Nitro V for hard use blades

I'll chime in here and give an update.

I think I was the first person to use Nitro V for big, hard use blades when I decided to try a new steel for my Fell Beast line of machetes. I wanted something stainless. I have used AEB-l in the past and was really impressed by its performance. I was about to buy some for the run but was sold on Nitro V by NJSB.

Ill start by saying this, the AEB-l class of steels are AWESOME. I think they're the future of blade steels. When done right they have perfect qualities for knife steels including truly impressive toughness.

So I got some Nitro V, used the AEB-l HT and tested the hell out of the blades. I broke 3 in torture testing before selling the production run.

Nitro V did really great in almost all the testing. It had top notch edge stability. I made a video posted on here of me chopping through cinder blocks and copper pipe etc.. all of that is real. The testing went great.

Except for one thing. When I put the blades in a vice and did the flex test, instead of bending like AEB-l or 52100, the Nitro V blades snapped. I was concerned but after talking to some people we decided that bending a blade past 90 degrees in a vice isnt something a customer will ever do and since the rest of the testing went well I went ahead with the production run.

No issues until a year later when 2 blade broke during routine use. What I discovered in my investigations was the formation of concentrated nitride inclusions. You can see them when you break a blade and let it corrode a bit.

When I contacted NJSB they told me there were indeed nitride inclusions but that they were a result of HT and the HT had been updated. They offered to replace my bad Nitro V blanks with 52100. Unfortunatly the 52100 was bad too so now they are replacing them with 3V.

Ok so back to Nitro V. Here is my take. I only had one batch of this stuff and it was likely the very first batch. I personally think I got steel with inclusions in it and the inclusions were not from HT. Over the past year I firmly believe they have improved the HT and improved the qualities of the steel, but I think the batch I got simply had inclusions from the Mill.

I believe this because the 52100 replacement blanks I recieved Were 100% cut from bad steel. NJSB confirmed that the mill had accidentally sent out a slag filled portion of the 52100 sheet that is normally thrown away and I had unfortunatley gotten a bad sheet.

But the issues with my batches of 52100 and Nitro V were very similar- visible inclsuions that cause the steel to shatter when bent in a vice. I dont think thats a HT issue. I think i may have simply gotten a first off the mill slag filled sheet of steel that the mill should have scraped.

My big thing with steel selection is that its time tested and proven. nitro V has only been out a year. NJSB should make some test videos and show what the steel can do with the new HT. There has been an undeniable cracking issue with the steel and I think the ball is in their court to prove that Nitro V is good stuff and or that the HT is fixed. And on paper, it really really should be a fantastic steel.

Thats alot of text so I will summarize below.

All new steels go through some growing pains where HT is being figured out and tweaks are made. I would personally reommend just sticking with AEB-l for big impact blades because it is so time tested and proven.

For a kitchen knife or similar that does not see impact, Nitro V is probably fine but I would personally use a steel like AEB-l that been around for decades.