Heat Treat, Done Right?

Shorttime

Shorttime

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I've had good luck with Kershaw though the sample size is small. Spyderco does proper and consistent heat treat, from what I've heard.

Chris Reeve and Jerry Busse of course, if you consider them manufacturers.

Are there other companies that have a reputation for doing their processing correctly? I'd kind of like to know where to go to get it, and it's difficult to tell from the internet?
 
I have always felt kershaw/ZT went a little soft on ht, probably for durability and less warranty costs. Same with CRK, up until recently. Their S35vn was soft. Spyderco and Benchmade get it right.
 
The makers getting the heat treat they want is a bit different than them getting it correct. Kershaw/ZT gets the hardness they want but often it's a little soft for durability sake. ZT did have a couple misfires over the years but I wouldn't worry about it now. Spyderco definitely does try to get more interesting results with many different and uncommon steels and they too had a couple mess ups over the years. Again they are as reliable as you could hope to expect most times. A few of the lower quality brands will often have knives of the same steel come out quite differently in performance but that's what I expect at the often very low price point. It is a shame how hard it is to find very low price knives at the higher end hardness.
 
Some years ago, I had access to a Rockwell tester, as the head metallurgist in the engineering test lab at work was a friend.
I tested knives from half a dozen different manufacturers, including Buck, Kersaw, Spyderco, and Benchmade. Every knife I tested had a hardness which fell within that company's spec for the alloy in question. So i don't worry about US companies. So I pretty much just ask the company what their hardness spec is and go by that. I have no such data for foreign production companies (other than for Seki made Spyderco), so I have no comment on those.
 
Monofletch said:
Really?
Click to expand...
Yes, It was the only company able to put Maxamet into production consistently for well over 6 years.

They are also the only company that was able to put CPM Rex 121 into a production folder in 2024 which is the most difficult steel to work with and it cuts the longest in CATRA testing.

They were the only company brave enough to offer full-scale production with k390 tool steel folding knives at high hardness.

They were the first company to determine that MagnaCut was suitable for saltwater knives in 2021

They are the only major US production company that got their own custom PM steel made for them with CPM SPY27. (Spyderco Cobalt)

They were one of the first knife companies to approach Crucible for high wear PM steels for knives with CPM 440V and CPM 420V

They were the first company to offer affordable Japanese folding knives in ZDP-189.

In the '90s they were one of the first companies to use ATS 34 in a production folder.

They were one of the first companies to push the CPM Cru-Wear craze that caught on with other manufacturers.

Something that makes Sal and Eric unique Is that they also know how to sharpen the knives by hand, for a lot of the CEOs in this industry it's just business but for these guys they are also users and sharpeners.

So, thanks to their knowledge of sharpening, several decades of experience with exotic steels and heat treatment.

There is no other company in the knife industry that offers such a wide variety of different steels in knives for the consumer.



The answer is yes without question.
 
DeadboxHero said:
Yes, It was the only company able to put Maxamet into production consistently for well over 6 years.

They are also the only company that was able to put CPM Rex 121 into a production folder in 2024 which is the most difficult steel to work with and it cuts the longest in CATRA testing.

They were the only company brave enough to offer full-scale production with k390 tool steel folding knives at high hardness.

They were the first company to determine that MagnaCut was suitable for saltwater knives in 2021

They are the only major US production company that got their own custom PM steel made for them with CPM SPY27. (Spyderco Cobalt)

They were one of the first knife companies to approach Crucible for high wear PM steels for knives with CPM 440V and CPM 420V

They were the first company to offer affordable Japanese folding knives in ZDP-189.

In the '90s they were one of the first companies to use ATS 34 in a production folder.

They were one of the first companies to push the CPM Cru-Wear craze that caught on with other manufacturers.

Something that makes Sal and Eric unique Is that they also know how to sharpen the knives by hand, for a lot of the CEOs in this industry it's just business but for these guys they are also users and sharpeners.

So, thanks to their knowledge of sharpening, several decades of experience with exotic steels and heat treatment.

There is no other company in the knife industry that offers such a wide variety of different steels in knives for the consumer.



The answer is yes without question.
Click to expand...
Granted that Spyderco does the most varieties of alloy, and does a fantastic job on each one. But the original question was, "Are there other companies that have a reputation for doing their processing correctly? " Which is not really the same question.

You could have a company which only supplies blades in one alloy, and as long as their heat treat for that alloy was top notch, they would qualify for the list.
 
knarfeng said:
Granted that Spyderco does the most varieties of alloy, and does a fantastic job on each one. But the original question was, "Are there other companies that have a reputation for doing their processing correctly? " Which is not really the same question.

You could have a company which only supplies blades in one alloy, and as long as their heat treat for that alloy was top notch, they would qualify for the list.
Click to expand...
Definitely, but if I wanted to take an exotic alloy that has not been used before and give it to a company for processing it correctly Spyderco would be my first choice for production companies if the question came up.



As far as the reason I shared that extensive work history with different steels Spyderco has used, it is because there was undeniably a lot of challenges that were faced with working with such a difficult and obstinate materials. Spyderco not only figured out how to work with those materials, but how to scale them to production levels which is quite impressive.

I feel this is important if we are talking about what companies are processing things correctly.

YMMV and other opinions are welcome.
 
Here you go, I thought I remembered some pretty much solid data from back in the day !
I thought the thread was here but I found it over on "that other forum".
No links are allowed but I wonder how much trouble I'll get in if I mumble something about searching for :
😏mumble, mumble . . .HRC Database Spyderco Forums 2019 . . .mumble, mumble

PS: Hardness isn't every thing (well to me it is, but I'm not very bright) but I will say that one of the other high end knife makers mentioned in the begining of this blade forums thread we are curently conversing in (and I love their knives) . . . well they were KNOWN to run their S30V down in the mid to higher fifties when they could have been running it at sixty or more. They did this so that the blades were " easier to sharpen" , or some such, and that right there turned me off to their heat treat (no matter how "good" it was .
I'm just saying.
 
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DeadboxHero said:
Yes, It was the only company able to put Maxamet into production consistently for well over 6 years.

They are also the only company that was able to put CPM Rex 121 into a production folder in 2024 which is the most difficult steel to work with and it cuts the longest in CATRA testing.

They were the only company brave enough to offer full-scale production with k390 tool steel folding knives at high hardness.

They were the first company to determine that MagnaCut was suitable for saltwater knives in 2021

They are the only major US production company that got their own custom PM steel made for them with CPM SPY27. (Spyderco Cobalt)

They were one of the first knife companies to approach Crucible for high wear PM steels for knives with CPM 440V and CPM 420V

They were the first company to offer affordable Japanese folding knives in ZDP-189.

In the '90s they were one of the first companies to use ATS 34 in a production folder.

They were one of the first companies to push the CPM Cru-Wear craze that caught on with other manufacturers.

Something that makes Sal and Eric unique Is that they also know how to sharpen the knives by hand, for a lot of the CEOs in this industry it's just business but for these guys they are also users and sharpeners.

So, thanks to their knowledge of sharpening, several decades of experience with exotic steels and heat treatment.

There is no other company in the knife industry that offers such a wide variety of different steels in knives for the consumer.



The answer is yes without question.
Click to expand...
Your opinion.
 
DocJD said:
Historically , Cold Steel has mostly done very well for their price point . IMO .

GSM has maintained quality HT , on their better steels, at least . So far .
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I heard rumor that they get their 3v treated at Peter's, no idea if it's true.

What I do know is that MBK has an excellent heat treat, down to their budget models in 14c28n following Larrin's protocol (nice and hard).
 
Monofletch said:
Your opinion.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I was happy to share since you asked me.

I feel it would be rude for me to not ask what your opinion is to add to the discussion.

"Are there other companies known for having a reputation of doing their processing correctly?"
 
Monofletch said:
Your opinion.
Click to expand...
THAT is an opinion I know I can trust . . .
Heck he turned me on to the G10 Police in K390 back in the day and he was absolutely right.

Opinion (based on MUCH learning and hands on trial and error taking every thing to the edge and beyond). TESTING others opinions.
Do you know who you are talking to ?
There is opinion 😮 and then there is Opinion. 🤓
 
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