History - Articles - Books, Steel and Knife Properties

Lost Knife Steels – Questek Ferrium M60S

Thanks to Lukas Bell, John Miles, Miika Jussila, Johan van Zanten, Dirk Pinkerton, Robert S, and Joseph Albert Padia for becoming Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporters!

This article has a moderate amount of background metallurgy information in it. I explain briefly the necessary background information and provide links to earlier articles with more complete explanations. However, to get a full picture of steel metallurgy and heat treating, the easiest way is to read my book Knife Engineering. read more

Edge Retention, History - Articles - Books, Steel and Knife Properties

S90V and S125V Knife Steel – History, Properties, and How to Heat Treat

Thanks to Gabe Newell, George Thorpe, Jason, Rogelio Escobedo, Wes Newman, and Wayne Sears for becoming Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporters! On Patreon there is a new article exclusive to supporters about Artisan Cutlery’s exclusive steel AR-RPM9. The composition was recently announced so I analyzed the composition. read more

History - Articles - Books, Super Steels

CPM 10V Steel – History, Properties, and How to Heat Treat

My new book, Knife Engineering: Steel, Heat Treating, and Geometry was released last week. The reviews have been coming in and the feedback is very positive so far. Go get one! And make sure you leave a review on Amazon. Also, Australian readers are now telling me it is possible to buy the book now from Amazon USA. So if you had issues ordering in the past give it another try. But do not order from Amazon Australia, see my article to learn why. read more

History - Articles - Books

Who is the Greatest Knife Steel Metallurgist of All Time?

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Metallurgists

I have enjoyed writing many articles about the history of different knife steels over the past couple years of this website. It has been very challenging to track down the history of different steels to see where they came from and how. I decided to write an article about some of the greats who have made contributions to knife steel and knife tests. Many of these metallurgists didn’t know they were developing steels that would be used in knives. Some were developing tool steels or high speed steels. However, their steels have since been used in knives or their steel designs influenced other steels which have been used in knives. To keep this article manageable in size I have focused on those that developed steel or tests of knives. In other words, those that studied different aspects of steel are not included. Some notable people that were omitted for this reason include: read more

Heat Treating and Processing, History - Articles - Books, Steel and Knife Properties

S35VN Steel – Properties and How to Heat Treat

Thanks to Konstantinos Noulis, Neil MacEachern, and J Kane Searcy for becoming Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporters!

S35VN Steel History

S35VN is a steel developed and produced by Crucible Industries, released in 2009. The steel was developed by Maria Sawford as a modification of S30V by reducing the vanadium content, adding 0.5% niobium, and removing the nitrogen addition (incidental nitrogen is still present). Powder metallurgy steels typically have at least 0.03% nitrogen [1][2]. These changes led to a steel with improved toughness and machinability relative to S30V at the cost of some edge retention. Heat treatment response and corrosion resistance remained approximately the same as S30V. More information on the history leading up to S35VN can be seen in this article on the newer S45VN. read more