Optimal hardness for slicer?

Y

YuriM

Joined
Jul 30, 2004
Messages
169
Running ahead of myself here, since my first knife's far from being ready for heat treatment... :)

From what I understand, a knife designed primarily for slicing/push-cutting is better off hard, brittleness not really being an issue and good edge retention being desirable. So if I'm not grossly misunderstanding something, I would want my knife's hardness in the Rc 59-60 range? The knife in question will have a puukko-style blade, and those're hardened to as much as 65 Rc, sometimes :eek:

I appeal to the great collective wisdom of those gathered here. :D
 
The agrussell or Shuh kitchen knife is a laminate with VG10 core at 59-61 Rc.But it depends on the type of steel and the use of the knife.
 
I agree with mete.It all depends on the steel,and what you are going to do with it.ATS-34 will harden to the mid 60's.Even after temper and cryo it is often RC-60-62.My ATS sush blades are such a pain to sharpen,but boy do they slice.If you want to go for the max you could use CPM S90V.It is very expensive and so hard to cut it will eat up a bi-metal saw blade.Once ground and finished it has superb edge retention. I don't remember the RC,but it must be high.
 
With 440c you'd get a few points lower than that. Remember that hardness isn't an absolute . In general the harder the more brittle and hardness isn't the only thing that relates to edge retention. You can check properties of many steels on www.crucibleservice.com
 
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