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Steel, Told Straight: The Complete Knife Steel Guide
The Vault Guides · Dossier
Knife Steel Comparison Chart: MagnaCut vs M390 vs S90V vs D2
8 min read · By The Knife Vault Editorial Team
A knife steel comparison chart is only useful if the names on it are names you will actually meet. This one is the vault's shelf plus the one steel the community will not stop asking about: MagnaCut, introduced by Dr. Larrin Thomas in 2021, which we do stock in one folder.
The ratings are qualitative and relative — not CATRA numbers wearing a costume. Heat treatment still outranks the recipe. Read the chart, then read the steel that matches how you cut and how often you will stone.
01 The chart: steels on this shelf
Edge life is how long a working apex survives cardboard, rope, and onion skins. Toughness is whether the edge chips or rolls when you do something unwise. Corrosion is the care burden in a wet pocket or a wet sink. Sharpening is whether an ordinary 1000-grit stone is enough, or whether you need diamond and a Saturday.
02 MagnaCut vs M390 vs S90V vs D2 — the four people actually ask about
MagnaCut was designed to stop the usual powder-steel argument: you no longer have to pick two of toughness, corrosion, and edge. It is the current community obsession because it mostly does that. M390 still wins raw edge life and stain resistance in the stainless powder class most of our titanium shelf uses. S90V is the edge-life specialist. D2 is not in that conversation — it is a high-wear tool steel that stains if you sweat on it and ignore it — and it remains a legitimate under-$100 daily if you will wipe the blade.
If you want one sentence: MagnaCut or M390 for a knife you will actually carry; S90V if cardboard is your job; D2 if the budget is the constraint and oil is not a burden.
03 How to use the chart without lying to yourself
Pick the column that is your bottleneck, not the one that looks most expensive. If you hate sharpening, do not buy S90V to feel serious. If you live in a wet pocket, do not buy D2 to save twenty dollars. If you cook, the kitchen row is VG-10, not M390.
The M390 vs S90V vs 154CM dossier is the long version of the titanium-shelf trio. The kitchen-steel dossier is the board version. This chart is the map that sits above both.
Sources & Further Reading
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions from the Counter
- What is the best knife steel overall?
- There is no overall. MagnaCut and M390 are the strongest all-round stainless answers for most EDC; VG-10 is the kitchen default on our shelf; 154CM and 14C28N are the easy-sharpen answers; D2 is the budget wear answer if you will wipe it.
- Is MagnaCut better than M390?
- It is usually tougher and easier to sharpen, with corrosion that matches or beats M390. M390 typically holds a fine edge longer. "Better" is which bottleneck you actually have. We stock both; we will not pretend the forum settled it.
- Where does D2 sit against powder steels?
- Below them in corrosion, in the same neighbourhood for wear if the heat is honest, and well ahead of mystery stainless. It is a tool steel with a stain habit — oil it. It is not a failed M390.
From the Page to the Palm
Reading about steel is one thing. Holding it is the other.
Every claim in this guide is backed by a piece on the shelf — titanium edc steel, named and priced plainly in CAD.
Shop named-steel EDC →More in This Guide
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Kitchen Steel Explained: VG-10, Powder Steel, and High-Carbon Stainless
VG-10, powder steel, 440C, high-carbon stainless — what the steels on our kitchen shelf actually do at the board.