Lamination Materials

K

Knifeclerk

Joined
Jul 16, 2004
Messages
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When a knife has a laminated blade, does it make sense to use high end materials for the sides? I ask because the Spyderco Delica with ZDP 189 is coming out and I wanted to know if there is a reason why I should use it over my Caly Jr. One has 420 J2 Sides and the other has ats 34. is there aany reason why the ats 34 model would be superior? Doesn't 420 offer better stain resistance anyway? Your insights are welcome.
-KC
 
GP Knives said it would be an ATS 34 laminate. I also heard something of that much earlier on the Spyderco website.
 
A harder side laminate would make the blade much stronger, in regards to prying this is an issue as it is really easily to bend laminates with soft sides. From a pure cutting perspective the softer steel is usually an advantage as it machines easier and is more corrosion resistant.

-Cliff
 
The original laminated knives are the "damascus" ones. The thought was that by mixing different steels or folding a single steel hundreds of times you got a grain structure in the steel that combined hardness (edge retention) with strength (flexiblity).

http://www.knifenetwork.com/classifieds/index.php?ct=pres_fld&md=details&id=1255

I just picked up one of the "blood-red" Calypso Jr's from Spyderco and am looking forward to seeing how the ZDP-189 blade cuts and sharpens in day-to-day activity. I have never seen a knive with such a Rockwell C hardness rating.

http://www.newgraham.com/spyderco_calypso_jr_zdp.htm



http://spyderco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18316
 
420 Clads have met with some dissapproval because the material being fairly soft scratches fairly easily. ATS34 would be a good clad for pocket knives but not large blades where a ductile clad will make the blade more break resistant. ATS 34 is very high Carbon for a Clad.
 
Ed Schempp said:
420 Clads have met with some dissapproval because the material being fairly soft scratches fairly easily. ATS34 would be a good clad for pocket knives but not large blades where a ductile clad will make the blade more break resistant. ATS 34 is very high Carbon for a Clad.
Click to expand...

Informative, thank you.
 
Just because the outer layers are made from an alloy that can be hardened to a higher level it doesn't indicate that they will be harder than 420-J2. The heat treatment for the blade will be optimized to get the desired hardness for the core (ZDP 189 in this case). I have no idea whether ATS34 will be harder than 420-J2 when subjected to that heat treatment. It could be softer. If the 420-J2 and ATS 34 came out at about the same hardness after hardening and tempering then the ATS 34 might be more scratch resistant, but it might not be much stiffer.
 
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