Is SK-5 Recon Tanto hardened at 65HRC?

[knarfeng]

It's not my knife.
And I told him the same thing.

Yeah, I made this thread for that reason. I couldn't believe it.

If you google "Recon Tanto SK5 65HRC" you'll find at least 3 large webshops which actually have 65HRC put there as the blade hardness.

But, since that same information isn't on Cold Steel website I took it with grain of salt.
I also wrote on my original post that it is crazy because then it'd be very brittle.

I'm interested to know why this SK-5 holds an edge better than 1095 when it should be other way around. My guess is that hardness is culprit. If his Esee is tempered at 55HRC and Recon Tanto is at for example 57 or 58 - that alone could explain the difference.

Like I said originally, "65 is the as-quenched hardness"
https://www.knifecenter.com/item/CS...ck-sk-5-blade-kray-ex-handle-secure-ex-sheath

As quenched, it has a hardness near Rc 65 a

The "as quenched hardness" is the hardness before tempering. It is not the final hardness of the finished knife blade.

 

[Smiling]

In your one instance of unscientific testing with completely different knives in different steels from different companies you found a difference. Let's not blow this out of proportion. I'd say there are too many other things going on to narrow it down to the steel (grind and thickness being a big factor). Further, I'd worry about trusting the experiences of anyone that thinks that SK5 was at 65 HRC. What else are they getting wrong here?

I see that people like to reply without reading first, but it's OK, I'll assume you didn't have the time.

If I really thought it's hardened at 65HRC I wouldn't ask for reputable source in opening post.

Now the guy texts me that he found out that Recon Tanto is hardened at 65HRC which is crazy. I tried looking it up and several pages say the same thing. This would explain the difference, but wouldn't the blade be very brittle then?

Any reliable source on it's hardness?

You can see that even on my first post here I said that 65HRC is crazy and would make it brittle, yet there are webshops claiming it.
I also said that heat treatment has a huge role in performance of any blade and majority of people here will agree with it, so I'm not sure why you keep ignoring heat treatment importance.

Last, if I paid 250€ for a knife like he did, I'd at least wonder why it gets dull as soon as I do anything with it.

 

[MolokaiRider]

As stated earlier, Cold Steel’s SK-5 models are tempered at 57-58.

I think Esee knives are treated with the edge hardened more than the spines, and hardened to 55-57. This is most likely why edge holding could be a bit less than the Cold Steel.

Great knives though!

 

[Smiling]

As stated earlier, Cold Steel’s SK-5 models are tempered at 57-58.

I think Esee knives are treated with the edge hardened more than the spines, and hardened to 55-57. This is most likely why edge holding could be a bit less than the Cold Steel.

Great knives though!

View attachment 1317251 View attachment 1317252

Thank you

 

[craytab]

I see that people like to reply without reading first, but it's OK, I'll assume you didn't have the time.

If I really thought it's hardened at 65HRC I wouldn't ask for reputable source in opening post.




You can see that even on my first post here I said that 65HRC is crazy and would make it brittle, yet there are webshops claiming it.
I also said that heat treatment has a huge role in performance of any blade and majority of people here will agree with it, so I'm not sure why you keep ignoring heat treatment importance.

Last, if I paid 250€ for a knife like he did, I'd at least wonder why it gets dull as soon as I do anything with it.

I am in no way ignoring heat treatment. I am suggesting that you not focus on it and high HRC, as many other factors also play a role in edge retention.

Might I suggest doing a bit of reading on what impacts edge retention and also what that "crazy" statement on the 65 HRC actually means.