I'm pretty sure that this topic has been beaten to death by now. But, I still can't get a definite answer. With stainless steel, you get better corrosion resistance, and you will hold and edge longer. With carbon steel, you will hold a sharper edge, and you could forge a knife blade longer than 2 ft without breakage. I'm personally a fan of stainless steel, just because it seems to hold up to use and abuse better in the long run. HOWEVER, I have NEVER had a factory made knife break on me. I don't think that they would try to sell you a knife that didn't do what it was meant to do, at least to a reasonable degree. (I work for a living, and can't afford a custom 0 knife.) What do you think? Is this a pointless topic, and are the two steels really not that different?