80CRV2 hardening fail

I know this is gonna sound weird, but I have yet to be able to get a piece of NJSB 80CRV hard. Call me crazy but after several attempts I switched to Alpha. I was convinced the steel was mis-labeled. I called and they gave me the email for their metallurgist, which I emailed and never heard back. Cut my losses and moved on.
 
It's been a problem for years. I had exactly the same question years ago and nothing has changed. I think there was some talk about having to take it over 1800 to normalize it successfully. And I can't remember how much. Pop's 8670 is one of the best deals out there right now and it should out perform the 80CrV2 anyway. It's a really fantastic price and is one of the toughest steels out there while still getting very hard. Unless you are going for a specific color in Damascus or are doing hamons its one of the best simple steels. NJSB just doesn't make a effort to bring in their steels in a ready to harden form. There have been issues with some of their others as well having batches that don't harden easily as well. It probably doesn't matter much if you are forging. I'm not trying to nock them. They do a better than average job with their steel tracking and certs. Or at least they do it and not everyone does. This would be mandatory for any industrial use for say welding or machining. If you want to use Crucible alloys they are the easiest place to get them and are a authorized dealer. Living in Syracuse NY the home of crucible I find that matters to me. I just won't buy simple steels through them. Just so you are aware many of the other dealers sorce their steels through NJSB. Pop's gets some of their steels from them but I believe that the 8670 is something they have sourced themselves and it is half the cost or less than any new steel that I know of so it's a hell of a deal.
 
Storm W said:
It's been a problem for years. I had exactly the same question years ago and nothing has changed. I think there was some talk about having to take it over 1800 to normalize it successfully. And I can't remember how much. Pop's 8670 is one of the best deals out there right now and it should out perform the 80CrV2 anyway. It's a really fantastic price and is one of the toughest steels out there while still getting very hard. Unless you are going for a specific color in Damascus or are doing hamons its one of the best simple steels. NJSB just doesn't make a effort to bring in their steels in a ready to harden form. There have been issues with some of their others as well having batches that don't harden easily as well. It probably doesn't matter much if you are forging. I'm not trying to nock them. They do a better than average job with their steel tracking and certs. Or at least they do it and not everyone does. This would be mandatory for any industrial use for say welding or machining. If you want to use Crucible alloys they are the easiest place to get them and are a authorized dealer. Living in Syracuse NY the home of crucible I find that matters to me. I just won't buy simple steels through them. Just so you are aware many of the other dealers sorce their steels through NJSB. Pop's gets some of their steels from them but I believe that the 8670 is something they have sourced themselves and it is half the cost or less than any new steel that I know of so it's a hell of a deal.
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I couldn't agree more. I just ordered 8ft of 8670 from Pops. Nothing agains NJSB but I am a stock removal guy that is looking for the path of least resistance when it comes to knives.
 
I was so confused by the posts in this group, but clearly it seems stock removal is your problem hahaha
 
Sam Salvati said:
I was so confused by the posts in this group, but clearly it seems stock removal is your problem hahaha
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For sure...As soon as I can get bigger shop space (which is in the works) I will start getting into forging and all my problems will be solved hahahahaha! But yes, a lot less control for sure.
 
Stock removal isn't the problem. It's that if you are forging you have to bring the temp up high enough to be able to break up the super course spherioded grain. I know a few people think that there might be something wrong with the steel alloying but I don't think that has ever been tested. It does need a very hot normalization though.
 
Storm W said:
Stock removal isn't the problem. It's that if you are forging you have to bring the temp up high enough to be able to break up the super course spherioded grain. I know a few people think that there might be something wrong with the steel alloying but I don't think that has ever been tested. It does need a very hot normalization though.
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I have taken some of the steel that refused to harden with the thermal cycling exc. I took these steels to 1900-1950 and then repeated the normalization/grain refining with no change.
 
JTknives said:
I have taken some of the steel that refused to harden with the thermal cycling exc. I took these steels to 1900-1950 and then repeated the normalization/grain refining with no change.
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I wasn't knocking you. As far as I know there hasn't been any chemical analysis.
 
I did not think you where. I was just posting about my experience I have had.
Storm W said:
I wasn't knocking you. As far as I know there hasn't been any chemical analysis.
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