Is Blue Super Steel Actually Super? The Facts about Tungsten-Alloyed Steels

Interesting. So my description of 1.2442 as "Blue 1.5" is not far off base.
 
jdm61 said:
Interesting. So my description of 1.2442 as "Blue 1.5" is not far off base.
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With its relatively high tungsten content maybe it's "Blue 1S." Not sure that name is going to stick. It's very similar to V-Toku 1.
 
Larrin said:
You must be achieving full steel nerd!
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If I leave mental health as a career, I will become a metallurgist, or possibly mechanical engineer. I’ve got 25 year’s tied up in training and career building as a therapist though. Some days are moving me closer to career change though....
 
Willie71 said:
If I leave mental health as a career, I will become a metallurgist, or possibly mechanical engineer. I’ve got 25 year’s tied up in training and career building as a therapist though. Some days are moving me closer to career change though....
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A career as an engineer will send you back into a therapist's office in one way or another. :P Being an engineer is awesome!
 
Larrin said:
With its relatively high tungsten content maybe it's "Blue 1S." Not sure that name is going to stick. It's very similar to V-Toku 1.
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Don’t the V-Toku steels have a little kiss of vanadium?
 
Willie71 said:
If I leave mental health as a career, I will become a metallurgist, or possibly mechanical engineer. I’ve got 25 year’s tied up in training and career building as a therapist though. Some days are moving me closer to career change though....
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Mental health to metal health!
 
jdm61 said:
Don’t the V-Toku steels have a little kiss of vanadium?
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The ranges specificied say <0.2, so I put zero. If they do indeed add some small amount it would make only a small change to the calculations I provided.
 
Thanks so much, Larrin! My favorite post by far, because these are my favorite class of steels. Would LOVE to get hands on Super Blue or 1.2562. The 1.2442 from Achim is really great steel, as I use it at 64HRC and thin edges for hunters and kitchen knives. 1.2519 is available from a few German vendors like Schmiedeglut.de, Messermacherbedarf.de, and Nordisches-handwerk.de. I understand that the "industry" has phased this class of steel out in favor of others, but personally would be thrilled to see them available to the knife maker market more readily. Aldo was, at one time, working on acquiring an O7/1.2519 class of steel, but not sure where he stands there. These steels get me excited! These and CFV. Good stuff for us oil quenchers!
 
I would prefer 1.2442 to Blue Super or 1.2562 personally because of its lower carbon and therefore cementite content. The hardenability is probably pretty low, however. What is the as-quenched hardness you are getting?
 
I was once able to get S-1 tool steel drops from making hot punches (and I probably have a few left in the shop somewhere). What do you think about that grade? I know it generally only hardens in the mid-50's Rc but the stuff is really tough.
 
HWooldridge said:
I was once able to get S-1 tool steel drops from making hot punches (and I probably have a few left in the shop somewhere). What do you think about that grade? I know it generally only hardens in the mid-50's Rc but the stuff is really tough.
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S1 actually appears in that Tool Steels chart, showing an “8” for toughness and a “4” for wear resistance. As you said its relatively low attainable hardness has limited its applications for knives.
 
Stuart, I think that the timber industry still uses those tungsten saw steels, but the metal cutting job has supposedly gone to more "standard" high speed steels. Bestar list 1.2419(?) and 1.2519 for sale. I don't know if Achim has made another batch of 1.2442. From what I was told, the original batch was made in a brand new small furnace, maybe at the local technical university.
samuraistuart said:
Thanks so much, Larrin! My favorite post by far, because these are my favorite class of steels. Would LOVE to get hands on Super Blue or 1.2562. The 1.2442 from Achim is really great steel, as I use it at 64HRC and thin edges for hunters and kitchen knives. 1.2519 is available from a few German vendors like Schmiedeglut.de, Messermacherbedarf.de, and Nordisches-handwerk.de. I understand that the "industry" has phased this class of steel out in favor of others, but personally would be thrilled to see them available to the knife maker market more readily. Aldo was, at one time, working on acquiring an O7/1.2519 class of steel, but not sure where he stands there. These steels get me excited! These and CFV. Good stuff for us oil quenchers!
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Larrin, are there concerns about forging tungsten steels, where W is a preferential carbide former? I've always wondered whether you might end up with coarse carbides that wont be dissolved at regular normalization temperatures.
 
Tenebr0s said:
Larrin, are there concerns about forging tungsten steels, where W is a preferential carbide former? I've always wondered whether you might end up with coarse carbides that wont be dissolved at regular normalization temperatures.
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I have a small section on "forgeability" in the article. For most of the tungsten-alloyed steels the tungsten carbides are not fully dissolved during normalizing.
 
Thank you - I did read it. My question is more about damaging the steel through forging, not being hot short. I'm wondering if the multiple heats of forging could potentially create an overly coarse carbide structure that would still be there in the finished knife.
 
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