I’m Larrin Thomas, a steel metallurgist in Pittsburgh, PA. I developed an interest in steel by visiting knife shows with my father, Devin Thomas, who makes damascus steel. At those knife shows I heard knife makers claim that their steels and heat treatments were better for various and interesting reasons; I wanted to know who was telling the truth! I began reading everything I could on steel metallurgy and that culminated in a PhD in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. I now work professionally developing steels for the automotive industry, but I still love the high carbon steels used in knives. So to feed that passion, I write about knife steel related topics on my blog here, Knife Steel Nerds, where we can all nerd out on steel together.
I also have a longer version of my story in this article here: How I Became a Knife Steel Metallurgist