- Joined
- Apr 12, 2015
- Messages
- 341
Hello everyone
My long time goal is to move to the stainless damascus fabrication. I would like to start to make folding knives too and I would like to use stainless or at least corrosion resistant damascus on them.
Some time ago, I decided to make some in-depth testing on my corrosion-resistant laminated steel . The main objective for me was to be sure that during welding of high-alloyed steel, I would not damage the structure of that steel, that it would have a stronger impact on the quality of the blade. Forge welding of the D2 steel is not easy and if the procedure and temperature is not correct, D2 breaks like glass.
So I made the laminated blade with the equivalent of D2 steel on the edge and sent it to the test to Pavol Šandor from Slovak republic, who has been testing the blades for a long time. Pavol's tests, in my opinion , are very precise and profesional! You can see many of them on his You tube channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/pavolko10
The blade was tested several times. First time it was hardened and annealed to secondary hardness 61-62 hrc, with a thickness above the edge 0,25 mm and a 30-degree peak angle . Then the hardness was reduced to about 59 hrc with a thickness of 0.45 mm behind the edge and a peak angle of 30 degrees. And the last test with the same parameters but the angle of 40 degrees on peak . Both abrasive resistance and side force and strike resistance were tested by cutting the rope and striking to antler and the brass bar. If you have few hours of time and you really love this kind of stuff than you can watch the entire videos
In my opinion there are some interesting results
At first I think it was proved that this laminated D2 steel didnt suffer any damage during welding process. The blade, in my opinion, did quite well, especially in cutting tests where it reached the level of some Elmax knives tested before by Pavol. The worst thing was the fragility, even that D2 steel is famous for it
Static force tests were ok even with a very fine edge (30degrees peak), but the striking to the antler and the brass rod resulted in some serious chisping of the edge.. It is clear that with such a thin grind on D2 steel nobody would probably strike the antler, but the testing was made to clarify the limits and possibilities of the forge welded D2 steel
Surprisingly the hardness reduction of about 2 hrc ( to 59 hrc approx) and the increase of the base of edge to 0,45 mm , did not have a significant effect on the increase resistance against the strike damage.. And it had no significant influence on cutting performance neither
I wouldnt probably guess it before the test .. I would think it will be the opposite
This was pretty interesting for me
(EDIT: I just add some numbers from videos - With peak angle of 30°the blade was able to cut approx 320x rope 2cm before it stoped cutting the office papper , 120x before it stopped to cut cigarette paper ! ) But after changing the peak angle of the edge from the 30° to the 40°, there was a very significant change. There wasnt any more damage of the blade, even during the antler striking or during the brass bar falling. But the cutting performance was lowered significantly of course . Even the „crack resistance „ was reduced this much , by changing the peak angle to 40°, the blade could still cut approximately 120 times the 2cm rope before it wasnt able to cut office paper . For me it is still a good result if I know it is an "ordinary tool steel" and not a supermodern powder steel
Yes, we can speculate about the angle of grinding, usability and purpose of the knife as such, but this test is not about this
What the test was about and what is the main thing for me? It proves that I can forge weld D2 steel without damaging the grain structure in the significant way, so I can move to the more complicated materials
So, see you on laminated Elmax testing in the future !
Thanks to Paul for the tests! Bye Petr
Warning : These tests are relevant only to materials fabricated by myself. According to pretty difficult welding process, heat control and possible errors, this should not be taken as prove that EVERY laminated D2 steel will have these properties. The differences could be really big
TEST No 056
Petr Melichárek - corrosion resistant laminated steel - core 1,2379 (D2) , sides - 1,2083 + 1,4301 61-62HRc
TEST No 062
Petr Melichárek - corrosion resistant laminated steel - core 1,2379 (D2) , sides - 1,2083 + 1,4301 58.5-59.5 HRc
TEST No 063
Petr Melichárek - corrosion resistant laminated steel - core 1,2379 (D2) , sides - 1,2083 + 1,4301 58.5-59.5 HRc
http://youtu.be/cfaMCsIHD98?t=15 - last test - cant insert more media :/
PS : Sorry for my bad grammar
i hope you will understand If not , please ask ! bye PEtr
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