These folks mean well in there own ways. I think the worry is that newer folks reading here will get wayyy to focused on pure HRC as a sign of quality.
The HRC is a component, yes but not the end all be all.
We clearly don't want under 60rc for premium products.
But there is no need for an HRC race. +/- HRC is not what makes the best HT, it's the underlying microstructure.
That doesn't mean that 58 HRC with will smoke with good microstructure. That is still too soft. Yet if choosing between 63 rc that is stable versus 64rc that was just blasted to get to that hardness. The higher value isn't as good.
It's a complex topics that we might not be able to discuss in forums since everything here has to be so black and white rather than a being able to discuss the gray areas of reality. So most of us that understand keep in the dark and watch, I personally don't always have the time to share and risk endless arguments because I'm putting this knowledge to work but I like to give back to the community.
The important caveat to HRC is that we want the most stable structures at the highest HRC we can get.
Unfortunately that is not always doable with large batch HT. One can't ask for Kobe beef steak dinner done with any justice from a fast food drive through. We also have the issue that a huge assembly lines are not as flexible to adjustments like an experienced and knowledgable custom maker can do as he/she sees fit with new information and testing.
Personally, I feel somethings are just done best with small batches, handmade, more attention to detail per knife but the cost skyrockets so it's not for everyone and perhaps only relavent to discerning folks so maybe it doesn't make sense to scream at production companies to emulate. Maybe it does. No answer for that.
These manufacturers also have the problem of having a much larger audience to provide for with a much wider range of varying experience levels and expections to meet.
Most users don't get into the finer details, all they care about is if it chips regardless of how ridiculous they were using it.
This puts a huge burden on manufacturers,
They are limited to the lowest common denominator, bad knife users which no one wants to hear but it's true.
So the conclusion here is
It's easy to blast the steel as high as possible for the sake of HRC but that is useless without being in the context of using pathways with custom HT protocols.
(The best knife protocols are not always in the data sheets which are biased towards industrial parts not knives)
We want stable microstructures at that given hardness but that doesn't justify under 60rc for a small cutting knife, especially for premium steel advertised for performance.
At the same time, soft M390 will still be more wear resistant (toothy edge performance) than 12c26 due to the Carbides, there volume, size and Hardness. The problem is though it won't have the strength to hold a nice crisp apex for those that like high sharpeness performance (polished edge performance) because it lacks the strength to do so and is for fear of being more brittle in the hands of those that use like a crowbar or for being too difficult to sharpen which isn't the case with sound techniques and decent gear. It's quite a paradox though because you can't temper m390 to be as tough as 3V due to the carbide volume reducing the toughness so I feel it makes no one happy.
M390 is the most premier steel in the whole knife industry as of 2019. It is the most demanded and popular. The name alone sells knives.
I find that silly with what I know. There are simply better performance steels. I have teased this "name chaser" behavior because it needs to be addressed so folks can actually understand when a steel is actually kicking butt and not just a "name"
M390 is very capable but so are a lot of other steels.
The beauty of being a custom knife maker one can fine tune HT, Geometry and is not always a slave to keeping cost low and volume high, quotas and profit margins, or watering down the cutting performance for pure durability which is an inverse relationship.
It's mind blowing that one can get even a simple steel to smoke a high performance steel with geometry and HT if the user can handle it and afford it.
Of course we can't HT 52100 to be as wear resistant as M390. We are indeed limited to what the underlying Chemistries of the steels are after all.
Thanks! It has been a pleasure...usually! LOL
I started visiting the forums just to answer any questions people might have. What I discovered is pretty strange to me.
