Ranking Toughness of Forging Knife Steels

Larrin

Larrin

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jan 17, 2004
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I found this one quite interesting. I don’t forge a lot, but have done some, but use many of the steels listed. These articles have been used to help customers pick the right steel for their application.

The discussion on plate and lath martensite is really helpful. I should heat treat some 1095 at 1460f to see how it performs in terms of toughness.
 
Another variable I have typically ran into with carbon steels is overall cleanliness. They can be very "dirty" and very clean (re-melted 52110). The cleanliness has a good effect on toughness too. Have you thought about looking at the inclusion levels of the test samples? Curious what they would be.
 
NYMet said:
Another variable I have typically ran into with carbon steels is overall cleanliness. They can be very "dirty" and very clean (re-melted 52110). The cleanliness has a good effect on toughness too. Have you thought about looking at the inclusion levels of the test samples? Curious what they would be.
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The only note I made on that subject was that 26C3 has very good cleanliness and it performed somewhat better than expected based on its composition. I don't have impurity numbers for most of the tested grades, however. It would require doing composition analysis on most of them.
 
Great article. Thanks for the hard work. Have we ever got a fresh look at 15n20? The blades seem to perform better than your results of the last test. My last blades were some recycled steel and it looked like I was having problems with some inclusions of some sort when I was putting on the final finish. Could some of them be a bit dirty?
 
Storm W said:
Great article. Thanks for the hard work. Have we ever got a fresh look at 15n20? The blades seem to perform better than your results of the last test. My last blades were some recycled steel and it looked like I was having problems with some inclusions of some sort when I was putting on the final finish. Could some of them be a bit dirty?
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I heat treated some new 15n20, but it hasn’t been ground yet.
 
I'm still surprised how little toughness some beloved steels have. L6 is the closest we can get when thinking of 15N20, right?

Edit: Nevermind, compared the two on zknives and after reading this article I realize they probably [do] behave differently
 
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allenkey said:
I'm still surprised how little toughness some beloved steels have. L6 is the closest we can get when thinking of 15N20, right?

Edit: Nevermind, compared the two on zknives and after reading this article I realize they probably [do] behave differently
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8670, 15n20, and L6 are SIMILAR. I expected L6 to be tougher than 8670, but the results are what they are. I thought 80crv2 would be closer to this group than 1084, but not so. This is why testing is important.
 
Willie71 said:
8670, 15n20, and L6 are SIMILAR. I expected L6 to be tougher than 8670, but the results are what they are. I thought 80crv2 would be closer to this group than 1084, but not so. This is why testing is important.
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Honestly, I haven’t been to impressed with 80crv2 personally. It’s ok.
 
Fallbrook Forge said:
Where and how did you find it lacking?
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Toughness. Some companies are using it in place of 4140, seriously!! 8670 smokes it in toughness and edge retention doesn’t seem to be much less. 52100, and all these other high alloy tool steels seem better. It’s an ok steel, and the price is good. But there are better options. It just got a lot of hype for some reason.
 
rodriguez7 said:
It’s also being promoted as a replacement for 5160. But it’s nowhere near as tough!
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I humbly think the tests on 80CrV2 are incomplete. The chart mentions it's been tempered at 400°f. But it's brittle range begins at 392°f according to Finnish extensive lab tests. There's also only one austenizing temperature and one hardness tested.
 
Joel Mercier said:
I humbly think the tests on 80CrV2 are incomplete. The chart mentions it's been tempered at 400°f. But it's brittle range begins at 392°f according to Finnish extensive lab tests. There's also only one austenizing temperature and one hardness tested.
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You should do a bunch of coupons and send them to Larrin to be tested.

Contact him for the the sizes and requirements.

Hoss
 
Joel Mercier said:
I humbly think the tests on 80CrV2 are incomplete. The chart mentions it's been tempered at 400°f. But it's brittle range begins at 392°f according to Finnish extensive lab tests. There's also only one austenizing temperature and one hardness tested.
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There are five or six conditions sent for testing. Awaiting grinding. Aust temp was based on previous testing, anf 1525f was max hardness max consistency in my oven.
 
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