Is 440 stainless steel, bad?

It all depends on the heat treatment of the steel. If it came out of China or Pakistan, chances are its garbage

I'll try to keep it simple. There are three varieties of 440, A B C. Of the three C is the best as it has the most carbon. Iron is like a spong, it can absorb other metals and hold them. Chromium in small amounts along with carbon has as synergenic effect, making steel tougher and increasing edge holding. At 13% there is more chromium than the iron can hold, it becomes stainless. The downside is increased grain size and weakening of the boundries.

To get all out of any air hardening steel like 440 it must be cryo treated.

Now, compare to 52100 which has the same amount of carbon but 1.5% chromium

440c fully hardens at 59-60

52100 fully hardened at around 67

Good working hardness for 440c - 56-58

52100 - 59-60

440c Average cuts through hemp rope - 25-30

52100 - ave cuts 45-50

I don't use nor recomend 440c for any blades save the ones where corrosion resistance is mandatory.

As Jm mentioned, there are three types of 440-with 440c being the most suitable. Compared to many steels-it has a very difficult heat treating cycle and is rarely done right..which is one of the reasons so much misinformation surrounds it. It is best treated in a vacuum purged environment, which also means that it can not be practically forged. If it's not heat treated in such a furnance, the quality of it will be compromised resulting in sub par edge retention.

440c-when properly hardened, makes for a very fine blade steel with good edge retention and the best corrosion resistance. They are perfectly suitable for use if properly treated and produced.

There's a professional knifemaker with over 30 years of experience with a page dedicated to just this steel on his webpage. I'd recommend you go take a look. Just type in Jay Fisher, then click on the 440c love/hate affair page.

I am always surprised by the folks who show up here in this section. I always say it is amazing the variety of disciplines, and overall quality of the scope of the people who answer questions here.

@jmccustomknives, WOW. Obviously knows his stuff, and metallurgy as well. I was a certified welder as a young adult, had to know some about metals and compositions, so can say WOW that guy knows.

As for my personal likes in a blade, I have always found most stainless 440 blades to be difficult to get an edge equal to a high carbon steel blade. They seem to only get to a certain point of sharpness. Surprisingly, ( well maybe not so ) the cheap throw away Chinese blades I have done much better getting a good edge on those. Beyond that I find Case fixed and folders to always sharpen down real well. Love my old Case XX Kodiak.

The best blades I have EVER owned were made by a friend. A crafty old devil. He used to cut chunks of old cables up. Then would pound them out into BEAUTIFUL Damascus steel blades. You talk about a sharp edge some of a gun. An easy way to achieve hundreds of laminations of steel in the blade.

I'm not a metallurgist and don't know a whole lot about steels and their various hardness ratings, except that the Rockwell scale is a good indicator of how hard a steel should be. You have to shop for knives with a little bit of discretion. For example, standard pocket knivesare usually designed for light duty and whittling. So while it is important that they have reasonably hard steel for their blades, it is less critical that such steels be extremely hard. There is such a thing as having a blade so hard that sharpening it can be very difficult. 440 stainless steel is fairly good, but as one person posted, who obviously knows a little bit about metallurgy, alloys are graded by their hardness AND by other elemental metals and other substances, such as carbon, that have been added to the iron to produce a certain grade of steel. Metals such as chromium, molybdenum, vanadium, tungsten, and others, typically have a higher melting point than iron. And adding these metals in various quantities is going to determine how hard the steel is.

Without boring you, Yes there is a difference between stainless steel and carbon steel. But all steel has to be treated to be *good* for cutlery. Carbon steel sharpens easily but rusts easier too. it is always a trade off iron is brittle so we add other metals to it to change the properties,

440 is an alloy.

How it's handled tempered, and shaped, plays a part in its quality as a blade.

In cutlery, you don't always get what you pay for, but 'cheap' is almost never good.

Simple answer? http://www.ehow.com/list_6053196_properties-440c-s...

Yes, it is good.