My most hated steel turned into my favorite! AEB-L

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:01]All right, welcome to another one from The Outdoor Analyst. I've got a super fun one for you today, and I think it's a pretty important video. Now, this one is going to be talking about steel, so we're going to get a little bit nerdy.

[00:00:14]We're going to be talking about one of my favorite steels, but here's the the truth of this. If you would have asked me 5 years ago, and you already saw the title, about what I think about AEBL, I would have actually told you I think it's pretty chippy, and I think it's a pretty crappy steel.

[00:00:29]That's my exact thought process 5 years ago, and there's a specific reason why that happened, and there's a major brand that actually made me kind of hate AEBL, if you want me to be honest. I tried it like three or four times, and guess what? I kept trying it from the same brand. Big mistake. Uh and it just turned me off. It turned me off for a very long time until uh I got my hands on a little knife from Christian Leichen, and this little knife completely changed my perspective. So, this is going to be fun. I'm talking about this specifically, too, because I am going to be making my new knife. Uh it's going to be made out of AEBL, and I want people to know why. Most people know why I love it. We're going to get into it, but if you had the same experience that I did 5 years ago, I actually want you to kind of have a good refresher to know that there's a different There's There's There's different steels. There's different ways to do it, and there's one major company that I love that I still think is doing it wrong. Uh so, [clears throat] hey, if you do like content like this, hit the like, hit the subscribe, stick around. We do fun stuff like this all the time. If you like hunting, you can check my book out down below. And then, thanks to every member who has joined.

[00:01:45]Thank you. That's why we do a free knife giveaway every single month. Uh it's going to be a sweet knife this month.

[00:01:50]We're doing like a custom knife giveaway, so if you want to be part of that, uh the GL Drew in Desert Ironwood is happening uh at the end of this month. Well, usually I do like a the beginning of the the next one, but yeah, this is the custom we're giving away this month. So, it's going to be pretty darn sweet. All right. Let's talk about AEBL. Why do I generally like it? Well, because it's insanely tough. Matter of fact, it is as tough as CPM 3V. What?

[00:02:15]What? That's just not true. C3V is the toughest steel. Go check the charts, people. If you're a nice steel nerds guy, if you like Larrin Thomas, then yes, I do like his stuff.

[00:02:25]Take it with a little bit of a grain of salt cuz his tests are very specific and they don't test everything, but yeah, on the toughness, you're going to find them both at nines. They are insanely tough.

[00:02:36]Edge retention?

[00:02:38]Actually is pretty good. CPM 3V is I think like 20% better than AEBL, but AEBL stainless. Truly stainless.

[00:02:48]And it actually is pretty darn stainless. I really like AEBL. Because it's basically, in my version, the stainless 3V. It really is. And it strops up way better.

[00:03:00]It has a much stickier sharp edge to it that you get stupid fast and you can do two deer without having any issues, in my opinion.

[00:03:08]So, for like field dressing, it's perfect. For woodwork, it's perfect. For EDC, it's a little low on edge retention, but I have a lot of AEBL knives that are for EDC. I guess I can just throw this one out there. My knives by Nug Cud Muk.

[00:03:21]AEBL. This is a great great little EDCer. And every few weeks, just do a couple strops, boom, back to stupid sticky sharp again.

[00:03:31]So, AEBL is ridiculously tough. When When, here's the caveat. It is heat treated between 60 and usually about 62.

[00:03:42]That's like the sweet spot. I think 63 is doable, but anything lower than 60, and this is where I ran into issues with actual use is that it it it was very brittle and chippy. And everybody always said, "AEBL, the toughest steel ever." And I kept getting chips. I kept getting just constantly. I was like, "This this sucks. It really sucks." It would sharpen up really fast, but it would it would chip out on me. And that was because I was using like 57 to 59 Rockwell AEBL. AKA utter trash.

[00:04:20]>> [laughter] >> I know. Okay. So, the knives that I was using back then, I had a LT Wright GNS. It was beautiful.

[00:04:28]Rock tread AEBL GNS. It was awesome. And trust me, I like LT Wright. One of my favorite knives. Absolutely love the Outback in CPM 3V. And one of my favorites in A2 is their Genesis. These are just two staples for me. So, don't think I do not like LT Wright. I You know I do. Every I I shout their praises all the time. But I'm going to tell you this, I will never buy an LT Wright in AEBL at this moment. I had the Genesis. I went and had multiple Jesmuks C's that that are only come in AEBL, and they were all chippy. I'd go out to the woods, go out to the property, and I'd come back with the GNS after just the normal day's work, and it had chips all over it. I remember that happening the first time. It was winter. It was like 30 to probably about 20 25°. I was out there for most of the day. Came back just tons of chips. Every time I'd get the Jesmuk C, I'd go out and just do some regular work with it.

[00:05:28]It'd have rolls. It'd have chips. On regular every time. Like every single time. And I had multiples of those.

[00:05:37]I I got rid of them. I sold them every single time. I'd sharpen them out, get rid of those chips, and just sell them.

[00:05:41]I was like, "Damn damn gone it." Like it sucked. So, for years in my mind, AEBL was trash, utter trash. And I I ripped on it. I was like, "This stuff's chippy.

[00:05:53]I don't care about it. It's chippy. It doesn't even do feather sticking." And that's what the problem was. It wouldn't even do regular feather sticking.

[00:06:00]All right. That's LT Wright. As far as I know, they are still doing that style. They are still absolutely doing their Rockwells at like 57 to 59.

[00:06:11]And I'm going to be honest, I will never touch one of their knives that's Rockwell that way. Now, fast forward 5 years, get my hands on an AEBL Little Canadian Point 09 thick, and one of the razor thinnest edges ever, the Little Canadian.

[00:06:32]I have batoned this through stupid stuff. I have thrown this into logs like 100 times on that thin of an edge.

[00:06:43]Yeah.

[00:06:44]That thin of a tip.

[00:06:46]No issues. No chips. No rolls. And all of a sudden, my mind started to flip a little. I was like, "Is this really that good?"

[00:06:55]Yeah. [clears throat] Then, I started to really trust in it. I got like Ferrum Forge knives, uh the Minuteman, AEBL 3/16 thick. I have beasted this through logs. I just went crazy with this. This was kind of like my other like, "I need to really, really know this steel's actually good."

[00:07:14]And it is. It's insane. It's stupid It's CPM 3V tough. It changed my whole perspective.

[00:07:22]>> [clears throat] >> I started getting little EDCs in it, trusting the steel, going fishing with it. It's just immaculate. It's stupid, stupid tough. It strops up crazy, crazy well. And, you know, I even was happy to get like one of my favorite, favorite knives in it. This is the Leschen Dakota. This is all around just one of the best knives out there. I absolutely love this knife. I can't wait to do Bambi with this knife, too. But, for an all around belt knife, AEBL, little under 4 in,.125 thick, >> [clears throat] >> yeah, basically 8 of an inch of excellence.

[00:07:58]Absolute excellence.

[00:08:00]It's a steel that I love, that I trust.

[00:08:04]Pardon. [clears throat] You can take it in bigger knives, too.

[00:08:08]This is the Bear Forest Knives Nakid 3/32 thin. This thing's about 5 in long, just about. And yeah, you can baton this through. It's super, super tough. You can really stretch it. And then, this isn't a freaking scandi, like a zero grind scandi. And now, I think Bear Forest does theirs right around like 60 to 61.

[00:08:29]So, [clears throat] it's on the lower end of what I would consider perfection for the steel, but it still holds up very well. I've had no chips or rolls on the scandi side of this whatsoever. I've kind of taken it and even gone, you know, higher-end Volunteer Knife & Tool AEBL, 4 in.

[00:08:45]I think this is point This is not 3/16.

[00:08:49]This is 5/32 now.

[00:08:51]Uh and this thing is just a an absolute beast, absolute monster. Just like my Minute Man, I have no fear of just tanking this knife through ridiculous things.

[00:09:02]Why? Because AEBL is that tough.

[00:09:05]If it's Rockwell to the correct area.

[00:09:08]So, can multiple brands do this correctly?

[00:09:12]Yes. Are there still a few, and I hate to say it, I think LT Wright still one of them, that does that lower Rockwell heat treat that, in my opinion, sucks.

[00:09:24]Straight-up sucks and destroys the steel. Yes. Yes.

[00:09:29]You can mess up anything. And I I I even talked with another maker. I was like, "Why is this happening?" He broke it down and went to the specifics of I think it's when they it's do they do a tempering and you get that austenite and then I feel we forget the other word it's like an A and you don't get that super fine grain instead you get these like big chunks of crap that happen and that's what keeps chipping out. So if you do that process wrong and it heat treats to the lower area you get an uneven edge where all that stuff chips out on you and that's kind of exactly what I was experiencing. He said it in scientific terms I immediately took it to my use case of thinking absolutely that's what happened to me every single time and it just pissed me off and it's all about Rockwell. So 60 still fine you kind of want to have like 60 and a half I think in reality to really start getting the super benefits of that toughness the stainlessness and halfway decent edge retention.

[00:10:23]No I'm not going to say go get AEB-L for a a little folder that's going to cut tape and boxes all day. Hell no go get S90V and enjoy your life. That's different though. Would I want S90V in a knife this small that I use like this?

[00:10:38]Absolutely not I would chip the living piss out of it. AEB-L I do lots of around the just around the house honestly and then fishing when I'm nicking aluminum and metal all the time. AEB-L is awesome just absolutely awesome and then I just love this these little knives for like little fire prepping. Oh they're so good at it.

[00:11:00]But they're so stupid thin and yet they these are freaking holding up and I have just tortured them.

[00:11:06]So yes it's awesome I really really really love it but you also just have to know like hey you have to have it done right. You can't have a poorly heat treated knife even though I would say LT Wright does is awesome but their heat treat on AEB-L not right. Not right so neck that falls for everybody else who's in the lower heat treats don't do that for AEB-L. It is a steel that thrives at that higher 60 to like 63.

[00:11:37]That's where it thrives. That's where it really rocks and it just becomes a a true animal. A true animal that I love and I almost want like every knife in it.

[00:11:47]Which is awesome. So, I wanted to throw it out there because I'm sure somebody else has had the same experience I have and you know what? I just want you to know there's light at the end of the tunnel, man. There is light at the end of the tunnel with a right heat treated AEBL.

[00:12:01]It is amazing.

[00:12:04]But, I don't know why I haven't talked about that at all. Maybe it's just cuz I love LT Wright and I never wanted to say anything, you know, rough about him.

[00:12:12]I I I have no connection with them whatsoever. I've never even talked to LT, uh which is crazy. I talked to other people, I think maybe even his his wife, but I don't know. But, a lot of other people there, but um yeah, that's the thing.

[00:12:25]They they just it turned me off for years. And that makes me sad because I was missing out on my favorite steel in reality.

[00:12:32]And it was there all along. So, if you have experienced that too, I want you to to just take heart and maybe try it something different. From a different brand, check the heat treat, check that Rockwell, make sure it hits there, and then I think you will be absolutely blown away by it.

[00:12:48]All right. Catch y'all in the next one.

[00:12:49]Let me know your experience down below if you're kind of in the same boat. Has anybody had that happen to them cuz man, I had like three or four, I think it's four knives did the same thing and I it just that was enough. Knife number four hit, started chipping on freaking feather sticking and I was like, "I'm done for years." And I was. I think I was probably done for four or five years. It just turned me off completely.

[00:13:12]Man, that just that's sad. It really is sad. I was missing out on so so much.

[00:13:17]So, yeah, this video needs needs to get out there. People need to know about that, um just in case you fell in just like I did. All right. Catch you in the next one.