Hardness, Nitrogen-alloyed

Why Nitrogen Knife Steels are Soft

Larrin

Thanks to the new Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporters! Hunter Chen, Claas, Curtis Fowler, Saptak Dutta, Tracker Dan, Paul Pedrazzi, 150LAT10N, James Kane, Vincent Franchino, and Jack Bashear.

I also have some Patreon-exclusive bonus content related to this article such as Nitrobe 77, Nitro-V, and 14C28N steel hardness data and experiments on the effects of the high temperature temper on nitrogen steel hardness. read more

Heat Treating and Processing

How to Heat Treat 80CrV2

Larrin

Thank you to all the new supporters on the Knife Steel Nerds Patreon! This type of research in heat treating wouldn’t be possible without all you supporters. Jim Ballard, Distal Steel, Max Vasilatos, Samuel Hicks, Gundam Iupus, Michael Brauer, Luong La, Chris Hancock, Todd Ellner, Brendon Novak, Yannis Hmade, Kyle Daily, Kenneth Proefrock, JRG, Jason Keen, Robert Johnson, Travis, C. Thomas Guething, Kevin Lavery, Zac War, Justin Smith, Jay Mwangi, Kiyoul Park, Luis Maian, Scott Maslowe, HK Knifeworks, James Hunsberger, Nicholas, Bruce Blake, Matthew Hutchinson, FOBOS Knives, Reiff Knives, Raphael Dall’Anese, Jonathan Shook, Tony Garcia, Dean Paxton, Carey A. Buckles, Pops Knife Supply, J. McConnell, and blank blank. read more

Austenitic Stainless, Cold Forging, Corrosion Resistance

H2 Steel – H1 the sequel

Larrin

Background

A recent Spyderco Byte has announced a replacement for H1 steel – H2. H1 is known for being a very high corrosion resistance steel used primarily in Spyderco’s Salt line of knives. I have a previous article about the design of H1 and how it “works” which you can read here. I am somewhat tempted to re-write large chunks of that article here because H1 is one of the most misunderstood knife steels but I am going to try to hit a few of the highlights without much explanation and I hope you will read the earlier article to understand what I am referring to: read more

Steel Alternatives

Wood Knife that is 3x Sharper than Steel? Spoiler: No

Larrin

Several people have sent me links to a recent publication about a process that increased the hardness/strength of basswood. They then demonstrated the success of their processing by making a knife and a nail out of the wood. See here for an example of one of these articles: https://www.cnet.com/news/scientists-create-a-wooden-knife-thats-three-times-sharper-than-steel/ read more

Austenitizing, Cryo, Edge Retention, Edge Stability, Hardness, Heat Treating and Processing, Tempering, Toughness

What is the Best Hardness for MagnaCut Knives?

Larrin

Thanks to the new members of our Knife Steel Nerds Patreon community:

Chris Hancock, Chad Morris, Edward Voss, Liam Gogley, Erik Turner, Nathan Raptis, Nick Dunham, Joe Busic, Will Red Five Forge, Dmitry Kiyatkin, Edward Edmonds, Asinelli, Mattew Reagan, Nate, Dan Barrett, Malachi Chou-Green, Nats Spawnee, McKenzie Kelsay, Jantz Supply, Adam Webb, Brian Baley, Blade HQ, and Mark Demshock. read more