Cryogenic effects on bladesteels?

Sam Salvati

Sam Salvati

Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
5,060
I have heard many things this way or that, some say it is the best thing since sliced bread, some say it is useless and does nothing. Is there any factual evidence to the benefit or uselessness out there on this?
 
Cryo completes austenite to martensite conversion in steels with an Mf below room temperature. Mf is an antiquated term, but you get the idea.
 
You can make a damn good knife with it. You can make a damn good knife without it. Either way, if you want to give the customer their money's worth, you'd do it -and it has to be reflected in the price.
 
I'm no expert but from what I've read high alloy steel and hyper-eutectoid steel benifit to some extent with more benifit with higher amounts of alloying elements. For eutectoid or hypo-eutectoid steels the benifit may or may not exist.

ron
 
Steels containing Chrome are usually the ones that benefit the most. Simple carbon steels don't get much from it. Or, so I've read. ;) :)
 
:eek: It's the topic that will not die! We have cut its head off, driven a dozen stakes through its heart, buried it countless times, unloaded several cylanders of silver bullets and generally beat it to death:confused: And it still keeps clawing back to the surface to drag itself along and feed on the living. What lower level of hell did this topic spawn from to haunt us so? Edgar Allen Poe could have written about cryo more effectively than us:(.

Asking, asking, asking,
As the queries keep a tasking
Keep us typing, typing, typing,
To the dreary endless hyping,
To the endless public thrill-
For the chill, chill, chill-
For that fantastic magic pill-
For the liquid nitrogen freezing,
Of the chill, chill, chill, -
Oh the cryo panacea in the CHILL!
:eek:
 
:D THE FRIGGIN SEARCH ENGINE DON'T WOIK FUH ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think this will make me get that basic membership thing:D. I'll wait for that then, DRIVE THIS TOPIC OFF A CLIFF AND BURN IT.


Dig that poem Kevin, I didn't know you wax metalurgical hypitude poetic style:).
 
Sam your original question was about "Cryogenic effects on bladesteels" a better question may be "cryogenic effects on blademiths", as it can alter our behavior;)
 
I'd edit it if I could lol. I am constantly amased at the amount of info and discussion that has been and gone here as compared to other forums, awesome.
 
Sam,
The benefits may aor may not be worth the effort. Do you want to cut 200 times through a piece of rope or 300??? (numbers not accurate). I watched a cutting competition were the winner and runner up came down to cutting rope. I think it was 1/2" and they were in the 200 count range. Neither had cryo treated their blades. I tried doing the dry ice process and it screwed things up. I may play with it in the future but not right now.

Chuck
 
I am still trying to figure this out Sam. Your the new guy but you have 600 more posts than I do. And you joined a month after me. I must be lazy or something.

Nathan had it right if you are using a steel that has retained austenite at room temp. It will help convert it to martensite. The normal forgeing (non stainless) steels will not be effected much if at all.

Kevins poem may be magical but cryo is not. It is not a seperate procces but a continuation of the same one you use when you quench any blade.
 
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