Differentially heat treated production knives?

W

W.T. Beck

Joined
Jul 9, 2001
Messages
1,411
I know of only two brands of reasonably priced production knives that have differentially heat treated blades. These are Swamp Rat Knives, and I have seen a few Mora knives advertised as having differentially heat treated blades.

What else is out there?
 
This is speculation: But on my first production run Snody Activator by Benchmade, there seems to be a very even fogging along the edge. I'm thinking that they did an edge quench on this one. Although I'm not sure why they should bother on such a small blade.
-KC
 
My faivorite knife for real Sissi(*) - M95 is differentially heat treated:

jppeltonensissipuukko-13.jpg


jppeltonensissipuukko-09.jpg


jppeltonensissipuukko-10.jpg


http://www.brisa.fi/sissi.html

and here Lauri blades Progressive Tempered - http://www.brisa.fi/lauript.html

Thanks, Vassili.

*)Sissi - Ranger in Finnish
 
Rat Finkenstein said:
I really like this one! how much is 85 euro in US dollars? :D
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Right now $1.2308 = 1 Euro. That's midway between bid and ask. So that would be around $105 if everything is correct.
 
Knifeclerk said:
This is speculation: But on my first production run Snody Activator by Benchmade, there seems to be a very even fogging along the edge. I'm thinking that they did an edge quench on this one. Although I'm not sure why they should bother on such a small blade.
-KC
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I'd bet anything that is a difference in finish. Now way they are doing anything like that.

I'm not even sure it is really possible to differentially heat treat S30V anyway.
 
djolney said:
As far as I know S30V has too much chrome to be differentially tempered.
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You can do it, and it has been done, but it's of no practical value and lacks the cool looks of differentially hardened steels with much less chrome.

As a side note, there is a difference between differentially hardened and differentially tempered steel. Differentially tempered steel is less likely to be too soft on the spine and too hard at the edge. That said, such potentials rarely show themselves in most differentially hardened blades. Even on meant-for-punishment HI khukuris, the failure rate exists, but is quite rare. And their warranty will cover such failures.
 
Knifeclerk said:
This is speculation: But on my first production run Snody Activator by Benchmade, there seems to be a very even fogging along the edge. I'm thinking that they did an edge quench on this one. Although I'm not sure why they should bother on such a small blade.
-KC
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All of my 19 Benchmades have that same look, although I'd say it's the other way around. Compared to the satin and tumbled finishes on the rest of the blades, the portion directly above the edge actually appears more polished. Maybe it's this way because the edge was in some way protected when the egde was ground. Or perhaps it's a result of the edge grinding process itself. Either way, it's not from differential heat treatment.
 
Busse now makes a differentially hardened knife - saw it at the Blade Show. Jerry said it was a 52100-ish steel.
 
Hanwei makes a "tactical tanto" with a differntially treated carbon steel blade & a ray skin handle - goes for about $90 on 888knives...
 
I suspect that Benchmade buffs their edges as part of the sharpening process. That gives it the contrasting finish near the edge.
 
What about Ranger Knives? I keep reading that they are tough knives. Are they differentially hardened?
 
W.T. Beck said:
What about Ranger Knives? I keep reading that they are tough knives. Are they differentially hardened?
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No. I think people just like the designs, not really sure why though.
 
djolney said:
As far as I know S30V has too much chrome to be differentially tempered.
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Isn't it air quenched, too?

medium.jpg

L-6 - differential treatment. Can ya tell?

WYK
 
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