Category: Edge Stability
What is the Best Hardness for MagnaCut Knives?
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.
What Causes Razor Blades To Dull
Thanks to Mike Strickland, Joe Dickens, Carson Reid Davis, Kenneth, Jordan Danz, Wade Smith, Jeremy Kline, and Ryan Guldbrandsen for becoming Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporters! I have posted initial results of experiments testing my new powder metallurgy knife steel. So come join Patreon if you want to see how the steel is doing before everyone else.
How to Design Knives that Do Not Fail
Thanks to Tom Krein, Joshua Goldstein, Matthew Maola, Edo Vernoschi, Nils Anderssen, and Cedric & Ada for becoming Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporters!
Failure Modes
A common engineering technique is to evaluate designs based on how they failed, or may fail. Failure modes are identified and the designs are modified to prevent those failures. These ideas are simple in concept but it is surprising how easy it can be to miss the forest for the trees. In terms of predicting failure modes in some cases it is easy and in some it is difficult. You would expect a large chopping knife to require heavier edge geometry to prevent chipping and rolling, or a seawater diving knife to require high rust resistance. Other times failure modes are identified through testing of the knife or by returns from customers. Whatever the source of the failure, there are usually relatively simple methods for fixing each one, though the trade-offs for doing so may not be desirable.
What is Edge Stability? Part 2 – The Experiments
Thanks to Gary Creely and Sans Jeux for becoming Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporters!
Background
Read Part 1 before this article as it covers the ideas behind the Edge Stability theory and how things like hardness of steel, carbide volume, and carbide size are thought to affect knife edges. Then you will have an understanding of what we are looking for in the experiments described below.
What is Edge Stability?
Thanks to Keith Nix and Benaiah Brabant for becoming Knife Steel Nerds Patreon Supporters! The vote is still open on Patreon for what equipment will be purchased for future research.
Edge Stability
I got help directly from Roman Landes in writing this article (Thanks Roman!). The content below is based on Roman’s book, Messerklingen und Stahl: Technologische Betrachtung von Messerschneiden (Knives and Steel: Technological Examination of Knife Edges), as well as discussions with Roman. However, since the writing is mine the ideas are naturally filtered through me. Any mistakes are my own.
Tests of Knife Edge Toughness
Thanks to Jaethan Reichel for becoming a Knife Steel Nerds Patreon supporter!
In an earlier article I wrote about the microscopic mechanisms by which chipping and micro-chipping occurs in edges. However, that article did not cover specific tests of edge toughness. Correlating conventional toughness tests with edge toughness is difficult for many reasons: