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Optimal Hardness
- Thread starter Taliesan
- Start date
No, to your first question.
As for your second, there are scores of advantages and disadvantages.
Now to the third: The principal difference between the 420 class, and the 440 class of alloys is the relative carbon content. (Also, there are at least three standard grades within each class, each having a different carbon content.)
Carbon content is the principal determinant of the hardening potential of the alloy.
As for your second, there are scores of advantages and disadvantages.
Now to the third: The principal difference between the 420 class, and the 440 class of alloys is the relative carbon content. (Also, there are at least three standard grades within each class, each having a different carbon content.)
Carbon content is the principal determinant of the hardening potential of the alloy.
- Joined
- Jul 23, 1999
- Messages
- 1,409
I think there IS an optimal hardness for a knife. However, that optimal hardness is not a specific Rc. I like the term "correct working hardness". It varies from steel to steel, and there are not a great many steel capable of obtaining it. In my view, the "Optimal hardness" for a blade is when it will pass the brass rod test. This test involves a sharpened blade being drawn across a brass rod, clamped horizontally in a vise. Pressure is applied so that the edge flexes over the rod as the length of the blade is passed over the rod. A blade that is too hard will chip, one that is too soft will flex, and stay flexed. A blade that is heat treated correctly (for that steel and geometry) will flex over the rod and return to true. There is an article that explains it on my site..........
http://www.caffreyknives.com/testingart.htm
http://www.caffreyknives.com/testingart.htm