Carbon Steel and Stainless Steel Knives

I get asked about the steel in knives all the time. Today I want to talk about stainless steel and carbon steel knives.

The market is almost entirely stainless steel now — stainless steel having replaced carbon steel.

Carbon Steel Knife,  Stainless Steel Knives, Garden Tools

Here is a picture of some knives. The two chef's knives are stainless steel, the small knife is a cannery knife made of carbon steel.

Vintage Carbon Steel Slicing Knife, New Carbon Steel Slicing Knife

Here is a vintage Old Hickory carbon steel slicing knife pictured above a brand spanking new Old Hickory slicer. I struggled to get a picture that accurately captures the finish — this picture is the best I could get. A carbon steel knife when new has a shiny even finish, with use a carbon steel knife gets a gray mottled finish — we call it a patina.

We want a patina — and it is not practical to prevent it — on a carbon steel knife. The gray color is the patina, rust is red and we want to prevent rust. 

Vintage Butcher Knives

Here is a picture of two large carbon steel butcher knives. If you enlarge the picture (by clicking on it) you will notice rust spots on the bottom knife.

Stainless Steel F. Dick Utility Knife

Here is a forged stainless steel F. Dick utility knife. Stainless steel will start out nice and shiny and pretty much stay that way. That is the main reason that almost all knives made today are stainless steel. Sometimes you might get a few rust spots on a stainless knife — these can be polished off with steel wool.

Quality stainless steel knives sold today have carbon in the steel — which makes stainless easier to sharpen and allows the knife to hold a edge.

Large Vintage Carbon Steel Dexter Chef's Knife

Here is a large carbon steel chef's knife. I guess that using carbon steel knives is maybe just a hobby — perhaps like listening to vinyl records or driving a classic car — it's just kind of fun to use a tool that takes a bit more care than more modern knives.

The differences in using carbon steel knives is that it must be kept dry by being wiped dry between uses, the knife gets a patina which some might not like, and a carbon steel can leave a metallic taste when cutting acidic foods. An advantage of carbon steel knives is that they are easier to sharpen, also they are usually less expensive.

I sell Mundial forged high carbon stainless steel kitchen, I sell stamped carbon steel Old Hickory knives, and I usually have a selection of vintage forged and stamped carbon steel knives on my tables.