Determine nm Rockwell Hardness By Steel Grade

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Daggerdude46

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Dec 26, 2021
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I remember seeing in a discussion a way to approximate the Rockwell hardness of a knife by the steel type/grade and the heat treat process. Is there reference material that any of you knife makers know of.

Thank you in advance for you input.

Mike
 
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Daggerdude46 said:
I remember seeing in a discussion a way to approximate the Rockwell hardness of a knife by the steel type/grade and the heat treat process. Is there reference material that any of you knife makers know of.

Thank you in advance for you input.

Mike
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I just Google the knife's specs. That is close enough for me. :)

I don't think there is any way to approximate RC with a broad brushstroke. Every maker and manufacturer has different heat treatment parameters and methods - that's why even the maker rarely indicates an absolute RC, usually just a range (ie, 59 - 61 HRC) to account for variances in process.
 
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Daggerdude46 said:
I’m sorry, I wasn’t clear when I asked the question. I’m referring to a hand made knife I made with 1095 steel, not a mass produced knife.
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Again, very hard to say absolutely. Every knife will vary slightly, even if you think you did everything exactly the same.

Buy a hardness tester if you really need to know. :)
 
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I think each steel has a heat treat guide from the manufacturer, so that if you were to follow the factory-recommended heat treat, you would see the variation of different tempering processes on the end hardness.
 
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This book has what you are looking for:

knifesteelnerds.com

New Book! Knife Engineering: Steel, Heat Treating, and Geometry - Knife Steel Nerds

Update 4/14/2024: Gameco is sold out but Amazon Australia has it now. Update 3/29/2022: I added that SD Knives and Supplies is the place to buy in South Africa Update 3/31/2021: I added that Gameco is the place to buy in Australia. Update 10/13/2020: I completed a minor revision to Knife...
knifesteelnerds.com knifesteelnerds.com

There is an entire section on standard HT recipes for many different steels, complete with tempering graphs that show the toughness/harness curves. It can’t tell you what hardness any particular knife is, but if you know the HT variables it can provide you with what the values “should” be.
 
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Bühlmann said:
This book has what you are looking for:

knifesteelnerds.com

New Book! Knife Engineering: Steel, Heat Treating, and Geometry - Knife Steel Nerds

Update 4/14/2024: Gameco is sold out but Amazon Australia has it now. Update 3/29/2022: I added that SD Knives and Supplies is the place to buy in South Africa Update 3/31/2021: I added that Gameco is the place to buy in Australia. Update 10/13/2020: I completed a minor revision to Knife...
knifesteelnerds.com knifesteelnerds.com

There is an entire section on standard HT recipes for many different steels, complete with tempering graphs that show the toughness/harness curves. It can’t tell you what hardness any particular knife is, but if you know the HT variables it can provide you with what the values “should” be.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that answers my question.
 
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