I tried looking for an answer on the SOG Forum but no one answered. Maybe I can get an answer here. I'm somewhat confused about the type of treatment that the SOG knives get at the factory, primarily the Seal Pup Elite. The steel used is AUS 8 which is a decent enough steel but with my Elite the steel seems to hold an edge better than several other brand knives using the same steel. SOG says that they Heat Treat, but they also say that they Cryo Treat. I would think that each would change the structure of the steel in different ways. Does SOG use one or the other or do they use the treatments in combination with each other? Thanks in advance.
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Blade treatment
- Thread starter BEEFDOG
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ATJ999
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I don't know how far into Heat treatment you want to get. I will start by saying that a Cryo treatment is a part of a heat treatment protocol. Many HT protocols do not use Cryo, many do. There are also different types of cryo treatments. I can get into it further, but I figure this is a good start.
A cryo treatment is when they take the steel below freezing to get rid of any retained austenite. It is done after hardening or in between some of the first tempers. Like I said, there are lots of HT protocols!
That said, I don't know ANYTHING about SOG, never owned one, so I do not know what their HT protocol is, or even the vague description of it for that matter. Maybe someone here that is really into SOG can give details into their HT.
A cryo treatment is when they take the steel below freezing to get rid of any retained austenite. It is done after hardening or in between some of the first tempers. Like I said, there are lots of HT protocols!
That said, I don't know ANYTHING about SOG, never owned one, so I do not know what their HT protocol is, or even the vague description of it for that matter. Maybe someone here that is really into SOG can give details into their HT.
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Cryo or non-cryo, unless you know to what hardness the steel has been heat treated to, you really don't know what you have. I've got knives in AUS 8 heat treated to a 57, I got one that is heat treated to over 59 HRC. It makes a noticeable difference in the performance.
Also, don't forget that blade geometry plays a huge role in knife performance. It is quite possible to have two knives with the same steel, heat treated to the same hardness, but one outperforms the other.
Also, don't forget that blade geometry plays a huge role in knife performance. It is quite possible to have two knives with the same steel, heat treated to the same hardness, but one outperforms the other.