Cronidur 30 / LC 200N / Z-FiNit for large blades?

David Mary

David Mary

pass the mustard - after you cut it
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The consensus seems to be that AEB-L can be used to make large blades used for chopping, and I have even seen the opinion out there that it could be suitable for swords. I have used AEB-L to make a machete out of 1/8" thick stock, with a 13" blade length, ground full flat, that has seen some pretty hard use and shrugged it all off. It was heat treated to 59 RC.

So the question is, can I do this with Cronidur 30 / LC 200N / Z-FiNit and achieve similar results? What are some details you can share that I may not have necessarily thought to ask in this regard?

Thanks!
 
The information from knifesteelnerds.com puts it at a pretty high toughness for a stainless steel. At 59 hardness, it should be nearly as tough as 1084, but not quite up to AEB-L. AEB-L is in the toughness realm of 3V.

Larrin's charts are 2/3 down the page but available in many of his articles as it's a good way to make relative sense of the steels. I think the ones that always surprise me are O1 and 1095, which are tough enough for a lot of hard use but actually are not that tough compared to many other steels available, even moderate hardness stainless.
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/08/26/o1-steel-history-properties-and-how-to-heat-treat/

I think available steel stock options may be a barrier, but I haven't even looked at that recently to confirm.

I'll PM you about that AEB-L machete, I was just talking about my desire for such a thing in a different thread.
 
Wow, he puts it way up past A2 and M4! He's basically giving it elite toughness, and I already know it holds a good edge thanks to my Waterway. I guess that settles the decision to acquire some. Alpha Knife supply says Peter's can heat treat it, so there is nothing to stop me... Eventually this will happen, God willing. Thanks Chad.
 
David Mary said:
Wow, he puts it way up past A2 and M4! He's basically giving it elite toughness, and I already know it holds a good edge thanks to my Waterway. I guess that settles the decision to acquire some. Alpha Knife supply says Peter's can heat treat it, so there is nothing to stop me... Eventually this will happen, God willing. Thanks Chad.
Click to expand...

I think price is the biggest hindrance. Looked the details up at alpha supply and it is certainly pricey.
 
I've made 5 good sized knives from z-finit. I ran it thinner than the a2 I have used and it held up better than a2/1084/01/elmax/cpm154.

The rumor is its tougher than 52100. Lot of people make choppers from 52100 with no problems, I think your good to go.

Larrins chart is what gave me the push to try the steel It's my favorite stainless no question
 
Thanks everyone.

By the way, how do you all pronounce it? "Zee Fye Nite"? That's what I assume based on the yankee pronunciation of the letter "zed" :p and the verbatim syllables from "fine" and "nitrogen". Or do you say it like "finish" with a T at the end instead of a "shh"?
 
I always thought it was finit like from infinite.
 
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