A-2 hardness, what should it be?

[ferguson]

Sending my first A-2 knives to Paul Bos for heat treatment, and need to know how hard to leave them. They are large choppers, a bolo and a khukuri. How hard should they be? The toughness chart is funny, showing:
temper RC Toughness
500 60 41
600 59 37
700 58 33
800 58 31
900 58 29
1000 57 41

So the toughness is 41 at RC57, then drops until it gets to RC60 where it's back up to 41 again.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Mike Hull]

Enclose a note with the blades, explaining their intended use. Paul will know what to do.

 

[ferguson]

Thanks Mike, I'll do that. The only reason that I asked, is that in his email to me, he asked what hardness I wanted.

Thanks,

Steve