26C3 Carbon Steel - Spicy White

Since it is mostly sold out and the sizes that are all out of stock don't appear on the site, I was just wondering what different thickness you had available today, and also what will you have available tomorrow (or in the future)?

I'm a bit short on cash at the moment so I'm trying to decide if I should wait a bit and get what will be most useful to me, or just get what you have left just to actually have some or it before it's possible gone for a long time, even if it is much thinner than what I normally use (.078").

Thanks!


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)
 
I quench silver steel in parks 50
Warps and breaks in Water
I didn't try a hamon but seeing chucks knife I will be
 
dieale2 said:
This seems like a great steel to make some kitchen knives with. Is this a beginner steel at all?
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Because it is very hyper-eutectoid it will need a controlled HT, so a HT oven would be needed. If you use a forge or torch to HT it, you won't get any of the advantages and may have issues with improper hardening. If that is your equipment level, then stick with 1084.
 
Just placed an order. I appreciate AKS for supplying such a steel, and in a great thickness, too. Super excited to do some HT experiments! The only thing that would get me more excited than 25C3 is something closer to the Blue steel series. Something like 1.2442, 1.2519, 115W8, 135WCrV4, Aogomi Super, O-7, F-2. If AKS could get their paws on something like that, then they could boast about having White 1 and Blue Super equivalent steels here in the USA!! Maybe someday. Meanwhile, we have a new steel to play with that looks promising!
 
dieale2 said:
This seems like a great steel to make some kitchen knives with. Is this a beginner steel at all?
Click to expand...
It will need more heat control
samuraistuart said:
Just placed an order. I appreciate AKS for supplying such a steel, and in a great thickness, too. Super excited to do some HT experiments! The only thing that would get me more excited than 25C3 is something closer to the Blue steel series. Something like 1.2442, 1.2519, 115W8, 135WCrV4, Aogomi Super, O-7, F-2. If AKS could get their paws on something like that, then they could boast about having White 1 and Blue Super equivalent steels here in the USA!! Maybe someday. Meanwhile, we have a new steel to play with that looks promising!
Click to expand...

Don't forgot 1.2562 baby, gotta have it!
 
Thought I was too late to the party, happy some was still in stock. Can't wait to try it.
 
Chuck, what temp did you austenitize at? I’m guessing 1440-1450f will work well based on the composition. The chromium probably means it needs a bit more temp than hitachi white.
 
Willie71 said:
Chuck, what temp did you austenitize at?
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The recommendation is 1,475°F with a 10 minute soak, then quench in water. We followed the recommendation except we quenched in Parks 50. Water is fun until you feel the "ping".

After tempering to HRC 64, one of the blades was dropped tip first into the concrete floor. The tip was not damaged. We plan to do some abusive testing.

I'll have the heat treat information on the website by the end of the weekend.

Chuck
 
Sounds like fun!!!!! Of course, some folks will go with water just to see what it does for hamons.
 
Alpha Knife Supply said:
The recommendation is 1,475°F with a 10 minute soak, then quench in water. We followed the recommendation except we quenched in Parks 50. Water is fun until you feel the "ping".

After tempering to HRC 64, one of the blades was dropped tip first into the concrete floor. The tip was not damaged. We plan to do some abusive testing.

I'll have the heat treat information on the website by the end of the weekend.

Chuck
Click to expand...

I’ve done that test with W2 at Rc63, on full sized kitchen knives. Customers panic, then look thoroughly impressed.
 
Chuck, does this stuff come from the strip or tool steel division? I am sure that you have already gotten questions about large stock for forging. Anything you can tell?
 
jdm61 said:
Sounds like fun!!!!! Of course, some folks will go with water just to see what it does for hamons.
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I've always gotten better hamon with parks50. Water usually hardens a bit too much, this is also in my shop. I know we all experience things differently with steel
-Trey
 
comet_sharp said:
I've always gotten better hamon with parks50. Water usually hardens a bit too much, this is also in my shop. I know we all experience things differently with steel
-Trey
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It really depends on the process you get dialed. Brine and fast oil can be fine tuned with different clay applications and temperatures. Both get great results, when done really well.
 
Chuck, the site shows the steel as HRPA. Can you tell us what that means? I’m guessing “hot rolled pickled annealed”. Any special considerations that need to be taken prior to austenitizing for stock removal guys?
 
samuraistuart said:
Chuck, the site shows the steel as HRPA. Can you tell us what that means? I’m guessing “hot rolled pickled annealed”. Any special considerations that need to be taken prior to austenitizing for stock removal guys?
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I'm fairly sure its hot roll pickle annealed and ready to harden. Usually these mill anneals are so fine grained a normalize cycle will increase hardenability by growing the grain a bit. If their test knives quenched over 67 I'm assuming it's ready to go for stock removal. I'm sure Chuck will chime in.
Willie71 said:
It really depends on the process you get dialed. Brine and fast oil can be fine tuned with different clay applications and temperatures. Both get great results, when done really well.
Click to expand...

I can see this, I've done brine quench from same temp range as I use for oil and generally hamon follows clay but less activity than if I use parks. I'm sure amazing results are done with both once it's all figured out.

-Trey
 
samuraistuart said:
... the site shows the steel as HRPA. Can you tell us what that means? I’m guessing “hot rolled pickled annealed”
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You are correct, HRPA is Hot Rolled Pickled Annealed. The first two mill runs are HRPA, all subsequent runs are CRA - Cold Rolled Annealed. The surface of the steel is smooth, but not as smooth as CR.

No special considerations or non-standard processes are required.

Chuck
 
coldsteelburns said:
Since it is mostly sold out and the sizes that are all out of stock don't appear on the site, I was just wondering what different thickness you had available today, and also what will you have available tomorrow (or in the future)?
Click to expand...
We've restocked the website twice since Thursday and will restock every day if required. The inventory on the website is live. All the materials you see are available and ready to ship. Popular materials require the website to be updated multiple times a day.

I do not announce materials, thicknesses or delivery dates for ordered materials. I learned a long time ago that I will get burned by manufacturers if I make any announcement. Here are two recent examples:

1. The existing 26C3 was shipped together with another thickness. Hopefully we will see the other thickness very soon.

2. A recent order took 15 months to deliver. When it was delivered, I received less than half of the purchase order. When I placed the order, everything was in stock.

Chuck
 
Quick question, you did no annealing or normalizing to the steel? Can we simply do stock removal, then heat to 1475F, soak for 10 minutes, quench and then temper to our hardness requirement?

We do have a blown reed forge, a muffle and a pyrometer that will read at 1475F, I'm assuming as long as we can keep the muffle interior around 1475F we should be able to replicate your results.
 
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