I believe Elmax and M390 are two excellent steels !!! They grind soft or hard in what I concider to be an very nice way and hand finish or polish well. You can go to a Rockwell 62 on a thin ground edge and the edge does not fold or chip out. It is also very reasonable for the owner to sharpen. I believe these to be two of the very best of knife steels with a bit of a step up from CPM154, CPM35VN, ATS34 and many stainless metals. Frank