Tom K wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
lots of very fine cutlery out there made from Stainless steel

No, companies mass produce millions of knives made out of stainless
steel that look pretty years after they go into a drawer. The
website
you provided, shows the Ulu being "stamped" out of a giant roll of
stainless steel.

The problem is stainless steel is very difficult to get a sharp
edge.
And yes, it is steel, but "soft" if compared to high carbon. If a
stainless blade is used daily, it will dull within weeks. High
carbon
will go for months.


There are different kinds of stainless steel. Stainless steel is
even used
to make surgical equipment, and you can get a very good edge on some
of that
stuff.

What follows is probably more than you'd ever want to know about
stainless steel ....

In making steel alloys, Carbon is the basic hardening agent ...
hardening is what alloys the iron to maintain its sharpness and
Chromium is the main "stainless" ingredient which has only minor
hardnening effects. Carbon is added at up to about 1 % whereas Chromium
is 13 % or more ...
There are three types of stainless steel ... First Ferritic ... that is
the crappy stainless steel ... won't rust too quickly but will dull
with use ... These are magnetic ... and cheap ... A better stainless
steel is austenitic stainless steel which has metals like manganese and
nickel added ... These are non-magnetic ... much more resistant towards
rusting ... and can hold it's sharpened edge easier ...
The stainless steel that is best in hardness and rust resistant is
martenisitic stainless steel ... This is also magnetic ... but hardened
with carbon ...

Now High Carbon Steels are the hardest available ... without chromium
.... these alloys can achieve maximum hardness (holds it's edge better)
.... but these rust ... To achieve better rusting behavior, they can add
some chromium ... but not as much to make it "stainless" steel ...

Carbon Steels are forgable (think a blacksmith's shop) whereas
stainless steels generally are not ... this allows your fabricated
final product the heat treatments needed to maximize the properties
(mainly hardness) you desire ... Carbon steels can also be adapted as
alloys with metals like Molydenum and the like to give it better rust
resistance without harming its hardness (actually helping) while
stainless steels do no really have much flexibility towards increasing
its hardness ...


Here are German made stainless steel knives that will go months
without
getting dull. It all depends on what kind of stainless steel you
make it
from. These are among the best knives made in the world. They are a
high
carbon/stainless alloy.

http://www.wusthof.com/main.htm


This website lists stain resistant high carbon steels ... not
technically "stainless" steels ... Interstingly they refer to knives
with a stainless steel handle ... and a high carbon stain resistant
blade ...

The hardest steel would be a forged high carbon steel ... but would
rust easily ...
The most rust resistant steel would be an austenitic stainless steel
.... but not as hard as you'd like ...
Like a freestyle cruise ... there's a trade-off ...