AR-SFII Steel Explained: Artisan Cutlery's Spray-Form Upgrade
Artisan Cutlery builds two of its own blade steels, and one of them gets almost none of the attention. AR-RPM9 has been the brand's workhorse since it arrived, and it has earned its own reputation ...
N690 Steel Explained: Properties, Sharpening, Best Uses
N690 is a stainless steel made by Böhler Edelstahl, an Austrian steelmaker whose alloys appear in everything from injection moulds to premium folding knives. Officially designated BÖHLER N690 (mate...
VG-10 Steel Explained: Properties, Sharpening, and Best Uses
VG-10 is a cutlery-grade stainless steel produced in Japan. The name stands for V Gold 10 — gold meaning quality — and it is also written as V-Kin-10 in Japanese. Developed by Takefu Special Steel...
AUS-8 Steel Explained: Properties, Sharpening, and Best Uses
AUS-8 is a Japanese stainless steel made by Aichi Steel, a member of the Toyota Group. For decades it has been one of the most common blade steels in mid-range production knives, prized for a bala...
S35VN Steel Explained: Properties, Sharpening, and Best Uses
S35VN has become one of the most common premium steels in modern EDC knives — and for good reason. It sits in a sweet spot between edge retention, toughness, and ease of sharpening that few steels...
AR-RPM9 Steel Explained: Budget Powder Steel for EDC
AR-RPM9 is a powder-metallurgy stainless steel that has become a fixture of Artisan Cutlery's mid-range lineup. It appears across the catalog — from the Ahab and Arroyo to the Beest, Cazador, Andro...