Favorite steel for kitchen knives?

I'm thinking 154 CM, after carrying a Benchmade with that steel for 4 years now. But I don't want to skip over something better.

In the kitchen, I hand wash, wipe dry, and place back in the block.

Go!

Looking forward to the answers to this one. I’d LOVE to have a kitchen set made one day

They need to be stainless.

154 CM is stainless. But I do not agree that they HAVE to be. If they are not, they just require more care, which I am not afraid of.

It seems hard to go wrong with 154CM/ATS-34 in the kitchen. I'm actually a fan of VG-10, as it has a number of very useful characteristics; not quite the wear resistance of 154CM apparently.

Well of course. Nit is well picked.

Old Hickory!!

Hickory is wood.

I gotta agree with White Falcon. High carbon steel sharpens and is easy to maintain. Yeah, it tarnishes but that's OK.

Funny story. My grandson killed a deer and a hog on my place and hauled them home to butcher. He used a skinning knife that I had made for him of high carbon steel. My daughter decided to help him and got out her over priced stainless steel knives. I call them "name brand looking at" knives. She called and told me that she needed her knives sharpened and I needed to build her some knives that will cut meat. Seems that he was slicing meat and she was having to pull her knives through the meat. I told her to bring them over and I would take care of them and build her some knives. In the meantime she needed to get on Amazon and buy a set of Old Hickory knives and I would show her how to sharpen. They are about $10 each. In a couple of days she called and said that she still needed her knives sharpened, need to learn how to sharpen, but now that she had knives that really cut, I didn't need to build her any.

I drop by estate sales and head for the kitchen to look for unique HC steel knives. I currently have too many of them. I'm a sucker for old time, unique, HC blades.

I agree with the high carbon steels for kitchen knives. I've got CPM 154 kitchen knives that I've made for kitchen use but I've also have some 1095 high carbon knives that I've made and I'll reach for them most times.

I have a nice big set of knives, both SS and HC. I use them both, they’re all sharp and all hold an edge. I’m in the habit of pulling a knife and the steel from block together and a couple strokes later I’m working. So I can’t tell much difference on holding an edge. They’ve all had only one visit with my Ken Onion.

The problem comes when folks help in kitchen and mistreat the HC and wooden handle knives. You gotta be sure they do right by the knives. I also watch for deals on old knives. My last prize is a well marked 100 year old big butcher knife made in USA.

I’ve become quite fond of D2 steel. It’s a semi stainless so it has a high chromium content (not as high as true stainless) but a higher carbon content than typical stainless so it can get and keep a better edge. I’m working on a big “pig” knife now for my BIL out of D2. 1/4” thick with 10”long blade and 15” OAL. Should be a good pig sticker...

Duely noted.