High carbon stainless has been around for a long time. Perhaps it is 
just that people have recently found it is good advertising.

On 2015-02-23 22:55, Don Schwartz wrote:
> to be high carbon stainless steel. In my ignorance, I thought high

You probably already have such a knife.

INOX blades have been around for years - 0.5% carbon, 15% Chromium - 
also labelled X50CrMoV15. X50 means 0.5% carbon, although these 
designations are not consistent. I have had an INOX paring knife for 30 
years. Very little wear from original size.

The Wusthof classic are labelled X50CrMo15. Is this INOX without the 
Vanadium?

8C13CrMoV - often seen on blades is 0.8% carbon, 13% Chromium.

The 440 grades, A, B, and more recently C, are all high carbon, ranging 
from 0.6% for 440A to 1% for 440C. 440C can be as high as 1.2% carbon. 
Otherwise, they are the same.

440C - Carbon 0.60-.75, Manganese 1, Chromium 16-18, Molybdenum .75
440C - Carbon 0.75-.95, Manganese 1, Chromium 16-18, Molybdenum .75
440C - Carbon 0.95-1.2, Manganese 1, Chromium 16-18, Molybdenum .75

440C is a very durable steel - as durable or better than many of the 
high carbon non-stainless steels we use for woodworking tools. More 
durable for example than A2. Certainly better than O1 for our purposes - 
edge tools. 440C can be tricky to heat treat. Bad heat treat can lead to 
a fragile edge and an edge that is harder to sharpen. Because it is to 
durable, it can be hard to finish. So, you can get good and bad 440C 
knives depending on the quality of the heat treatment.

There is some speculation that Lee Valley's PMV11 is a variant of 440C, 
although they have yet to release its analysis.

Lately I have seen a lot of 440C knives on eBay and other places on the net.

Other much rarer high carbon stainless grades include: 154CM, VG-10, 
BG42, SGPS (1.4%).

Brent
-- 
Brent Beach
Victoria, BC, Canada