A few questions about INFI

[Huntsman Knife Co. LLC.]

I've been a busse kin fan for quite some time now but I didn't make my first INFI purchase until just recently due to Busse knives being so expensive. I picked up a KZ II a few weeks ago and decided to test INFI and see if it lived up to the hype. I wanted to see if it really is as difficult to chip as they say so I hit a hardened fence post at some really bad angles that I think would have done some pretty significant chipping to most knives ( I plan on getting the edge reprofiled anyways so some chips wouldn't really matter). INFI performed every bit as well as advertised and the only damage was some small rolls that were easily fixed with about 15 min of work on the stone. I think its toughness is very similar to what I have seen out of SR 77. I haven't really gotten to heavily use my KZ yet but I split a bunch of firewood the other night and it performs like a camp. The edge retention is very solid and as far as pure chopping power Ive never owned anything that chops with the ferocity of the KZ II.

So this leads me to a few questions for all you knowledgeable Hogs out there

1.) Who makes INFI? As is what company actually produces the steel.

2.) Is INFI powdered? And if not how does a steel that is at ~60 RC not chip out? And also could you imagine how amazing CPM INFI would be? :thumbup:

3.) Are any busse blades differentially tempered or are they all through hardened?

4.) Is the formula for INFI known or is it kept secret? Ive seen it on some steel charts but I wasn't sure if it was legitimate or not.
Let me know!

 

[grey menace]

If we tell you, we'll have to kill you !!!

 

[grey menace]

Actually if you go to the Busse store sight and click on Infi you will know as much as the rest of us.

 

[BlackNinja]

http://www.bussecombat.com/infi/index.shtml

If you think Busse knives are expensive, why would you buy one of the more expensive models and try to damage it to test INFI? Why not find a used Game Warden (or similar) to test INFI?

Just curious as I’m sure there is a reason…

 

[Huntsman Knife Co. LLC.]

I didn't buy it to do a destruction test or anything I had wanted a zilla for a really long time and got a good deal on one and put it to use :thumbup: Even if I had nicked up the edge I'm going to get it convexed anyways so It really wouldn't matter. I was just curious how it performed.

 

[CR33]

well said menace. Yeah... just go to the site bussecombat.com and left hand side on main page there is a link. "Infi" where they go into detail.

 

[lsheldon]

Here is also an interesting article I found on tzknives from Mr. Zowada about his tests of Infi, too bad the photos no longer seem to be there.

http://www.tzknives.com/articles/INFI.html

And also this,

http://zknives.com/knives/steels/infi.shtml

 

[Huntsman Knife Co. LLC.]

Hmm INFI is air hardening so I guess no differential treats. Thanks for link.

 

[BlackNinja]

I didn't buy it to do a destruction test or anything I had wanted a zilla for a really long time and got a good deal on one and put it to use :thumbup: Even if I had nicked up the edge I'm going to get it convexed anyways so It really wouldn't matter. I was just curious how it performed.

I knew there was a reason behind the madness! Great choice with the KZ-II – It is one hell of a chopper! :thumbup:

 

[Huntsman Knife Co. LLC.]

I knew there was a reason behind the madness! Great choice with the KZ-II – It is one hell of a chopper! :thumbup:

Indeed it is a BEAST. Of all the choppers Ive tried, Ratweiler, Chopweiler, Dogfather, Waki Rodent, and CS SK5 kukri the KZ II is the best by a wide margin. I wish I still had my CS kukri so I could do some head to head comparisions but form memory the Zilla takes out much bigger chunks than the CS did. Also its a good deal heavier.

 

[resinguy]

reply in red.

I've been a busse kin fan for quite some time now but I didn't make my first INFI purchase until just recently due to Busse knives being so expensive. I picked up a KZ II a few weeks ago and decided to test INFI and see if it lived up to the hype. I wanted to see if it really is as difficult to chip as they say so I hit a hardened fence post at some really bad angles that I think would have done some pretty significant chipping to most knives ( I plan on getting the edge reprofiled anyways so some chips wouldn't really matter). INFI performed every bit as well as advertised and the only damage was some small rolls that were easily fixed with about 15 min of work on the stone. I think its toughness is very similar to what I have seen out of SR 77. I haven't really gotten to heavily use my KZ yet but I split a bunch of firewood the other night and it performs like a camp. The edge retention is very solid and as far as pure chopping power Ive never owned anything that chops with the ferocity of the KZ II.

So this leads me to a few questions for all you knowledgeable Hogs out there

1.) Who makes INFI? As is what company actually produces the steel.

AFAIK, Jerry has never revealed that.

2.) Is INFI powdered? And if not how does a steel that is at ~60 RC not chip out? And also could you imagine how amazing CPM INFI would be? :thumbup:

I think INFI might pre-date PM? It does what it does from the right alloy, and the extensive HT and cryo treatment.

3.) Are any busse blades differentially tempered or are they all through hardened?

Through hardened.

4.) Is the formula for INFI known or is it kept secret? Ive seen it on some steel charts but I wasn't sure if it was legitimate or not.
Let me know!

The analysis has been posted here on BFC years ago, and Jerry did not contest it, so we assume the composition was accurately reported. Sorry, I did not save the link.

 

[Huntsman Knife Co. LLC.]

reply in red.

Thanks! :thumbup:

 

[Last Visible Canary]

1.) Who makes INFI? As is what company actually produces the steel.
Jerry has not revealed this and probably won't. Since it's a custom trademarked/patented formula he could have it made by any steel smelter.

2.) Is INFI powdered? And if not how does a steel that is at ~60 RC not chip out? And also could you imagine how amazing CPM INFI would be?
No, jerry has said that CPM would not help INFI. Infi is a relatively low carbon steel for a cutlery steel that uses nitrogen to help harden it as well as a very thorough crygenics treatment to help martensite conversion and all the other things cryo does.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194854&highlight=powdered+infi

Matti S.,

Good question! We have explored this very question. Powdered metallurgy can offer some very strong benefits in certain ares of knife performance. However, it is not possible to take the same analysis from a smelted steel and transfer it to a powdered construct and achieve an improvement. Carbide dispersion is very good and can therefore greatly affect the amounts of carbide formers that are included in the mix. If we wanted to achieve the same level of performance as INFI in some areas, the analysis of the PM would look nothing like that of INFI.

Thanks,

Jerry

3.) Are any busse blades differentially tempered or are they all through hardened?

All infi is through hardened.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2350140

We have tried differentially treating INFI for testing purposes in the past, but have yet to be satisfied with the results. The high amount of chromium in INFI does exactly what it is supposed to do, and that is to transfer heat throughout the matrix for deep hardening. This, in turn, makes it very difficult to either raise or lower the hardness of the edge or spine in a narrow blade profile such as found in a traditional style katana or wakizashi.

Notably, we have never had an INFI blade snap under high impact in our destructive testing, which has been very extensive and "over the top". These tests have included several sword blades.

More importantly, perhaps, is the fact that INFI has proven to be indestructible when used for prying the tabs off of CBL cans!

Now that's "real world" testing!!!!!

Jerry

4.) Is the formula for INFI known or is it kept secret? Ive seen it on some steel charts but I wasn't sure if it was legitimate or not.
Let me know!

This is the composition:

This is INFI composition:

V 0.36% Vanadium
Cr 8.25% Chrome
Fe 87.79% Iron
Co 0.95% Cobalt
Ni 0.74% Nickel
Mo 1.3% Molybdenum
C 0.5% Carbon
N 0.11% Nitrogen

You are true, it is not a modified A8. Sorry... My bad.... my memory failed !

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5513710
It's not a direct qoute from the thread where it initially came from, which would take a little more searching then I did to pull this one up.

 

[kurodrago]

http://zknives.com/knives/steels/steelgraph.php?nm=1060,A8,INFI

 

[Bigfattyt]

A Big chopper is where Infi really shines!!!!!

Great one to really push the limits!

Welcome to the fold!

The KZII is a nasty beast for sure!

 

[Huntsman Knife Co. LLC.]

A Big chopper is where Infi really shines!!!!!

Great one to really push the limits!

Welcome to the fold!

The KZII is a nasty beast for sure!

Its actually such a beast that it puts me in an odd place when buying knives because I love big choppers but I know that aside from some HI kukri's that are not my style there is nothing on the market that will match the KZ chop for chop. I almost bought a FFBM the other day but I didn't because I realized it would never get used. Between a DF, waki, scrapizashi, and a KZ II there really isn't anything else to add in the chopping department.

But I still want a junglas.....Its a sickness.