Testing 14 Different Steels on the same Blade 

The people who are totally after just the steel results and none of the pre-discussion can skip to 20:00 and catch the triple test and then the results breakdown. Thanks for watching, massive nerd points to the folks who watch the whole thing! The music was a Metal Cover of Wii Sports Theme and the song Undertale from Undertale. And of course, please just youtube search 'Cedric ada [steel name]' to see if I've done a steel you are interested in. There are only a few mainstream steels that don't yet have. datapoint, and I hope to get there in the end.

Maxamet is clearly the best steel since it allows you to cut at 16x the normal rate.

Have you taken into account seasonal rainfall in Brazil? Soil moisture levels will affect the growth pattern and celulose structure of the Agave plant and resulting consistency of the sisal rope fiber.

The time you put into these tests is crazy! Always appreciated 👍👊

the Mule testing is the most controlled, most relevant testing ever done to compare cutting characteristics of knife steels.

Your tests are really well thought out for a family man that has no lab. You are also very generous with your time, again, not easy for a family man. I really enjoy your videos and want to thank you for the great information you always give. also a thank you for all your support team...

I knew Maxamet was gonna be gud when it was 16x speed as opposed to 8x for the other two steels haha

A real service to the knife community mate! The sisal rope market in Australia will crash with your cutting back on the testing. There will be panic in the streets!

Now you should sharpen all the mules and send to Steve Callari of Super Steel Steeve or Gerald at Outpost76 and we just might come up with a correlation between cardboard and rope cutting! Wish you good luck with the recovery and look forward to your videos. Thanks a ton for putting humongous efforts for knife community and Bro Science.

You should be proud of this work! Your videos helped reinvigorate my interests in metallurgy and, of course, are very entertaining.

More than the results of the steels, I appreciate that you have done these tests at all. The knife community is better for it.

Your videos helped spark my interest in knives. Thank you for all your hard work good sir.

Pete u are not wasting anyones time, u are putting so much time and energy into this and we definitely appreciate it and we do use your results in our opinions of knife steel. Thank so much buddy,

I know how tough doing all these tests can be, I appreciate you doing them.

Thanx Peter!! You should do a review on serrations, spyderedge vs veff vs all the other brands style of serrations, you probably couldn't do a standard rope cut test, but maybe test them a different way. , I hate serrated blades, so I'm not sure why I want to see this. They have to be useful cause every one makes them lol, thanx again Peter Haitch, your the best!

Wow I really appreciate your whole disclosure at the beginning (watched it all) not only is that necessary (just like scientific study has to disclose their methodologies which can be then scrutinized) but also cause it shows a level of proficiency and knowledge of the subject at at hand. The fact that you are aware of all those variables is great and gives a little more credence to the results. Lastly this is just quality content, thanks a lot for trying to minimize the variables as much as you can with the equipment that you have. The only "infallible" way to test this would imply a real knife lab with expensive and precise instrumentation (and given the proper testing methodology) but let's be realistics, you are doing great given what you have, thanks again!

Yo, digging the AKB shirt, haha. It's been very illuminating and educational sharing the progression of your process on these videos and the entire body of work. It's answered a number of questions I've long held about certain steels and retention for EDC. The amount of energy and work you put into this channel is damn impressive. I refer to the Tier list regularly. And you already know how much I love the Intros. And KUDOS to Dave for the shipment and spreadsheets; as well as Daniel, Knifeguy, and Nick. Definitely take care with the shoulder, dude, I've blown out both of mine and I'd literally choose a broken bone over having to endure that relentless pain again; one of them is still not right after a few years.

Thank you for the kind words on my livestream the other day.

Thank you thank you thank you for all your due diligence making sure you removed all variables possible and making sure there are constants and explaining all of that out. So hard to explain WHY some of us want to know what steels do. I am a knife enthusiast, these are the kinds of thing that needs to be on youtube and in the knife community as a lesson on how to go about trying to make information possible to help everyone, both the makers and the users alike. Again, thank you. R

Thats an unbelievable commitment to share this labororious and hard earned knowledge w all of us. There will always be unknown variables no one can control for, but bro, you are the best! We salute you.

Appreciate all you do Pete. Love the intros. Never change brother. Respect The Knife Lab!

Thanks for all you do and have done Pete, first off. I did want to let you know, we’ve tested two police 4’s and both were over 65 hrc. Probably has a lot to do with why it performs so well, grouped with its composition👍 Also, your cutting board is probably one of your biggest variables, and the sharpness is more a capability of the micro structure of the steels, which is also greatly affected by the hardness. So it’s not necessarily a variable. Again, thanks for everything✌️

I haven't started watching yet. 12:50 am (00:50 for us geeks) and I finished work (got home) at 9:40. By the time I'd got my relax on it was after 10. Seems there's something in the air because a few other non-knife channels I follow have unusually long, but still very interesting videos tonight/morning/yesterday. Okay, roll-on Mule tests. I don't start work until after 14:00 tomoz.

Hey thanks Dave! And thanks for Daniel - and I can’t believe I forgot to mention the class acts Nick Shabazz, and metal complex who always donate and make food for our community! Great guys, all of you. We really appreciate it you guys. I have been round stone sharpening and wet stone sharpening since I started using knives professionally, years ago (I’m no longer a cook) and I feel like after ten years I may need to get myself a kme station too. I sharpen knives for friends as a gift, and I could really get some turned heads with that mirror polish finish I keep seeing on every birdshot IV and now on some of yours! Love that mirror edge idea. Thanks you guys, you guys always keep the community driven in the right direction, and you guys make us all proud to be a part of this community. Thank you.

Pete, i am impressed! U have thought of almost every single variation or possibility of variance that can be considered in running these cut tests, u are very intelligent and i am so thankful that u put the time and thought into these tests. Wow, great job man.

Only found your channel a few months ago and have been binging your content. It’s really damn good. Appreciate your commitment to your projects.

Thank you for being authentic, honest and trustworthy! It's always been a pleasure to share your experience.....always enjoyed seeing your fur noses , too!! Thanks for all the hard work and all the best for you and your loved ones! Good man👍🏻

Thanks for all your efforts. You are one of the more sensible guys in the hobby.

An incredible service to the knife community, you deserve a medal dude. Thank you for this! S90v is what really grabbed me in this test. Truly top echelon performance in a stainless steel. Myself, I’m more partial to carbon steels(52100 perhaps my favorite), but for “all around steel”... S90v might be the best.

I APPRECIATE all the work you do and the data you provided. It's a good service to the knife community. You give needed perspective which is necessary for informed purchases.

Enjoy your vids. Been quietly watching for a long time. Glad to support you on patreon. Hope others reading this will consider supporting this channel as well.

Thank you for all your time spent testing! I would love to see a test of some twosun steels being Chinese. Twosun is now making knives is s90v m390 14c28n 12c27 and D2 all for less then $100 USD. Being so cheap i would love to see how the m390 and s90v hold up.

Love your videos! Love that you explain your reasoning for what and why. You’re a very very level-headed guy.

I have to say, I am really enjoying your videos. I love your methodical attention to detail and objective way of looking at your tests. Thank you for doing what you do, brother! I am a knife steel nut and a blade addict, so your wonderful content is very welcome. Keep up the fantastic work, sir!

Brother, it adds a ton to all the nerdism associated with the kind of value you're getting out of production blades. At the end of it, separating hype and understanding consistent applications when buying/trying out blades really helps the community make decisions. Carry on!

I learned to sharpen a knife by following the instructions that came with my new Buck Stone. It said hold the knife like you're trying to cut a thin slice off an apple and hold the same angle, that's it. Been sharpening knives for 40 years by hand. I hold the stone in my left hand and the knife in my right, got pretty good at it.

Thank you so much for all your effort and entertainment. Look after your shoulder ;)

I am not a very active suscriber with the comments, but I have to say that you always make me so happy with your videos, thanks for taking the time for editing those hillarious intros, thanks for the hours of rope cutting invested, thanks for putting out the information to everyone that may help them on buying a new knife. Take care and have a good one!

These were great. I really like tests, and I particularly like how you went into the details of the tests themselves to help us evaluate the data in context.

Take it easy. Picking up your kids is more important than my need to see if zdp-189 is better than s-90v. I appreciate your vids greatly. God bless.

Nice overview. Having done a bunch of similar tests I agree on bucketing into categories rather than trying to compare numbers. There margin of error is too high to compare in less than a 25% range or so (imo). I'll cut test the same knife with the same edge and sometimes see 10-15% difference. With different people the difference would have to be larger. I can't find consistent sisal rope. It varies in thickness quite a bit through the spool. I just assume it will average out.

Somebody buy this man a Rockwell test system he deserves it!

Really enjoyed all your videos. My fav steels are K390, S90V & Magnacut. Super fine sticky edges. K390 in Spyderco Dragonfly. Guess will be targeting K390 Delica or Endela next. Keep up with your entertaining talents.

The progression of lunacy in your intros is appreciated. Thank you.

Thx Pete! Please take a break. I know this all about your steel passion and finding these results is extremely important for our community.

You made the intro sound like a retirement speech. Well you have earned a rest after all these tests. Thank you for all the work. It’s been amazing to watch!

Thank you for all your hard work! Ive been watching your videos for years

Love your videos. Info is great and great entertainment in the intros. I like to see you revisit 1095. Like to see the change with new sharpening skills you have now. Thanks keep up the good work.

Everyday use by everyman carries more useful info than a spec sheet. Thx

Okay SPY27 #28 is coming. We need you to test please. I really appreciate these test, it reinforces my take on steels.

Let's hear it for Captain America! ... oh wait, wrong genre... Let's hear it for Cedric and Ada! (nailed it)

Thanks David R!!!

Great video so far! I'd love to see you get your hands on a ZDP mule, they were treated to 66~ vs the ~63 in Spyderco's production models. I'd like to see what those 3 points do.

thanks for doing this, i dont remember if i told you this or not, buy Gayle bradley told me a few years ago that "M4 likes 1200 grit" to confirm your theory about the rougher edge

Thanks for your hard work for the knife community

Thanks again for all of the hard work and dedication you’ve put into this project. It’s really good info, and I do believe that you’re directly responsible for spurring other at home knife testing that has popped up lately. Very cool stuff.

Glad you're taking a break to take care of your shoulder. I also worry if all that sisal cutting may warrant a respirator.

I really enjoyed this series, Pete. Thanks to Dave R. and long live Uncle Bucket!

thanks for videos like this, its a lot of work, and please keep intros they are fenomenal :)

Thanks for the great videos man, I really love them. The intros are great and the info is awesome for a steel nerd. Take as much time as you need to get that shoulder healed up. I appreciate all the content you've produced, and look forward to future vids. Thanks again for the great videos.

The Cruwear was the ingot version as confirmed by Sal on the Spyderco forum. PD#1 is equal to CPM Cruwear not ingot Cruwear.

the heat treat is definitely an important variable, but i wouldn't want to see a test with all the steels at the same hardness. i want to see them all at a relatively standard heat treat for that steel, because that's what i'd get if i bought a knife with that steel

Would love to see if you could get your hands on one of the knives with that Terravantium steel to see how that performs. If anyone out there would be willing to send Pete their knife with it that would be awesome. Keep up the great work G.

Thank you very much!

Pete, thank you very much for this one recap/results video! I have been a fan of your channel for a while now, and I appreciate all the work that you do, even if it's for your own satisfaction and our enjoyment is a byproduct :P Off topic, seeing how all the knife community is now interconnected and working with each other reminds me of Lovecraft and his circle of writer friends. Awesome job.

Thank you for all the work over the years.

THANK YOU for all the hard work and your time, tests results are great to know.

The only thing you like bore than cutting rope, is editing action packed montages

Thanks Pete. That was alot of work. Interesting results.

Super interesting . Nicely done . I LOVE steel comparisons

Excited to watch the whole video. Been suggesting something like this (eliminating some variable by using identical blades of different steels) for a long time and really glad to see you did it. Curious to see how this compares to your extant data. I think the follow up is to continue doing the same with knives from other makers to account both for different geometries and different heat treats (e.g. get BRKT bravos in every steel they make...if you can afford it or get them or one of their distributors to sponsor you). I suspect that comparing, for example, Spyderco mules and bravo 1s in the same steels will not yield an identical hierarchy for edge retention, but would be very interesting to see. It will also be interesting, over time, if you continue doing these identical knife tests, to re-arrange your data sets by knife (or relative rank/deviation within each knife set, etc.) rather than by steel. You elucidate some good reasons why you can't control all the variables, though I'm glad you're thinking about it and moving closer to more controlled testing. Your testing so far, even given the limitations, has already been very informative. As I mentioned in a previous post, if you're really serious about testing a lot of knives and doing it consistently (and saving wear on your body), you may want to investigate a way to automate the process. This would also more easily allow for repeating each test and taking an average and for doing each test at various edge angles and level of polish. I'm sure it would be a challenge, but I believe a surmountable one, especially if we involve the whole knife community and Patreon.

Fantastic video in the way it’s put together

Thanks Pete - bewdy mate. A fitting mega-test effort to take shoulder rest on. Particularly appreciated your discussion of the steels all in the one place and the vibe (your honour) on the stand outs. Happy with my own RWL34 mule.

I honestly think this is the best demonstration on RU-vid of trying to eliminate all variables except for one - steel composition. And of course like you said it is nearly impossible for you to control the heat treat of each individual steel... But they are from Spyderco and I'm sure each steel has the best heat treatment that fits its individual characteristics. Geometry of edge and geometry of blade play a huge role in cutting performances, so for you to pretty much eliminate the geometry variable, makes for an excellent test. It would be interesting to see the cutting performance of zdp-189 and s110v also, but I'm not sure they make that in the mule.

Personally, I am most interested in the data, but I do love your intros and wacky, dark sense of humor - I don't think they compete.

rwl54 is CPM 154 or ATS 34 all the same. A-11 is an old tool steel that is hard to heat treat properly.

Before buying a new knife, your channel is a 'go to' before any purchase as is the chart that Dave R has put together.

I was gonna say "bless your poor shoulder" even before you mentioned the issues. I'll miss the Knife Lab jingle most of all

Dude your intros are the fucking best..... The best one I've seen was recently and I couldn't even tell you what knife it was about because I don't remember, but I remember the intro .. you started out very sophisticated with a glass of wine and ended up looking like the Incredible Hulk with monster energy drink pouring out of your mouth ......Loved it....thanks for all your videos

Great vid as usual Pete, made me feel good about the two Mule 26’s in A11 I have here.

Great test... now if we can just see the comparative results for *_re-sharpening_* time?

Buy yourself a bottle of Monkey Shoulder Scotch...a very friendly Speyside. While sipping it neat, look up the origin of the term “Monkey Shoulder” referring to workers at a distillery. Your comments on your shoulder made me think of this. Keep up the good work.

👍 Great effort and goodonya for doing this for us. With all the chewy waste sisal you produced, did you ever find a practical use for it, such as a fire starter? I assume (hope) you didn't feed it as roughage to Ada.

I have A11 mule, it was the best when I got it. I wish they would have had K390 or Maxamet when I got it. I have an Urban in K390 and I sharpened it 9 months ago and still going strong lol

Have really enjoyed K390 and PMA-11 they may be my favorites given the toughness advantage over Maxamet. I also live in a fairly dry climate region. I've had good luck with S90V as well.

Nice Majora’s Mask usage here. Classic.

Thanks very much for this. I know very little about knives but I’m looking to buy something. It’s gone from an almost impulsive thing to a really considered purchase. Just so interesting

Thanks for the intro’s, for the content an for your efforts ! Love the content you make for us nerds 😜. Thank you for the hours of infotainment you have provided me over the past years, much appreciated. Kindest regards, Hubrecht.

00:02:00... [A]- Satan? Really? Did I hear you correctly? ... Wow Pete 😳 Great Video Pete, super informative and helping me narrow down my choices in super knives to one day purchase for myself, settling on D2 for Chinese knives from Eafengrow and 20CV American knife maker Kershaw. Your videos have distinctly helped me make these choices for myself as well as knives for others as gifts this holiday season and one day I will save the money and buy a ultimate knife with ultimate Steel using your data Pete so I do think you for all you do. I wish you a blessed 2022

Your monologues are amazing. The next Conan Obrien, can't wait to see you on late night, giving an epic middle school science presentation on knife steel every night :)

Awesome vid! Thanks for compiling all the info. I love how unique you and your channel is!

You are a great nerd mate ,thanks for the videos

You should make a video of all your intros

Heck of an intro, and now i really want to watch red dwarf again after that music, some of the imagery etc. Rewatching is cheaper then buying a new knife though lol!

I'm really enjoying these latest entries in the Knife Lab cinematic universe. Can't wait for the big finale when all the modern folders unite to take down Uncle Randy.

Awesome work Cedric, much appreciated and linked your channel.!

dam 4 years old this video is old as dirt lol thats still works for me tho i love to learn

Nice vid. I usually go through your videos before a higher end knife purchase to have a better idea of a knifes capability. 👍👌✌️

Hands down your best most consistent outstanding astonishing test session. Thanks 🔪✨

You are the man - thanks for taking the time to do all of these videos!