Protanium® High Torque Steel?

JayGoliath

JayGoliath

Joined
Mar 27, 2010
Messages
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Hi all,

I'm neither bladesmith nor hobbyist. Just another forumite with iron-intoxicated nature.

Recently came across a steel known as Protanium® by Bondhus.

Has anyone heard of this?
http://www.bondhus.com/features/protanium/body-1.htm

Because of the proprietary rights much like Busse's INFI, we can only guesstimate the performance by making one.

Another question will be: Could a screwdriver or wrench be forged into a blade?

Thank you for your time and sharing!

J
 
it LOOKS decent, though the properties that make it really good for screwdrivers may be beneficial, or may be detrimental as far as it's ability to be a good knife steel.
 
When a person spends his whole ad pitch telling you what his product ISN"T, it is just a way to avoid saying what it IS.
( This is exactly what most people hate about political adds)

The ad sounds like mostly hype to me. There surely would be no special advantage to it for knife blades over the same type ( maybe identical) knife steels available to us.

Vacuum melts are not new or mystical...they are the standard for high grade small batch melts.

There would be no real reason to try and forge a screwdriver or wrench into a blade. Whatever magic was done at the factory HT would be gone in the forging. Not knowing the alloy would also make HT difficult to get right.
 
It has been done.

I don't see the visual appeal, or practicality.

med_wrench_knife_2.JPG
 
As Stacy said, unknown steel = unknown HT protocol = you will never capture what they did @ the plant.

I will say, tho, that this brand of drivers is THE toughest out there - hands down. They know what they're doing, regardless of the snake oil sounding add.
 
I realize the last post on this thread was quite some time ago, but I recently tried making a small (paring) knife out of a Bondhus 3/8" hex bit, and I would like to share my experience. First of all, it is Really tough stuff; even after fully annealing the forged blade, it resisted filing. I have no idea what the critical temperature for this steel is, as I used an un-fanned wood fire to normalize and austenitize the steel, and I was simply doing the magnet test. I then quenched it in motor oil. After the knife was re-polished, I tempered it at about 450-500*F. The result seemed promising, but I broke the tang off right at the base of the blade while I was setting the handle; it was definitely still too hard/not tough enough. I'm not sure if this is because I did not quench or temper it properly, or some other reason. I have yet to perform further tests on what remains of the blade. I should mention that I am as green as they come to knife making, as this was only my second knife making attempt, and my first attempt involving any forging. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
 
Jack, Welcome to Shop Talk.

I am going to use your post to point out where many new makers go disastrously wrong:
You took a piece of metal that you had no idea what the composition is.....none at all.....even after reading a thread stating it was a bad idea, and stating you had no idea on any parameters for this metal.
You made up a HT regime from numbers pulled out of the air.....based on....nothing.
You used very substandard HT methods to follow this regime.....and got terrible results.

This is a common scenario. The steel is most likely a high alloy tool steel and may need a heat of 2000F and a soak of an hour for all you know. You almost surely did not anneal it with that HT and even more surely did not harden it.

Using a known steel that can be worked with your available tools and experience is the only way to get good results. In your case, 1084 would be the only steel I would suggest. The methods of working it and HT methods are readily available and well proven.
If you would like a piece to work on, send me an email and I will send you a piece. If you have a drawing of the knife you plan on making, I'll cut the blank for you.

Again, welcome to shop talk, and thanks for filling out your profile.
 
JayGoliath said:
Hi all,


Another question will be: Could a screwdriver or wrench be forged into a blade?

Thank you for your time and sharing!
Click to expand...

This is one I made for my brother; he has been a mechanic all his life.




Doh! Necroposted... didn't see that.
 
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There really isn't any mystery steel .You just have to take the steel to a laboratory and have it analysed !! HT may be a little bit more complex.
 
mete said:
There really isn't any mystery steel .You just have to take the steel to a laboratory and have it analysed !! HT may be a little bit more complex.
Click to expand...

What would be the cost of this? Why would you want to do this when there are known steels that are readily available that will provide excellent results following published parameters. I ask this respectfully, just curious. Maybe if you got a batch of steel for free.
 
69_knives said:
going by the specs that material sounds an awful lot like S7.
Click to expand...

That is the problem...we don't have any specs. Just sales hype about being the most this and the hardest that.
When I buy a bar of 1084, I know what it is. When I use 52100, I know what it is. When I use a John Deere drive shaft, I know what it is, .....because I have the specs from the suppliers. Using a wrench of unknown specs for knife steel is pretty foolish, IMHO.

Maybe a new approach to steel selection is needed....lets try this:
If you found a can of some liquid in the garage, would you pour it in your gas tank just because it burns when ignited?.....NO???
Then why would you make a knife out of some metal you found in the garage just because it was hard?
 
Steel analysis is mostly done on automatic machines , very quick !! Companies like Fastenol will do it for you IIRC and cost maybe $ 50.
If you order large amounts the steel company will make it to your specs. Getting the ideal HT will take time and some money but nothing unreasonable.
 
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