bodog
BANNED
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2013
- Messages
- 3,097
Hey steel junkies and knife aficionados. I was recently presented with an opportunity to coordinate a test of 5 knives made of multiple steels at various hardnesses, all quoted to be at or above 61 HRC. Three of the five are very similar in geometry with fairly small differences in thickness. One of the five is very thin and one is pretty thick.
One is W2 dressed in purpleheart. It's quoted at 61-62 HRC and built for hard use. It's the workhorse meant to be whipped.
Two is CruForgeV dressed in Golden Amboyna. It's quoted at 61 HRC, almost purely a slicer. It's extremely light. It's one of the lightest knives I've held.
Three is 52100 dressed in Box Elder Burl. It's quoted at 63 HRC and looks to be made for medium duty use.
Four is 1095 dressed in Bocote. It's quoted at 64 HRC and looks to be made for medium duty use. This one seems like a knife I'd like to carry.
And the last, number 5, is M2 dressed in Amboyna. It's quoted at 65 HRC and is made for fine, detailed work. I'd like to have this one as a necker. It's a mean looking little bastard.
I tried to bring in a panel of judges from various backgrounds with different tastes in steels so that certain steel types aren't favored over others. Each has a background in using knives for various reasons. All have stated they've used knives heavily on the job or heavily as a hobby.
Each of the judges can talk about their background if they choose to. You as the reader can see for yourself the types of work they do once they start publishing their results.
Each knife was made by Bluntcut Metalworks. Each has been hardened using his heat treatment process. Most interesting in my mind is whether his superquenching method is the real deal. Each one of these has been superquenched.
This is what he has to say about it:
"I did a quick & dirty etch these blades with FeCl, thats why they look dark. I made M2 knife a year ago. Other 4 knives received same heat treatment parameters.* I use this same ht formula for 5160, 1084 and pretty all low Cr steels.* Of course, all received Super Quenched (3 seconds quenchant time to cool a 3/32-1/8 thick blade from 1500F to 120F).*
I changed my ht formula 6 months back because previous ht exhibited low impact toughness.* The difference between ht now vs previously is 1-2um vs sub 100nm grain diameter.* Its a huge compromise but in the greater scheme of ht industry, a 2um grain diameter for low Cr high carbon (0.9-1.0%) is at least 2 fold better than standard ht (think 2um vs 8+um for 52100 class of steel)."
That sums it up. These are basically mule knives meant to test the hardening process he uses in various steels at various widths with various geometries.
These knives have been experimented on by Luong. They were born as test knives and that's what they still are. While they're nice knives standing on their own, these aren't picture perfect knives. The time, energy, and material have all been donated by BCMW in order for us all to see what, if anything, superquenching may do to steels some of us may be familiar with. It's a pretty ballsy thing for a maker to put up or shut up. Well, he's confident enough to put up.
The judges are as follows:
NJBillK
HwangJino
Heavyhanded
Me2
Ankerson
Bodog (me)
If there's anything good or bad to say, I'm hoping it'll come out in this testing gauntlet. There are some very capable judges on the panel and I look forward to hearing their opinions and results. I want to thank them all for their time and effort.
Here are the knives:
All together with some random knives for size comparison:
Spine thickness:
Compared to a spyderco military:
One is W2 dressed in purpleheart. It's quoted at 61-62 HRC and built for hard use. It's the workhorse meant to be whipped.
Two is CruForgeV dressed in Golden Amboyna. It's quoted at 61 HRC, almost purely a slicer. It's extremely light. It's one of the lightest knives I've held.
Three is 52100 dressed in Box Elder Burl. It's quoted at 63 HRC and looks to be made for medium duty use.
Four is 1095 dressed in Bocote. It's quoted at 64 HRC and looks to be made for medium duty use. This one seems like a knife I'd like to carry.
And the last, number 5, is M2 dressed in Amboyna. It's quoted at 65 HRC and is made for fine, detailed work. I'd like to have this one as a necker. It's a mean looking little bastard.
I tried to bring in a panel of judges from various backgrounds with different tastes in steels so that certain steel types aren't favored over others. Each has a background in using knives for various reasons. All have stated they've used knives heavily on the job or heavily as a hobby.
Each of the judges can talk about their background if they choose to. You as the reader can see for yourself the types of work they do once they start publishing their results.
Each knife was made by Bluntcut Metalworks. Each has been hardened using his heat treatment process. Most interesting in my mind is whether his superquenching method is the real deal. Each one of these has been superquenched.
This is what he has to say about it:
"I did a quick & dirty etch these blades with FeCl, thats why they look dark. I made M2 knife a year ago. Other 4 knives received same heat treatment parameters.* I use this same ht formula for 5160, 1084 and pretty all low Cr steels.* Of course, all received Super Quenched (3 seconds quenchant time to cool a 3/32-1/8 thick blade from 1500F to 120F).*
I changed my ht formula 6 months back because previous ht exhibited low impact toughness.* The difference between ht now vs previously is 1-2um vs sub 100nm grain diameter.* Its a huge compromise but in the greater scheme of ht industry, a 2um grain diameter for low Cr high carbon (0.9-1.0%) is at least 2 fold better than standard ht (think 2um vs 8+um for 52100 class of steel)."
That sums it up. These are basically mule knives meant to test the hardening process he uses in various steels at various widths with various geometries.
These knives have been experimented on by Luong. They were born as test knives and that's what they still are. While they're nice knives standing on their own, these aren't picture perfect knives. The time, energy, and material have all been donated by BCMW in order for us all to see what, if anything, superquenching may do to steels some of us may be familiar with. It's a pretty ballsy thing for a maker to put up or shut up. Well, he's confident enough to put up.
The judges are as follows:
NJBillK
HwangJino
Heavyhanded
Me2
Ankerson
Bodog (me)
If there's anything good or bad to say, I'm hoping it'll come out in this testing gauntlet. There are some very capable judges on the panel and I look forward to hearing their opinions and results. I want to thank them all for their time and effort.
Here are the knives:
All together with some random knives for size comparison:
Spine thickness:
Compared to a spyderco military:
Last edited:
rolleyes: secretive) ht steps:
