar

[@herbertgearing1702]

You gotta get behind the mule in the morning and plow!

[@vibeslide]

A very informative video, thanks a lot. What is the music playing on the m390 cutting? Sounds very nice.

[@mastersummersjr]

It's something from Final Fantasy IX. The oboe is phrasing the title theme. I'm not sure exactly which track, though. Edit: It is "Terra," from the Final Fantasy 9 soundtrack. Composer is Nobuo Uematsu, who is beyond amazing.

[@vibeslide]

@@mastersummersjr Thanks pal, much appreciated 👍

[@alexanderbertallo1995]

This was a great concept... Any of this steels of that list has now a propper edge retention "number"... In the future it will be really interesting to compare these results with other knives in the particular steel... I think it will be pretty revealing to see what this or other producers are able to do with those steels... Keep up the great work...

[@IlliniDog01]

Great video. I was hoping to see N690 in the list. I see polarizing takes on it being a "cheap steel" or the "maybe best Ingot steel in the industry". LC200N finished much lower than I expected. Is N690 actually better?

[@conductorcammon]

Thanks Dave! Thanks Pete!

[@BLADESANDFADESOFFICIAL]

XHP has been very impressive to me so far!

[@JDStone20]

Awesome work Pete!

[@sheltermonkey6065]

Why didn't you do a blind test to reduce bias?

[@CedricAda]

I do the test this way and have done it for years now. People are going to either trust it or not, regardless of how much fussing I do on camera to show all the variables, controlled or otherwise. I guess the main question would be why I would bother spending all this time and money if I cared particularly about which steels got better results in my amatierish home test. Use it/dont use it, the rest I leave to the viewer.

[@sheltermonkey6065]

​@@CedricAda Blind testing would allow you to improve your test results for just the cost of 2 feet of masking tape. Just tape up all the steel markings before you begin the cut testing phase.

[@Steve_G88]

what do you do with all the cut up rope when your done?

[@christopherskipp1525]

Oh, Dave smokes that.

[@AYellowPepper]

I LOVE these intros!!!

[@j.k.7807]

Nice if, thank you. I would like to see some S30V and 420HC in your next steele shoot out 👍

[@ArikGST]

CTS XHP generally likes to be heattreated pretty high, I think Cold Steel had it at ~62HRC but the steel can go to 64HRC. On the other hand M390 and 20CV are usually somewhere around 59-60 on a good day. That might explain why the numbers are so close by, maybe Spyderco did a good job on the XHP and just a meh job on the 20CV and M390. I really liked CTS XHP, I think it`s a shame Cold Steel has stopped using it.

[@vesseling]

Actually Spyderco heat treats m390 at around 62-ish HRC.

[@ArikGST]

@@vesseling ACTUALLY, according to the HRC Database on the Spyderco Forum the highest they had was a Military in M390 at 61HRC, the other M390 blades were all ~60 or lower. The highest they tested for 20CV was 60.6 on a Manix 2 in that steel. The highest they had for CTS XHP was 62 on a Chaparral... Did you take the specs Spyderco themselves stated?

[@vesseling]

@@ArikGST , I just took the data from the video of "outpost 76" where he managed to score excellent results with PM2 m390 at 62 as he said. He tests the knives with a cardboard and did 268 feet slicing till the knife loses its razor sharpness(fine edge holding) and 402 feet of working sharpness - till the knife loses the ability to slice finely printer paper. He managed only about 140 feet fine edge holding with a knife with cpm s110v steel...

[@ArikGST]

@@vesseling 62HRC is actually outside of the recommended range for both 20CV and m390, both Crucible and Bohler recommend 58-60 (though they do state it can be pushed a bit further). So a Pm2 M390 at 62 was probably a lucky accident? Especially considering that most production knife companies run their steels fairly soft. That result on S110V is interesting, everything I`ve seen of that steel (including Supersteel Steve`s tests and Pete`s tests) suggests it should perform way above 20CV and m390 as long as HT and edge geometry is same/ideal. Maybe S110V is just a b*tch to HT and wasn`t done correctly on that specific knife? Honestly I stopped caring THAT much, as long as a steel gets me a couple days on my job till I can resharpen it I don`t really mind the particulares. But I can understand people who get p*ssed off when they get a knife that`s softer then it should be. When you buy a Ferrari you expect Ferrari performance, not Ford performance (I like Car Analogies xD). CTS XHP can actually be pushed to 64HRC safely, probably even beyond that, so in the end it might still be able to hang with the big boys like 20CV and m390 if done really really well.

[@jcoolG192]

Spyderco's M390 usually tests between 60-62. Most of that data on the Spyderco forum is my testing. It isn't up to date. I have tested quite a bit of Spyderco's M390 at this point, and your odds of getting a knife at 62 is very good. Right now, it's probably over 50%. The rest will most likely be 60-61. Spyderco's range for XHP looks to be similar at 60-62, with the majority actually hitting 62. Cold Steel seemed to have different targets depending on the model. XHP Code 4s have been a solid 62 so far. Highest from CS was a Swift ll at 62.5, and the Ultimate Hunter runs 60-61 on every example so far. M390, as a knife steel, needs to be harder than when used as a die steel. 58 HRC M390 doesn't make sense in a knife. If it is for "toughness", there are better, less expensive alternatives. The strange this is, 20cv is treated even worse. There isn't a lot of makers that even hit 60 with it. Spyderco, Hogue and Hinderer generally do. I'm not even going to mention 204p. 😬

[@0zmosis2001]

I had an idea since you are doing this test with the same knife for the most part on the kme system I was thinking it would be beneficial to make some sort of jig that has two pegs, one of them would slide into the spider hole and the other one goes into one of the holes on the handel. Fabricating something like this would help get the knife place in the Jaws in the same spot every time. I know for me when you sharpen a knife on the kme then six- seven months or however long down the road when you need to re sharpen or touch it up getting that knife back in the same location in the KME clamping jaws is pretty crucial for repeatability and maximum sharpness without changing the angle on the x & y axis of the knife. it would also make Apexing that edge a bit quicker since you're going back to the exact same spot every time. So this is just an idea to minimize the margin for error when sharpening so take it for what it's worth. Cheers

[@driver8sk]

Wow. Did you break this up into a few sessions or power through all at once, tendons be damned? The other properties you talk about is why my only ZDP knife is a Manbug. The edge lasts forever, but if I had it in something bigger I'd be so tempted to use it in a non-slicey situation. The tip would be knocked off or I'd be missing a chunk.

[@CedricAda]

this was over a number of days, and the sharpening took about two weeks over a few sittings

[@jimmyross1672]

thanks for awesome video love to learn so thanks brother keep on keepin on ill see you in the next one

[@ArrKayCee]

I know it won't happen because of how niche the market is but I want The Knife Lab to grow to be a massive show that's well produced but no matter how high res or how high the budget gets its always written on a cardboard sign in the background.

[@CedricAda]

that cardboard sign will never change

[@ArrKayCee]

@@CedricAda I hope the other part of my prediction comes true then and this becomes a big production that makes you good money.

[@garethbaus5471]

That sounds absolutely epic.

[@bobaloo2012]

Big difference between M390 and K390, I'd assumed they were very similar steels?

[@CedricAda]

really far apart, actually, despite the similar names! K390 is a non stainless, super high vanadium steel, over twice the vanadium to m390 in fact!

[@ChessQuizToday]

I just selected a Para 3 in Maxamet online. I heard Maxamet it was good, but that much better then XHP. WoW.

[@jean-baptistecardamone7775]

Where do you find all the music for your videos

[@CedricAda]

video games! generally the music is not copyrighted and it makes pretty decent background music

[@jean-baptistecardamone7775]

@@CedricAda Thank you very much!!!!

[@andriesquast2028]

I watched the entire add.

[@GrumpyGrunt]

Another intro when I mistakenly hadn't taken my morning hit of LSD yet. 😵 My favorite brand of sisal rope. 😏 Glad that shoulder is feeling better. Interesting results.

[@gm11906]

Your right hand grip strength easily crushes coconuts, a man’s hand, and the hopes and dreams of poorly heat treated knives everywhere