Calculator › Steels › AEB-L
AEB-L was designed for razor blades and behaves like it: very fine carbides, so it takes an extremely keen edge and is far tougher than most stainless at 60–62 HRC. It is also cheap for a stainless and sold thin. That makes it the go-to for kitchen knives, fillet knives and anything ground to a fine edge. Edge retention is modest; it is easy to sharpen, which most cooks prefer.
| Good for | Kitchen knives, fillet knives, paring knives, straight razors. |
|---|---|
| Forging | Forgeable by experienced smiths (1900–2100 °F) but normally stock removal |
| Normalize | Not applicable — buy annealed |
| Austenitize | 1950–1975 °F, 10–15 min soak, in foil (5 min is enough at 1975) |
| Quench | Plates, then cryo or dry ice; freezer helps |
| Temper | 350–400 °F twice → 60–62 HRC; 300 °F with cryo reaches 63–64 |
| Working hardness | 60–63 HRC |
Typical shop values. Confirm against your supplier's datasheet.
Sheet and strip from 0.040 to 0.190 in, 1–24 in wide, 12–36 in lengths. 0.080–0.094 in (about 3/32) is the kitchen-knife size; 0.040–0.062 for fillet and paring.
Suppliers: New Jersey Steel Baron Alpha Knife Supply Jantz
Steel is only part of the cost. Add abrasives, handle, heat treat and your time, and see the price that actually pays you.
Copy link to this calculationIt is arguably the best value stainless for them: fine edge, tough, easy to sharpen, inexpensive. Its only weakness is edge retention next to high-carbide steels.
Bar sizes for ten common knife patterns, weight per inch for every standard flat bar, and quick heat-treat numbers for the usual carbon steels. Print it, tape it to the grinder.