Don Schwartz asked,
>
> I see several sellers on that infamous auction site offering knives 
> said to be high carbon stainless steel. In my ignorance, I thought 
> high carbon and stainless steel were two distinct materials. Was I 
> wrong about this, or are the sellers just hustling?
>
> Don
>
Hi Don,

I don't know the absolute answer to any of your 3 questions, I'm not a 
metallurgist  (though they are present on the porch so I need to be 
careful)>  Nor am I a Cutler.  I just have a story.

41 years ago I was given  a cheap knife, carbon steel blade, aluminium 
bolster and rivets, beechwood scales.  Shape of a butcher's  large 
skinning knife with the typical curved cutting edge and bulbous tip.  No 
maker's name, only marked "Solingen".   These days it would not meet any 
of the basic food handling rules.

A professional chef would have been pained by the sight but I used that 
knife for everything except taking the eyes out of potatoes. (I cook, I 
don't "chef"). That knife took and held a wicked edge using only a 
serrated steel to touch it up, never went to a stone. Gradually the 
blade wore down and the bolster guard got more and more in the way.  It 
lasted until a couple of years ago when a friend took a chip out of the 
way too thin cutting edge and I took it to the workshop hoping to 
salvage something from the ruin.  Its still there, because my friend 
bought me a replacement, partly in apology and partly as a thank-you for 
a month's free accommodation.

The replacement is a very swish chef's knife, marked "Lion, Sabatier, 
100% forged Cast Steel France", so made by Rousselon Bros. in Thiers.  
Their website is pretty interesting, but while they have an English 
version, it still displays the French language description of the 
manufacturing process.  this knife also takes a wicked edge off the steel.

The Solingen knife would rust overnight with a big red rust patch and 
pits if it was left damp, never mind wet.  Half the reason the blade was 
so fine along the edge was my continual workouts with a pot-scourer when 
someone who knew no better used it and left it, rather than cleaning it, 
drying it and putting it away.  That blade would have rusted red in a 
humid afternoon.

In two years daily the Lion knife has developed a few dark stains and 
smears, simple discolouration, no more. It has not shown a hint of red 
rust, nor of pitting.

Based on that single comparison I can only say that not all "carbon 
steels" are the same.  The steel of the Solingen knife behaved as I 
would expect carbon steel to behave.  Clearly the steel of the new knife 
has been improved by application of the metallurgists' arts. It takes a 
far better edge than any stainless steel knife I have encountered.  So, 
despite the "Carbon Steel" attribution on the Lion knife I suspect that 
it is a blend of elements tailored to hold an edge while remaining 
rust-free under reasonable working use.  I guess it could equally well 
be described as "high carbon stainless".  I imagine it would depend on 
where the seller thought the best and most lucrative market was to be found.

All the best,

Tony B
Hobart, Tasmania