A question about German Niolox steel

T

TheEdge01

Joined
Apr 3, 2015
Messages
3,662
Hey guys, I sold off a couple knives the other day, and ended up buying something else. I ended up bringing a new DPX HEFT fixed blade home with me. The blade steel is Niolox, and I have never even held a knife with this type of steel until then. I would like to try something with Sleipner blade steel one day. DPX claims Niolox is hardened to 61 hrc. It didn't come very sharp, actually the edge has a few dings I am trying to work out on my sharpmaker.
This steel seems to be very hard judging from the lack of progress I have made on my sharpmaker. I like the knife so far and have read mostly decent reviews on it. I have read a couple complaints though regarding the edge retention and toughness of Niolox. The steel seems to be really hard, so I have a hard time imagining it having poor edge retention. Do any of you guys have any experience with Niolox? Is it a good blade steel? For those of you that have owned the DPX HEFT, feel free to share your experiences with it. Thanks guys
 
Last edited:
I would like to know what people that have used it quite a bit have to say as well. Very interested in Niolox!
 
I'm interested in this too . I had a DPX HEST milspect . I tried sharpening the blade ended up rounding the edge to a convex it was hard to get a good edge on it . I used DMT . I gave up on it sold it . What's the deal with this steel and what does it compare to .
 
miltmaldo said:
I used DMT
Click to expand...
Hmmmmm
What grits ? Did you go fairly coarse ?
My 10inch DMT 220 grit just ate S110V while reprofiling like I was rubbing a #2 pencil on the stone.

I had a DPX HEST milspect . I tried sharpening the blade ended up rounding the edge to a convex it was hard
Click to expand...

I think I'm in love :rolleyes:
 
I have a corse and a fine . I just sharpened my M4PM2 hair shaving sharp .
 
One of my favorite steels. Takes a good fine edge, keeps it for fairly long time. Decently tough below 60 Rockwell. At 61 Rockwell I wouldn't go chopping with it however.

It's very corrosion resistant and nicely priced if you can get it.
 
LX_Emergency said:
One of my favorite steels. Takes a good fine edge, keeps it for fairly long time. Decently tough below 60 Rockwell. At 61 Rockwell I wouldn't go chopping with it however.

It's very corrosion resistant and nicely priced if you can get it.
Click to expand...

Would it be very prone to chipping at 61 Rockwell or would it still be fairly tough? Could it handle things like whittling, trimming small branches, or field dressing deer without chipping? Which more common steel would it be compare to in terms of toughness, edge retention, wear resistance, etc?
 
Bluntcut !
Where've you been man ? I missed you.
Thanks for the demonstration ! ! !
Good stuff.
Is this steel one of your preferred steels ?
Nice geometry in any case. Sure demonstrates what the real thing can do.
 
Thanks. Yes, currently niolox is my preferred high Cr% steel. It has excellent keen edge retention and easy to sharpen to dry shave edge with waterstone. With my latest ht 2.5 (vs 2.4 in video), chopping edge should be stable at 64.5-65rc. My WIP large batch of niolox knives have hrc between 65.5 and 66rc. Unfortunately, grinding niolox blades been horribly expensive (at least 5 2x72 ceramic belts per blade at low VFD speed); painful and fairly scratchy at 120 grit finish (equiv to around 280-320 grit on 52100). Yeah, might as well grind 69rc 10v instead.

Wowbagger said:
Bluntcut !
Where've you been man ? I missed you.
Thanks for the demonstration ! ! !
Good stuff.
Is this steel one of your preferred steels ?
Nice geometry in any case. Sure demonstrates what the real thing can do.
Click to expand...
 
bluntcut said:
Thanks. Yes, currently niolox is my preferred high Cr% steel. It has excellent keen edge retention and easy to sharpen to dry shave edge with waterstone. With my latest ht 2.5 (vs 2.4 in video), chopping edge should be stable at 64.5-65rc. My WIP large batch of niolox knives have hrc between 65.5 and 66rc. Unfortunately, grinding niolox blades been horribly expensive (at least 5 2x72 ceramic belts per blade at low VFD speed); painful and fairly scratchy at 120 grit finish (equiv to around 280-320 grit on 52100). Yeah, might as well grind 69rc 10v instead.
Click to expand...

Do you think Niolox hardened to 61 Rockwell would be chippy, or should it be pretty tough.
 
I've got a HEFT4, and it's been a good knife... but I haven't used it in a couple of years. One thing that stands out in my mind was that, the first time I went to sharpen it, I noticed that it had an asymmetrically ground edge (one side was a noticeably more acute angle). I contacted the dealer from which I'd purchased it, hoping to get information on the angles. He was surprised, and checked his inventory - confirming that all the ones he had in stock were that way.
Never did hear back from him, and I think I maintained the asymmetric angles rather than "fixing it". (I mentioned this because, if they're still done this way, it could be part of the difficulty you had in sharpening it)
 
TheEdge01 said:
Would it be very prone to chipping at 61 Rockwell or would it still be fairly tough? Could it handle things like whittling, trimming small branches, or field dressing deer without chipping? Which more common steel would it be compare to in terms of toughness, edge retention, wear resistance, etc?
Click to expand...
I've only seen it get damaged with heavy chopping at Rockwell 61.5 but that was a knife that really had too thin of a geometry to be wailing on like that at that hardness.

The uses you're describing should not be any problem whatsoever.

Not sure what steel to compare it to.
 
If 61rc was tempered from standard ht+cryo, edges should supports low-to-mid impact load from chopping. You can repeat-whittle nail with a shaving sharp edge, if chips = chippy ;); ripples = threshold; micro rolls + macro/visible ripples = should supports normal chopping, visible rolls/smushes = chop away. 'repeat' part is important because high RA% would ripple & roll but chip/fracture on subsequent yield.

TheEdge01 said:
Do you think Niolox hardened to 61 Rockwell would be chippy, or should it be pretty tough.
Click to expand...
 
It's a good steel. Check out Cedric Ada for more vids on this knife. Here's the cut test.

As with any knife it depends on the heat treatment and how you sharpen it and the cutting medium.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top