Category: History – Articles – Books
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Testing Super High Speed Steel Vanadis 60
The following is a collaboration project between myself and Malachi Chou-Green. He obtained the Vanadis 60, did some heat treating experiments, and also did metallography including some fancy electron microscopy. He also heat treated and machined the CATRA knife that I tested. His original experiments were published some time ago on his Patreon, so if you want to see what he is up to I recommend visiting his Patreon page and becoming a supporter.
Testing Chinese Knife Steel 8Cr13MoV/8Cr14MoV
Thank you Patreon Supporters!
Thank you to my Patreon supporters who help make these studies happen. Patreon funds were used for purchasing two ultimately useless knives, and some steel. Patreon supporter Marcus Ho even sent me some steel all the way from China which also ended up not working out. And I used Patreon funds to pay Shawn Houston (also a Patreon supporter) to do microscopy and grind two CATRA knives for me. So when I say that Patreon makes the study happen I don’t mean in an abstract sense. If you want to help fund more knife steel research please come join us on Patreon where you can get articles and videos early. Or if you sign up for the highest tier you can even get a sweet Knife Steel Nerds mug.
Innovators that Changed Knife Steel
I drove my family all the way out to Bethlehem, PA to film a video about steel history so I hope you watch it. Read about my knife steel history book here: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2023/05/09/new-book-the-story-of-knife-steel-innovators-behind-modern-damascus-and-super-steels/
Knife Steel Nerds at Blade Show Atlanta
Blade Show is almost here! The biggest knife show in the world is always a good time, and I will be there again. You should be aware of a few things at the show if you are a Knife Steel Nerd.
Blade U Damascus Class
New Book! The Story of Knife Steel – Innovators Behind Modern Damascus and Super Steels
This is the biggest project I have ever worked on, spending many, many hours to write the comprehensive tale about steel and knives. If you have ever wanted to learn more about the inner workings of the knife industry, this book is for you. Wherever possible I used firsthand accounts from metallurgists and knifemakers to explain why they innovated and how. I will give links to buy so they aren’t lost on the page and then I will explain more:
K390 – Best High Wear Resistance Steel?
Thanks to the new Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporters! Dusan Praznik, Donald Adkins, Marcus Collins, and Trae Santiago.
K390 Video
Here is the video version of the following information:
What is K390?
K390 was developed as an alternative to Crucible’s CPM-10V, which has had success since the late 1970s as a steel with very high wear resistance yet also moderate toughness. CPM-10V achieved these properties by having a relatively high volume of vanadium carbides, very hard carbides that contribute greatly to wear resistance. Because the carbides are so hard, it requires less of them for a certain level of wear resistance. Carbides are brittle, so having a lower volume of carbide for the same wear resistance means greater toughness. The patent application for K390 was submitted in Austria by Bohler in 2002 [1], and the steel was announced in 2004 [2]. The main modifications to CPM-10V were increased Mo, W, and Co. This gives K390 better “secondary hardening” and therefore “hot hardness” so that it can maintain its hardness at high temperatures. The higher Mo also gives it greater “hardenability” so that large dies can still harden all the way through.
LC200N/Cronidur 30 – History and Properties
Thanks to Maxi, Michael Fitzgerald, Samy Tammam, Russ Ramski, and Scott Guthrie for becoming Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporters! We are almost to 300 supporters! Wow!
New T-Shirts!
After requests from any kind fans we now have t-shirts available, including an awesome one with the MagnaCut logo on front and knife grinding man on the back. Note it is available in a few different styles and colors. Click this link if you want one.
CPM-15V and the Lost CPM-20V – How Much Vanadium Can you Add?
Thanks to Tim Marais, Daniel DeRosia, Jess Hoffman, David Rogers, Mo, John Macklis, and R. Thomas Buffenbarger for becoming Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporters!
History of CPM-15V
CPM-15V is essentially a higher vanadium extension of CPM-10V developed by Crucible steel in the late 1970s. I wrote about the history of CPM-10V in this article so I won’t copy-paste all of that here. Prior to powder metallurgy technology it was known that adding higher vanadium would lead to greater wear resistance due to the very high hardness of vanadium carbide. However, once the vanadium content exceeded 4-5% the carbides would be large enough that the steel would fail in forging, and toughness would also be reduced. So the highest wear resistance steel for many years was T15 high speed steel with ~5% vanadium. With CPM-10V they saw what the limit was for vanadium additions and found that once they reached about 11% vanadium the carbide size would be increased because the vanadium carbides would form in the liquid steel before the steel could be gas atomized into powder. Read about the powder metallurgy process in this article. The more vanadium that is added the higher the temperature where the vanadium carbides form. When the formation temperature is higher than the temperature of the liquid steel then they form prior to atomization giving the large carbides in the 11% vanadium PM steel below (labeled CPM 11V):
CruForgeV – The Unfortunate Events that Killed a Forging Knife Steel
New Steel and New Patreon Supporters
On Patreon we now have a full set of experiments on the new knife steel I designed for Crucible and Niagara Specialty Metals. The results are extremely promising. Those results are only available on Patreon until it is time to do the formal announcement. Thanks to Chester Dussault, Bob Burland, Matt Masuda, Scott Decker, Philip Dempsey, David Heleander, ConvencienceShout, Chris Pregent, Egan, Morgan Noonan, Michal Galovič, Kumar Muthusamy, Eric Divine, Simon Moeskjær Balle, and Ben Horridge for becoming Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporters!
Vanadis 8 – Better than CPM-10V
Thanks to Will and Justin Mann for becoming Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporters!
My book Knife Engineering is available for Christmas and Hanukkah presents.
History of Vanadis 8
The history of Vanadis 8 goes back a lot further than just the steel itself, really we have to know the history of 10V to know all of the background that is relevant. You can read about CPM-10V in this article. CPM-10V is important because Vanadis 8 is intended as a replacement for CPM-10V, or at least for similar applications. CPM-10V was developed by Crucible in the late 70s, as the first powder metallurgy steel to utilize a microstructure made up of only vanadium carbide, as opposed to chromium and molybdenum/tungsten carbides. This gave 10V a combination of good toughness along with very high wear resistance from the ~10% vanadium and therefore ~17% vanadium carbide.
Andre Grobler posted the link to your blog on FB. Will check it out