wrdwrght wrote: ↑Wed May 09, 2018 10:18 amLeaving aside the truly tough nitrogen-based H1 and LC200N, and reputedly tough carbon-based steels that either have fallen out of fashion or have yet to gain traction, S30V would be my candidate for "toughest stainless" (once the likely-brittled factory-edge has been reprofiled).
But, truth be told (and I think Jim Ankerson tells it), toughness in typically-tasked folders is not likely to matter beyond hoping for a rolled edge over a chipped one.
FWIW, I have yet to chip either my favored 204P or M390 Spydies or my slightly less-favored XHP or S110V ones in typical use, but I have rolled them occasionally, so they are tough enough for me.
Why Blade Sports competitors choose the steels they do remains a mystery to me. But I would suspect that corrosion-resistance plays a distant second-fiddle to wear- and fracture-resistance, hence the place of M4 and such in the test.
If you remember Strider used S30V for a VERY LONG TIME in all of their knives including their large fixed blades.
They have been some of the most hard tested knives on the market over the years and they held up.
It all comes down to HT and geometry in the end.