Rockwell hardness of Native III VG10

[knarfeng]

I took my Native III over to the engineering lab today and asked one of my friends to run a Rockwell hardness on the blade.

Left a dimple is all.

Rockwell hardness of the VG10 blade was 59.

 

[gunmike1]

Nice to know it was within spec, especially after some S30V blades that were supposedly 59-60 turned out to be 55 RC.

 

[Franco G]

Nice to know it was within spec, especially after some S30V blades that were supposedly 59-60 turned out to be 55 RC.

gunmike1,

are you talking about Spyderco S30V?

Last data for Spyderco VG10 was quoted as HRC 58-60. At the beginning of VG10 era Spyderco used to harden it at HRC 60-62.

So, HRC 59 for VG10 is exactly the targeted point, 59+/-1. That is the meaning of HRC 58-60.

HRC 55 for S30V is bad. The value quoted by Sal is HRC 59/60 for recent blades.

Franco

 

[gunmike1]

gunmike1,

are you talking about Spyderco S30V?

Last data for Spyderco VG10 was quoted as HRC 58-60. At the beginning of VG10 era Spyderco used to harden it at HRC 60-62.

So, HRC 59 for VG10 is exactly the targeted point, 59+/-1. That is the meaning of HRC 58-60.

HRC 55 for S30V is bad. The value quoted by Sal is HRC 59/60 for recent blades.

Franco

I just re-read my post and it does look like I am suggesting it was Spyderco's steel that was way out of spec. Another forum member had an S30V blade tested to 55 RC. I'm not sure on who the manufacturer was, but it was specced in the 59-60 range (It seems most manufacturers run it in that range, so hard to nail down which manufacturer it was). I believe the softness was remedied by a Phil Wilson rehardening.

As for the Spyderco VG-10 being at 59, that is exactly what you would expect, like you said, and I just made the observation that it is nice to see steel come in at the proper hardness after hearing observations like I had pointed out. And, as a side note, I own several Spydercos and have been very happy with their performance, no matter what the steel.

Mike