AUS8 Steel - Stainless Steel

AUS8 Stainless Steel is a steel that is quite resistant to rust, maintains a certain degree of sharpness and is easy to sharpen as well as handle in the kitchen.

There is actually no steel formally named "Molybdenum Steel," and most of the "Molybdenum Steel," "Molybdenum-Vanadium Steel," "MV Steel" or even "INOX Steel" materials in circulation are infact AUS8 steels. We say most because there are exceptions - not all manufacturers disclose their steel names, so this is best to interpret more as a light, general rule.

There are many reasons why manufacturers may use these names over AUS8, but the most crucial reason is that steel material alone does not dictate the quality of a final product. Rather, the manufacturing process itself indicates much of the quality behind a steel and the knives used to make it, as well as their performance. So, these names can sometimes be used to avoid comparisons between AUS8 steels and knives from different manufacturers based on the steel alone.

Any steel with molybdenum in it can be referred to as "Molybdenum Steel," however when rarer or more expensive materials are also part of the composition, different names are often used.

About 30-40 years ago, stainless steel knives were primarily made of steel with a carbon content of around 0.6%, such as AUS6 or 420J2 steels. As you will see later in the composition table, AUS6 does not contain any added molybdenum (Mo) or vanadium (V).

During an era when carbon content was the sole factor used to estimate the performance of blades, the introduction of these two elements significantly altered the general impression of stainless steel. It improved the toughness and edge retention to such a degree that people started seeing stainless steel significantly differently compared to their carbon steel counterparts.

This had a huge impact at a time when carbon steel was so widespread that people had the impression that "stainless steel knives are dull and can't be sharpened.''

With a 13% chromium (Cr) content, which helps prevent rusting, and the added benefit of improved sharpness, the inclusion of molybdenum (and vanadium) was highlighted as a unique point for these knives. Knife manufacturers then adopted terms like "Molybdenum steel" and "INOX steel" and marketed them as "stainless steel knives with excellent sharpness."

Steel material is crucial for indicating a knife's initial performance (amongst many other things related to craftsman ability and more). Below are some comparisons to give you some understanding showing what a particular step of the process does in terms of impacting sharpness, balance and maintainability.

There’s three key pointers in the above chart to focus on.

• Steel Material has a large impact on sharpness and maintainability (ease of sharpening and resistance to rust).

• Apart from sharpness, heat treatment and the sharpening process in knife creation also have a large impact on sharpness.

• Measuring a knife’s strengths is more than just its sharpness. Balance and maintainability also need to be considered.

Based on the above steel mapping chart, AUS8 Steel falls in this position on the graph below:

Easy to sharpen and bring back to maximum performance!

Let’s look at the tables below and explore the composition of AUS8 Steel more deeply.

The hardness is rated at 57.5, which is slightly lower compared to other high-end stainless steels like Silver Steel #3, VG1 or VG10 (all which measure at 60). However, with the addition of molybdenum and vanadium, toughness and wear resistance are improved.

Due to those additions however, for those more used to or familiar with carbon steels like White Steel, you may experience a slight slip when sharpening on a whetstone in comparison.