A-2

[Angelus1781]

Just a few questions. What are the adventages of this steel? How tough is it compared to other steels? I see busse has a few models made from it. How stainless is it?

 

[mete]

A-2 is NOT a stainless steel. It's a very good knife steel , Chris Reeve makes his one piece knives with it. For comparative properties check www.crucibleservice.com.

 

[z537z]

Here's a good page (takes a min. to load) that compares A2 with other steels, from Crucible.

http://www.crucibleservice.com/datash/dsknifemaker.pdf

A2 is tough, meaning it won't snap realy easy, and the edge shouldn't chip with heavy use, but it has "only" the edge-holding power of maybe AUS8, which is plenty for a large fixed blade IMO (my Cold Steel Voyager holds up just fine), that's why I am making my first custom out of it.

_z

 

[Trace Rinaldi]

A2 is a GREAT tool steel! Its not stainless but thats about all you can say on the down side about it...

 

[Don Robinson]

A-2 contains 5% chromium, so it resists corrosion a little better than plain carbon steel.

Amen to making a good hard use blade.

 

[Ilovetoolsteel]

Just a few questions. What are the adventages of this steel? How tough is it compared to other steels? I see busse has a few models made from it. How stainless is it?

Others mentioned CRK's one piece knives, They are tough. A2 has been historically used to make blades for hand planes. It is also used in trim dies in metal stamping and blades used in paper manufacturing. It will stain fairly easy.

 

[J.Wade]

A2 is a GREAT tool steel!


Amen to that.

It is also very easy to heat treat,with a good oven.


cya
jimi