# Why aren't all knives made with this rustless supersteel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-all-knives-made-with-this-rustless-supersteel/373405 "2006-09-20T13:07:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-all-knives-made-with-this-rustless-supersteel/373405/1 "2006-09-20T13:07:47Z")
[Well? It’s not wildly expensive, it holds a decent edge, and it’s rustless](http://www.knivesplus.com/spyderco-h1-salt-i-pacific-salt-knives.html)! Why isn’t every decent knife out there there using this steel? > [@](#): > > The Spyderco Tasman Salt Knife has a blade made out of a PH (precipitation hardened) steel that doesn’t rust. H1 steel is naturally hard, and it will hold a sharpened cutting edge equivalent to many carbon steels. H1 has 1 percent nitrogen instead of carbon, so it cannot rust [Precipitation hardening](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precipitation_strengthening) [Spyderco](http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=172) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-all-knives-made-with-this-rustless-supersteel/373405/2 "2006-09-20T14:12:24Z")
Maybe it ain’t all it’s sharpened up to be? I misread header as: \*\* Why aren’t all knives made with this _ruthless_ supersteel?\*\* and thought, “Maybe because they’d maim and dismember their owners at the slightest provocation?” ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-all-knives-made-with-this-rustless-supersteel/373405/3 "2006-09-20T14:13:06Z")
Because: 1. Other stainless steels that are less resistant to rust (but still resistant) actually hold edges better, and so knives that aren’t going to spend their lives in corrosive environments can be better made of those other alloys. 2. It’s expensive. Most knives are made of far cheaper steels than either this or the types mentioned in (1). ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-all-knives-made-with-this-rustless-supersteel/373405/4 "2006-09-20T16:57:36Z")
Different knives have different uses and therefore are made of different alloys. The more rust resistant (i.e. higher chromium) stainless steel alloys are more brittle than the less rust resistant. For fillet, skinning, and even most utility knives, I’d be more than willing to trade corrosion resistance for a little ductility. I don’t want the thing to snap off in my hand, afterall. I don’t know much about H1, so I can’t be sure that the rust resistance = brittleness rule of thumb applies, but I did notice that Spyderco didn’t mention anything about H1’s torsion or shear strength on it’s web site. That ommision could be the answer to your question right there. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-all-knives-made-with-this-rustless-supersteel/373405/5 "2006-09-20T17:38:23Z")
Bear in mind that if you use a knife regularly, rust isn’t really a factor. The people who use knives on a day-to-day basis - like professional cooks - and are willing to pay good money for them, don’t really worry about rust. They look after their knives daily, wash them after every use, and keep them dry when they’re not using them. What they _do_ care about is whether the blade is sharp, supple, and strong, and I don’t see how this new miracle steel has any edge (sorry) when it comes to those. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-all-knives-made-with-this-rustless-supersteel/373405/6 "2006-09-20T17:42:43Z")
Rust is the LAST consideration, as pointed out above. All my knives are rustable, but I never let them rust. Rust-free steel is too hard to sharpen at home. And though it holds an edge longer than my softer carbon-steel knives, it does eventually lose its edge. At which point it’s a pain to have it sharpened. My carbons, I can run them over a whetstone any time I want to, to keep them razor sharp. Nothing is as sharp as a freshly whetted knife, and with carbon you can do that yourself. So what if I have to rinse it after I cut a lemon? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-all-knives-made-with-this-rustless-supersteel/373405/7 "2006-09-20T18:32:51Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Rust-free steel is too hard to sharpen at home. [/QUOTE] While the rest of your post was on point, I have to take issue with this. A set of diamond hone swill make short work of any blade quality stainless steel. The quasi-myth that carbon is better than stainless 'cause it is easier to sharpen doesn’t hold much water these days, especially when a good high carbon or chrome-moly [martensitic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martensite) steel will sharpen up finely and hold an edge much longer than plain carbon steel. H1 is an impressive material (though strictly speaking, not “100% corrosion resistant”), but somewhat expensive, requires very careful control when heat treating and annealing, and like most heat-treated stainless is not as tough as a high carbon steel at the same Rockwell hardness. Since most commodity kitchen knives are serrated anyway, it’s hardly necessary to make them out of anything but crap stainless. Stranger