I've just looked at the thread. Sorry to be a little slow, we're in the middle of a changeover and I've got my hands full in the shop.
The fat bastards are coming off the vertical and moving into the horizontal for beveling today. Yay.
Without going into proprietary details of the heat treats for these materials, it is difficult to convey the extreme steps we go through to produce what I sincerely believe is the best heat treat for these materials available anywhere. There are numerous additional steps. The timing of the steps requires the entire shop to coordinate the various processes in very specific ways. It's a pain in the ass for everyone involved and a big deal, every time we do a heat treat. It's difficult to convey the extent to which we are not half-assing it or taking any shortcuts anywhere. This is one reason we have partnered with Peters because they can duplicate our process on their superior equipment and deliver the best heat treats physically possible.
The oven we use is limited to fewer than 200 blades, used with our fixturing and spacing. Other manufacturers will stuff that oven with three or four times more blades. We don't. And we don't have hot spots and cold spots and areas that are under quenched. Measuring blades throughout the oven we can demonstrate six sigma process control on our very narrow tolerances. I don't think there's anyone else in the industry that can say that.
Our heat treat is not just heat and temper. The first heat puts the steel in a known and repeatable condition (we do not make assumptions) before we even start hardening it and there are numerous special steps afterward. Despite our relatively high volume, the cost of our heat treat is many times more expensive than industry standard.
We are, absolutely, not skimping on heat treat. And the testing of the work is vastly more comprehensive than just a Rockwell hardness test.
I believe we make the best knives of their kind in the world and I believe that we have the best heat treat for these materials in the world.
So it does rub me a little bit wrong when someone who doesn't really understand what we put into it questions our work, and puts forward questionable testing. But that's just me being a little bit thin skinned. The reality is, it is good that people are testing and evaluating the work and I welcome anyone anywhere to do these kinds of things. And I will try not to take it personal even if there is a criticism that I feel might be unjustified.
One blade took a set, the other did not.
The stiffness (modulus of elasticity) of the steel used in both blades is essentially identical.
Delta 3V has a lower Rockwell hardness and therefore a lower yield point. It will run out of elastic deformation and get into plastic deformation sooner.
This means that, if the Delta 3V had been subjected to the same set of conditions, it would have taken a set before Magna Cut (or Cruwear), based simply on its Rockwell hardness. This is basic materials science.
Delta 3V has higher toughness. That toughness does not equate to a higher resistance to taking a set when bending the tip.
In my view, one of only two possible things has happened here. Either the blade that took the set was subjected to a larger load. Or the blade that took the set has a different geometry. The geometry of our blades is relatively consistent but there is some variability. But I think it is much more likely that the magnitude of the load that it was subjected to was different. Please understand that I've been doing this for a long time and I am speaking from experience here, that test had uncontrolled variables.
These kinds of tests do have a value, but you are not able to control variables to a sufficient degree to prevent this kind of thing from happening. The "scientific" testing here is not sufficiently rigorous to draw any meaningful conclusions from what I saw due to the signal to noise ratio. Take 10 knives and do 10 tests and you could start to draw some conclusions but this one test, although not meaningless, cannot be taken as anything more than just a data point. I would not be too quick to draw any solid conclusions from it.
It would be nice if the blades could be returned for evaluation. You can see here why I have begun to limit sales overseas.
