Best steel for a multi-tool knife?
What’s the best steel for a multi-tool knife? We’re going to try to answer that question without getting too nerdy about every variation of knife steel and its individual characteristics. What you’ll see is that multi-tool knife steels can be grouped into 3 categories of good, very good and excellent. Let’s have a look at how you see what category your multi-tool falls into.
The most important tool? Some will argue it’s the pliers, others will argue for the bottle opener or scissors. But I think I can make the strongest argument that the knife, in fact, is the most important of all the tools in your multi-tool. It’s at least one of the most important. By the way, if you’re interested in knowing more what I think are important decisions to make when buying a multi-tool, check out this comprehensive article I wrote on the subject. And because it’s important, wouldn’t it be good to know that your knife is made of a quality steel and it’s going to do the job you want to use it for?
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Knife vs multi-tool knife
As I’ve been learning about multi-tools, I’ve come across the world of knives. I’m sure there are plenty of multi-tool fans who are also knife fans. Makes sense as they are sort of related. But a multi-tool knife isn’t like some of the fancy knives you might see. These knives are often designed for specific purposes like hunting or fishing or tactical combat and can cost as much as a good multi-tool up to over a thousand dollars. Some though are designed as an ‘everyday carry’ or a ‘beater’ and it’s these types of knives that are designed more for general purpose and ‘odd jobs’. It’s the beater type of knives that are closest to the use we put our multi-tool knife to. So let’s have a look at what qualities we should be looking for in the steel for our multi-tool knife.
What to look for in multi-tool knife steel
Sharpness – not much use in having a knife if it isn’t sharp is it? So ideally you want a knife to be sharp when you first rip it out of the package.
Edge retention – It’s great if your multi-tool knife is sharp when you first get it but you also want it to stay sharp for a good amount of time. This is called edge retention and is affected by the hardness of the steel – measured by a scale called Rockwell Hardness. No, I’m not going to get into that (remember, we’re not going to get too nerdy). And when it does lose some of its sharpness (they all do eventually), you want it to be easy to sharpen.
Hardness and durability – I thought the harder the knife steel was, the more durable it would be. But that’s not the case. What you actually want in a multi-tool knife steel is a blade that will flex a little bit when you’re using it but not bend too much. If it bends too much, you could bend it out of shape permanently. So do I want a blade that doesn’t bend at all then? No, because if it doesn’t bend at all, it would be brittle and you could snap it. The answer is you want a steel that flexes a bit to take some of the force you put through it but is hard enough not to snap and that springs back to its original shape. Simple!
Corrosion resistance – no one wants a rusty knife, do they? Won’t cut very well and doesn’t look good either. So you want a multi-tool knife that doesn’t rust. Stainless steel is a good start in the fight against rust but it’s not perfect. Stainless steel knives can still rust if you don’t maintain them from time to time. If your knife steel isn’t stainless then you going to need to oil it a lot more often. Every steel I’ve seen for popular multi-tools are stainless.
Types of knife steel
There are literally thousands of different types of steel used to make knives. That’s because blade steels are made up of a lot of different elements. If we’re just trying to understand what the best steel for a multi-tool knife is then we don’t need to know about every different element that can go into the makeup of knife steel. But understanding how a few of the main elements affect the quality and characteristics of the blade is useful stuff to know.
Carbon (C) – this the most important element for hardening the steel and helps to reduce wear and tear on the blade. Some makers substitute Nitrogen (Ni) for carbon which does the same job. So carbon or nitrogen is good and generally speaking the more the better. The amount of carbon in the steel is very small though. A blade with a lot of carbon has 0.8% or more and a blade with not very much carbon has 0.3% or less.
Chromium (Cr) – another key ingredient of knife steel. The main job for chromium is to resist corrosion. Unlike carbon which will be less than 1% of the mix, chromium is usually at least 12%. It also increases the strength of the blade but don’t put too much in because it reduces the toughness of the blade. Remember strength and toughness aren’t the same in a blade. Too much toughness means it can be brittle and can snap rather than flex.
Elements like Silicon (Si), Phosphorus (P) and Cobalt (Co) increase blade strength as well as adding other goodness. Tungsten (W) and Vanadium (V) help with wear resistance. These are just examples of the types of elements going into the mix. The types of elements added and the quantities of each element and how they interact with each other are what knife makers are constantly experimenting with. They are all striving for that perfect balance of qualities in a knife blade and to claim they have discovered the next wonder steel! The truth is that there will always be compromises that have to be made and one steel can be great for one task and not great for another.
What types of steel are used in multi-tool knives?
In the knife fan world, the type of steel used for the blade is always specified. If it isn’t, keen knife fans wouldn’t trust it and wouldn’t buy it. In our multi-tool world though, some manufacturers aren’t so open about the type of steel they use in their knife. Some will tell you about size, weight, tools included but don’t specify the knife steel in their descriptions. I’m not sure why they would be so secretive about it.
Here’s what I could find about the knife steel for the most popular multi-tool manufacturers.
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| Leatherman | ||
| Model | Knife Steel | Rating |
| Blast | 420HC | Good |
| Charge AL | 154CM | Very Good |
| Charge ALX | 154CM | Very Good |
| Charge TTI | S30V | Excellent |
| Crunch | 420HC | Good |
| Freestyle | 420HC | Good |
| Fuse | 420HC | Good |
| Juice C2 | 420HC | Good |
| Juice CS3 | Not Specified | |
| Juice CS4 | 420HC | Good |
| Juice S2 | 420HC | Good |
| Juice XE6 | 420HC | Good |
| Kick | 420HC | Good |
| Leap | 420HC | Good |
| Micra | 420HC | Good |
| MUT | 420HC, 154CM | Good, Very Good |
| MUT EOD | 420HC, 154CM | Good, Very Good |
| OHT | 154CM | Very Good |
| Raptor | 420HC | Good |
| Rebar | 154CM | Very Good |
| Rebar Knifeless | No Knife | |
| Sidekick | 420HC | Good |
| Skeletool | 420HC | Good |
| Skeletool CX | 154CM | Very Good |
| Skeletool SX | Not Specified | |
| Squirt ES4 | 420HC | Good |
| Squirt PS4 | 420HC | Good |
| Style | 420HC | Good |
| Style PS | No Knife | |
| SuperTool 300 | 420HC, 154CM | Good, Very Good |
| SuperTool 300 EOD | 420HC, 154CM | Good, Very Good |
| Surge | 420HC | Good |
| Wave | 420HC | Good |
| Wingman | 420HC | Good |
| Z-Rex | 440 | Good |
| SOG | ||
| Model | Knife Steel | Rating |
| Baton Q1 | 5CR15MOV | Good |
| Baton Q2 | 5CR15MOV | Good |
| Baton Q4 | 5CR15MOV | Good |
| Crosscut 2.0 | 7CR13MOV | Good |
| MACV Tool | 420HC | Good |
| Micro Toolclip | 7CR13MOV | Good |
| Paratool | 420HC | Good |
| Pocket Powerplier | 420HC | Good |
| Powerplay | 5CR15MOV | Good |
| Poweraccess | 5CR15MOV | Good |
| Powerassist | 420HC | Good |
| Powerduo | 9CR18MOV | Good |
| Powergrab | 420HC | Good |
| Powerlock | 420HC | Good |
| Powerlock EOD | 420HC | Good |
| Powerlock V-Cutter | 420HC | Good |
| Reactor | 420HC | Good |
| Switchplier | 420HC | Good |
| Sync I | 5CR15MOV | Good |
| Sync II | 5CR15MOV | Good |
| Gerber | ||
| Model | Knife Steel | Rating |
| Bear Grylls Compact Multi-Tool | Not Specified | |
| Bear Grylls Pocket Tool | 5CR15 | Good |
| Bear Grylls Ultimate Multi-Tool | Not Specified | |
| Center Drive | 420HC | Good |
| Compact Sport Multi-Plier 400 | Not Specified | |
| Crucial Multi-Tool | Not Specified | |
| Curve | Not Specified | |
| Diesel Multi-Plier Black | Not Specified | |
| Dime | 3CR13 | Good |
| Evo Tool | 440 | Good |
| Flik Multi-Plier Needlenose | Not Specified | |
| Legend Multi-Plier 800 | Not Specified | |
| MP1 | 420HC | Good |
| Multi-Plier 600 Bladeless | Not Specified | |
| Multi-Plier 600 - Bluntnose | Not Specified | |
| Multi-Plier 600 Needlenose | Not Specified | |
| Multi-Plier 600 Pro Scout | Not Specified | |
| Splice Pocket Tool | Not Specified | |
| Strata Multi-Plier | Not Specified | |
| Suspension Multi-Plier | Not Specified | |
| Vise Pocket Tool | Not Specified |
General Rules – Multi-tool Knife Steel Types
As a general rule, the steels for multi-tool knives can be grouped into 3 types.
- 400 series steels (like 420HC, 440) are good all round steels. They are corrosion resistant, easy to get sharp and easy to sharpen.
- The Cr steels (3Cr13, 5Cr15MOV, 7CR13MOV, 9CR18MOV) are Chinese made steels and are broadly the same as the 400 series steels with the same characteristics. The different numbers change the amount of hardness or toughness or corrosion resistance but they are all broadly similar in performance.
- A step up from the 400 series and Cr series steels is 154CM. The is a more premium steel and has very good hardness and retains it’s edge sharpness well. It’s made by Crucible in the US.
- The top of the range in multi-tool steel is S30V used in only in Leatherman’s Charge TTi. Like 154CM, this steel is made by Crucible and is considered to be a premium grade steel with much superior toughness compared to 400 series steel.
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Leatherman Charge TTi with S30V steel blade
Don’t worry too much
Even though some knife steel is better than another, none of them are perfect for every job. And of course, because we are all multi-tool MacGyvers, we use our multi-tool knives for ANY situation we find ourselves in. Our knife has to be a jack-of-all-trades knife. Of the steels we know of used by the 3 big multi-tool makers, there really isn’t a bad steel amongst. You can see they are rated as either good, very good and in one case excellent.
Now you know a little more about multi-tool knife steel, you can rest knowing that your knife is going to do a pretty good job for you – as long as you have looked after your multi-tool but that’s a topic for another time……
How have you found the quality of the knife in your multi-tool? Have you got a favorite knife steel? Tell me about it in the comments below.