First off, a Huge thanks to HSC ///
Harbeer was kind enough to reach out to me for an opportunity to review this beautiful knife.
Having seen his work and given my prefences for high performance cutlery, it was quite the honor
The knife has been shipped away to Jim Ankerson for more cut testing.
I will be doing my usual extensive review off some notes and pictures I took.
This thread will be updated piece by piece.
Also questions about the knife are welcome!
Lets start with everyone's favorite knife subject.
The steel
unless youve been living under a rock in the knife world, everyone know about Murray Carter.
a real 17th generation master blade smith that has been the nexus for east meets west in the knife community.
Harbeer from HSC/// has been learned japanese bladesmithing techniques from training under Murray. He has learned the artful skills to hand forge this awesome steel.
While a Harbeer is a new maker he draws on his life experience and passion for cutlery.
well get to know him more later
A little backround on white steel.
Hitachi White Paper steel "Shirogami"
Hitachi is a world leader in steel manufacturer for the things that actually build our world.
Knives are rather insignificant to the grand scale of the steel industry, yet Hitachi has a special smaller division that focuses on simple carbon cutlery steels to pay homage to the days of old, when warlords and warriors ruled Japan.
The Yasuki Steel divison of Hitachi
Yellow, White, and Blue, these colors come from the color of paper the steel is wrapped in to denote the type of steel
here is a great chart.
We can see there all carbon steels with slightly different attributes and each with different numbered levels of quality or ingredients (super, 1,2,3)
Super Blue being at the top with more alloying for wear resistance,reduced ease of sharpening and hardness.
White steel, being the purist and simplest of the three,
it is Hitachis take on what a modern "tamahagnue" or "Jewel Steel" would be with modern manufactering.
The simple carbon steel that made samurai swords from crude pig iron.
It takes ludicrous amounts of time and skill to make and doesnt have the quality control of today's steel.
But what an art!
The HSC /// utility hunter uses a white #2 steel core.
this a very simple, pure alloy
using my favorite phone app from gator at zknives (Thanks for all you work bro)
The Shriogami steels
Carbon and manganese. ( with a very small amount of silicon and trace amounts of sulfur)
versus 1095
white#2 maxs out at 1.15 carbon. Also Hardness is crucial to performance
This is higher than any simple carbon steel available in the US market (52100 @ 1.10, Bohler k510 "Silver steel" @ 1.25 but both have lots of alloying and dont really count. w2, same)
Why is that significant?
Low alloy, high carbon allows for the finest grain structure with the proper heat treatment.
There simply isn't any other alloys to mix with the carbon and iron to form the larger more wear resistant carbides
Also, very high hardness can be achieved.
Not to say other steels don't have fine grain too when heat treated properly
This translates into an ease of sharpening few have felt in the outdoor fixed blade world. Even at 63-64hrc!
While all steels can be sharpened beyond what is possible for most,
White steel lowers the bar so everyone can experience insane levels of sharp.
The HSC Hunter is also laminated.
Its sandwiched between multiple layers of mild steel (low carbon, non-stainless steel that does not harden)
A beautiful Damascus pattern that is visible after an acid etch
This is called "suminagashi" or "Ink blot", for sharing similar appearance a popular Japanese art style.
The marriage between the two different alloys forms a symbiotic relationship that strengthens the blade without having to soften the cutting core with multiple tempers.
While the edge may chip if used haphazardly(digging holes, batoning bricks) the blade itself is very resistant to breaking and will bend rather than snapping in two like a non-laminated blade at the same hardness.
While there are stainless laminates that can bring the best of both worlds,
The mild steel is tougher then the low carbon stainless.
While tougher doesnt translate to splitting logs in half,
We have to remember that geometry also plays a huge role in function.
The HSC Hunter is a more specialized tool with pure cutting performance in mind.
Yet durable enough for some utility uses as well.
This will be discussed in further detail later.
Harbeer forges these knives with a very traditional method taught to him by Carter.
The Rough outlines are hand forged
then cut down to shape
Also,
There is a cold forging technique that can only be performed on laminated blades thats used for refining the grain structure. While the exact mechanisms are currently beyond my knowledge, I know that this technique has been performed by Japanese bladesmiths since before the discovery of the Americas.
Each blade is heat treated by hand with a keen eye and very careful attention to detail.
This is not a casual experience.
its intense and takes skill and experience to get correct.
Its been compare to walking a tight rope, Pure focus
Thats the level of intensity require to evenly heat the blade to the perfect color temperature.
Not more, not less.
The blades are quenched rapidly in water.
Water rapid cooling quechent but
The only way this is possible is BEFORE heating for quenching ,coating the blades in a thin layer of clay with a special mix much like the KFC original recipe
hahaha
Without it, air bubbles would form as the hot steel is dipped in the water forming a protective layer of evaporating gas
Hence too slow bro!
With the rapid quench,
Harbeer gets the maximum amout of martensite, the finest, hardest crystal structure of steel. Which is then given a single temper to draw back the hardness to ~63-64 hrc!
Water quenching is incredibly violent.
Mono steel blades can warp and break in to two with an awful bone snap ting! sound.
This is where the strength of the laminated steel comes into play giving the steel resilience to breaking during the quench
Faster quench, more martensite. No breaky! haha
In The HSC /// hunter, maxium martensite
means the alloy is at its full potential for maximum edge keenness and sharpenabilty after tempering
While we wont get the raw wear resistance of powdered steel or even stainless steel,
The ease of sharpening is the stuff dreams are made of.
Well talk next about some bushcraft performance and less knife nerd stuff soon as well as the blade design and ergos
Thanks bros
Shawn
