Another Best Steel Thread...Edge Stability

jimnolimit said:
If toughness and ease of sharpening aren't that important to you, why not try a knife with a ceramic blade?
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I'm afraid of the brittleness in normal cutting. I'd hate to chip it & have to grind a lot of expensive ceramic to get my edge back. This would make me fear going thin with it. I don't need fixed-blade level toughness but I'm suspicious of ceramic's rep for chipping.

I haven't given it an honest chance yet & it comes up regularly in conversation with a friend of mine about edge holding. Maybe I should get one & send it to work with him. He cuts duct board all day installing AC systems & serves as my real-world tester.

The steel you listed with the highest "edge stability" is 12C27. Roman Landes uses the term for steels with low carbide fraction and very fine carbides that don't have a major issue with carbide tearout. Those other alloys don't have the sub-micron carbides, they are larger. You can't have a 12C27 ''mutant" with 3% carbon because 12C27 is designed not to have that leftover carbon for lots of cementite or chromium carbide formation. Mastiff listed some other candidates, you can see from their composition that they are not highly alloyed.
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I need to do my homework on this sub-micron carbide business. I didn't know carbides got any smaller than the vanadium variety & had a simpler picture of it all. I know cleaner steels take that edge I want better. I also know that steels like Elmax & M390 are referred to as being "clean" despite being chock full of alloys & carbides & take great edges so my definitions are faulty at this point.

I have recollections of Stamp going on & on about steels like 12C27 & AUS-6 having poor reps for edge holding because they're cheap & get a similarly cheap heat treat & end up soft. They have poor wear resistance but could still hold a decent edge if ran harder. Or something like that.

Isn't it possible to keep the alloy balance while upping the percentage via PM technology to get something that acts like 12C27 at 64 RC? Like what S110V is to S90V. The same stuff modified to run harder.
 
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jeffphansen77 said:
I'm afraid of the brittleness in normal cutting. I'd hate to chip it & have to grind a lot of expensive ceramic to get my edge back. This would make me fear going thin with it. I don't need fixed-blade level toughness but I'm suspicious of ceramic's rep for chipping.

I haven't given it an honest chance yet & it comes up regularly in conversation with a friend of mine about edge holding. Maybe I should get one & send it to work with him. He cuts duct board all day installing AC systems & serves as my real-world tester.



I need to do my homework on this sub-micron carbide business. I didn't know carbides got any smaller than the vanadium variety & had a simpler picture of it all. I know cleaner steels take that edge I want better. I also know that steels like Elmax & M390 are referred to as being "clean" despite being chock full of alloys & carbides & take great edges so my definitions are faulty at this point.

I have recollections of Stamp going on & on about steels like 12C27 & AUS-6 having poor reps for edge holding because they're cheap & get a similarly cheap heat treat & end up soft. They have poor wear resistance but could still hold a decent edge if ran harder. Or something like that.

Isn't it possible to keep the alloy balance while upping the percentage via PM technology to get something that acts like 12C27 at 64 RC? Like what S110V is to S90V. The same stuff modified to run harder.
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M390 or ELMAX at high hardness in a CUSTOM would be your best bet I think.
 
I'm stuck trying to get my factory M390 an aftermarket heat treat at this point. Form what you've said about Elmax's price & workability I'm keeping it at the top of my list when I go custom. It throws toughness into the bargain too. It seems to be the best all-around stainless at the moment in my highly subjective opinion.
 
jeffphansen77 said:
I'm stuck trying to get my factory M390 an aftermarket heat treat at this point. Form what you've said about Elmax's price & workability I'm keeping it at the top of my list when I go custom. It throws toughness into the bargain too. It seems to be the best all-around stainless at the moment in my highly subjective opinion.
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ELMAX is very tough even at high hardness of 62 HRC.

Peters HT in PA can do the M390 for you, email them or call etc and see what you have to do.
 
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