Collectors and Cryo

[kc custom]

There seems to be yet a ton of people who don't care if a blade
is cryoed or not. I guess I can see it on a safe queen but what
about hard users?
Ken

 

[Rusty McDonald]

Can you tell the differance between a blade that has had cryo and one that has not, just by using one? or sharpening one?
Is the extra effort worth it?

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

Can you tell the differance between a blade that has had cryo and one that has not, just by using one? or sharpening one?
Is the extra effort worth it?

Depends on the steel. Something that tends to retain a lot of austenite, such as lower tempered D2, without a question, yes defiantly. I've proven it to myself numerous times. Two blades, one with cryo, one without cryo, same steel, same geometry, same HRC, same test. The difference can be seen in the edge at an arms length.

Excessive RA must be dealt with. Cryo is one way to do that.

 

[David Wesner]

Depends on the steel. Something that tends to retain a lot of austenite, such as lower tempered D2, without a question, yes defiantly. I've proven it to myself numerous times. Two blades, one with cryo, one without cryo, same steel, same geometry, same HRC, same test. The difference can be seen in the edge at an arms length.

Excessive RA must be dealt with. Cryo is one way to do that.

And you've proven it to me also :thumbup:

LN is now, and will continue to be, an integral part of my heat treat cycle on the stainless blades (& semi-stainless ) that I offer to my customers.

Yes, IMHO the extra effort is worth the time & $$

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Cryo is a part of the HT on many steels. It is not an extra step.

Just because there are people who don't care about cryo doesn't make it a valid reason to ignore it. I wouldn't recommend that you stop practicing safe sex, just because there are a lot of people who don't think it is needed.

Stacy

 

[kc custom]

Can you tell the differance between a blade that has had cryo and one that has not, just by using one? or sharpening one?
Is the extra effort worth it?

The reason I ask is because I don't believe most people can tell the difference, I myself have been using either dry ice and alcohol or LN
for like 10 years. For fingernails, string. and opening the mail maybe no
difference but in a world outside of that I believe there is a definite difference. Crucibles book reccomends it even for most of thier carbon
steels that are of knife quality. I also believe theres more to it than just that 1 or 2 points of hardness.
Ken.

 

[Rusty McDonald]

Excessive RA must be dealt with. Cryo is one way to do that.

There are other ways?

 

[AcridSaint]

Higher heat tempering is another way, from my understanding.

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

And lower austenitizing temperatures is another

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

I also believe theres more to it than just that 1 or 2 points of hardness.
Ken.

I think that is true. That hardness is not coming from harder martensite. It is coming from more martensite.

 

[James_Terrio]

Ken, PLEASE don't take this the wrong way. I really have no right to judge your knives as anything other than a fan.

From what I've seen of your work, and the prices your knives command (rightfully so), I would guess that many of your buyers are never going to cut a darn thing with them.

Nothing wrong with that in any way whatsoever.

I would say, continue to employ cryo whenever you feel it's appropriate. You have a reputation for very high quality, above and beyond the norm. Why mess with that? Doesn't matter if it's a safe-queen or a user; I suspect that high-end collectors understand that.

If I were in the market for your style/level of knives, I would fully expect that every single characteristic was as excellent as you can possibly make it. That certainly includes HT, of which cryo is a part.

In short, keep up the GREAT work!! I greatly admire your skill and reputation, not to mention the advice you've given me. :thumbup:

 

[AcridSaint]

For what it's worth, I think that Ken's price point is low enough that folks would carry the knives. They might not beat them up, but I think that's the case for all custom carriers, except maybe for bushcraft and tactical knives.

 

[James_Terrio]

Point taken, AcridSaint. What I was clumsily trying to say was that it doesn't matter if it's a user or not.

 

[kc custom]

I would never quit cryo on my knives, I believe a large amount of the knives I sell get used (hopefully) Besides bench knives and such, from fillet knives, to hunters to my folders they get used and used hard at least by me. After a couple of knives I made this winter and used cryo on 01 cuz crucibles book reccomends it I'll likely be using it on carbon steel too. There seemed to be a difference in the 01 I've never seen before.
Ken.