Originally Posted by
Malcolm Schweizer
Personally, I prefer the X19 steel, which is compact and aerodynamic, and was a lot of fun back in my college days. Recently I've been using some vintage RX7, which is a rotary tool steel, and some BMWM3 German steel. I found it much better and used less oil than the XJ2 British steel. Of course there's the Japanese GXR750- lighter weight, faster, but much more dangerous. If you're wanting an American steel, you can go with the old GT350, or a newer GT500. I prefer the classic, but the prices on eBay have skyrocketed. Anyway, I'm saving to one day have the ultimate steel of them all: The 427AC. Old, but still a classic. There are a lot of good modern copies of it these days, as original 427AC steel is very rare and very expensive.
Malcol, I prefer vintage GT40 steel myself, though there is an excellent modern formulation.
I use A2 with a hollow grind and shapton ceramic stones. It gets nicely sharp for me and any deficiencies there are because Im learning to freehand. But I used a Veritas Mk2 for a long time with no issues.
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