Those 2; you know they posted up a bunch of bad/false info here about other folks knives. Had to retract everything they claimed and then never came back.
I would suggest finding a chart from somewhere else to post.
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Even “better” blade steels?
- Thread starter DangerZone98
- Start date
I would suggest finding a chart from somewhere else to post.
I think we have a lot more diversification in steels and that might continue. So more specialisation and with that, it will be come harder to say any one steel is the best.
There are quite a few factors that are being compromised in a steel - don't forget ease of heat treat. How about high performance stainless steel you can forge and heat treat at home? Flexible manufacture, small batch processes might mean even minor markets like the hobby knife makers might get attention.
Additive manufacturing (e.g. 3D print) is a fast developing area and this might influence materials. One technique is to fuse thin sheets together - printing damacus!
I think additive processes might make it more practical to mix materials and we might start to see a modern approach to san-mai or forge welded constructions of the past. Put the right material where it is needed. Super tough bainite down the spine and super hard on the edge, and a really thick stainless layer on the outside.
I can imagine technologies that print the steel in the final heat-treated condition or very localised laser heat treat. I was struggling to imagine how that could happen with bainte (we usually think of it as needing a long soak) but clever people have created steels that form bainite at room temperature (although it takes a while). So maybe the knife gets tougher over a number of years - you can lay them down like a vintage wine to mature.
I think there is loads to come. Ceramics, composites, metallic hydrogen
etc will become practical blade materials but steel has a lot to give yet.
There are quite a few factors that are being compromised in a steel - don't forget ease of heat treat. How about high performance stainless steel you can forge and heat treat at home? Flexible manufacture, small batch processes might mean even minor markets like the hobby knife makers might get attention.
Additive manufacturing (e.g. 3D print) is a fast developing area and this might influence materials. One technique is to fuse thin sheets together - printing damacus!
I think additive processes might make it more practical to mix materials and we might start to see a modern approach to san-mai or forge welded constructions of the past. Put the right material where it is needed. Super tough bainite down the spine and super hard on the edge, and a really thick stainless layer on the outside.
I can imagine technologies that print the steel in the final heat-treated condition or very localised laser heat treat. I was struggling to imagine how that could happen with bainte (we usually think of it as needing a long soak) but clever people have created steels that form bainite at room temperature (although it takes a while). So maybe the knife gets tougher over a number of years - you can lay them down like a vintage wine to mature.
I think there is loads to come. Ceramics, composites, metallic hydrogen
etc will become practical blade materials but steel has a lot to give yet.
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Thanks for the heads up
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I think we have a lot more diversification in steels and that might continue. So more specialisation and with that, it will be come harder to say any one steel is the best.
There are quite a few factors that are being compromised in a steel - don't forget ease of heat treat. How about high performance stainless steel you can forge and heat treat at home? Flexible manufacture, small batch processes might mean even minor markets like the hobby knife makers might get attention.
Additive manufacturing (e.g. 3D print) is a fast developing area and this might influence materials. One technique is to fuse thin sheets together - printing damacus!
I think additive processes might make it more practical to mix materials and we might start to see a modern approach to san-mai or forge welded constructions of the past. Put the right material where it is needed. Super tough bainite down the spine and super hard on the edge, and a really thick stainless layer on the outside.
I can imagine technologies that print the steel in the final heat-treated condition or very localised laser heat treat. I was struggling to imagine how that could happen with bainte (we usually think of it as needing a long soak) but clever people have created steels that form bainite at room temperature (although it takes a while). So maybe the knife gets tougher over a number of years - you can lay them down like a vintage wine to mature.
I think there is loads to come. Ceramics, composites, metallic hydrogen
This is a cool post! I like where some of those ideas are going. Printing Damascus, laser heat treat... metallic hydrogen! Thought provoking stuff for sure.
Oh, and you registered back in aught-eight and just posted? That is taking "Read More, Post Less" to an art form.
DocJD
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Just ask investors ..."promising breakthroughs " often fail to become practical products and revolutionary breakthroughs are nearly impossible to predict beforehand . 
I'd be happy to see the best existing steels / HT more widely used and lots cheaper !
I'd be happy to see the best existing steels / HT more widely used and lots cheaper !
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100 years from now we will have self-sharpening steel.
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Last edited:
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No matter how good knife steels have become there’s always room for improvement even if incremental. Sometimes tweaking a formula or recipe just a smidge can make a big difference in certain applications. Not only that but when new materials are developed they can have an impact on the cutting tools used.
Sharpening equipment can also improve making it much easier to maintain the harder more wear resistant steels.
Sharpening equipment can also improve making it much easier to maintain the harder more wear resistant steels.
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No, every since the Ginsu knife came out, there’s nothing that will top that level of performance
Not now nor in the future and that’s all there is to say about it.
the Ginsu was good enough for Lorena Bobbitt!
Of course, there's going to be some new wonder steel.
Just like there's going to be some new wonder vehicle & people are going to find out that "I need open concept in my house to entertain" is a poor idea (cause they end up feeding all the deadbeats & have light bulbs burned out that are too high for them to reach)".
New & improved drive the industry - any and all of them.
Just like there's going to be some new wonder vehicle & people are going to find out that "I need open concept in my house to entertain" is a poor idea (cause they end up feeding all the deadbeats & have light bulbs burned out that are too high for them to reach)".
New & improved drive the industry - any and all of them.
A challenge with new steel formulations is testing the results - so things look good in theory but don't work out quite like that in practice. Working out the heat treat is another significant investment (getting them TTT diagrams, multi-cycle tempering behaviour etc).
People have been trying to produce predictive models based on thermodynamics. (Cambridge University UK had one that was open source... but when I last looked [probably 2008
] it was written in Fortran (so from the 80s).) There is a long way to go in this field but you can imagine how handy/fun it would be for the home dabbler to be able to accurately predict TTT and tempering behaviour then mix up the materials in a crucible at home. I know some people with big brains and huge experience already make crucible steel to their own specification.
People have been trying to produce predictive models based on thermodynamics. (Cambridge University UK had one that was open source... but when I last looked [probably 2008
] it was written in Fortran (so from the 80s).) There is a long way to go in this field but you can imagine how handy/fun it would be for the home dabbler to be able to accurately predict TTT and tempering behaviour then mix up the materials in a crucible at home. I know some people with big brains and huge experience already make crucible steel to their own specification.
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Curious and this seems a good place for it but I don’t want to derail the thread.
Top current favorites? I know there’s a bunch of comparisons tests but I’m talking steels you’ve actually used and prefer. Of the super steels I’ve only used k390, rex45, m390, m4, and hap40. I like k390 the best, I love patina, holds an edge, and easy to sharpen.
Top current favorites? I know there’s a bunch of comparisons tests but I’m talking steels you’ve actually used and prefer. Of the super steels I’ve only used k390, rex45, m390, m4, and hap40. I like k390 the best, I love patina, holds an edge, and easy to sharpen.
Personally I just don’t get this quest for the ultimate (no need to ever sharpen) knife steel. What do you really need your knife to do that 420HC or 1095 won’t do? Yes you may have to sharpen it more but then I know how to put a proper edge on a blade and I actually enjoy it.
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When I got into this hobby/addiction a few years ago I was too focused on the “best steel”
And working my way up the ladder until I got up around M390 and 20cv etc...
I now find I am most comfortable with s35vn and others in that weight class.
So for me it goes...
1. Design/blade geometry
2. Heat treat
3. Blade composition
So I guess what I’m saying is I’m good where we’re at as far as blade
Composition. I don’t believe there will be significant changes until the lightsaber
And working my way up the ladder until I got up around M390 and 20cv etc...
I now find I am most comfortable with s35vn and others in that weight class.
So for me it goes...
1. Design/blade geometry
2. Heat treat
3. Blade composition
So I guess what I’m saying is I’m good where we’re at as far as blade
Composition. I don’t believe there will be significant changes until the lightsaber
Yer - so is it OK to wander off a bit? I'm new to posting...
If we look at blade geometry - is there a single ideal? The answer to that might enlighten my thinking about the ultimate blade composition.
If all the blade has to do is cut boxes (which is what most of mine do, if they are lucky to be taken out) then the profile is just going to be 'thin'. A plain Stanley knife is pretty good at that.
But that blade is going to be poor for carving wood or 'bushcraft'. For splitting, you need a bevel to separate the fibres. For feather sticks you need a bevel for control. People discuss the merits of scandi grind vs convex grind for a bushcaft blade - but what if you could have both?
So maybe the ultimate knife needs variable geometry. I don't want to go too sci-fi but what would the first variable geometry tool look like that had 'super steel' on the edge? Maybe Stanley-knife standard blades fitting into larger profiles for specific tasks. At the moment the idea doesn't excite me.
And if we come back to earth and agree you will always have different knives for different purposes - it is practical or even sensible to consider that there should be one ultimate blade material? Maybe: Hard, tough, stiff (may need to move away from steel), wear resistant, formable, low friction etc. Do you ever want a blade steel that isn't hard, tough, stiff... (flexible blades are usually just thin so the ultimate material can do that as well).