Nitro V for hard use blades

Clarify please. What are the suggested tempers ? If you expect eta carbides you will have to temper at 300-400 F. You should also expect some differences in hardness and toughness between cryo and subzero ??
 
I think if Hunter were to chime in on this thread, there would be some clarification about what is going on with Nitro V in these hard use impact blades. And it has nothing to do with a "new" or "better" heat treatment.
 
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.
 
Last edited:
I'm just hoping that my chunk that's leftover is still good. Made a few knives for customers. No issues so far.

Hoping to use it more for some budget knives and kitchen stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top