Steel question: X50CrMoV8

B

B. Anderson

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Apr 10, 2012
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So I'm looking at the Blade Systems offerings from VTAC Germany, and I see they offer "X50CrMoV8 Chipper Stahl" as a steel option on their customs.

I know zilch about this steel, other than that it is stainless.

Anyone have any idea what steel it is most comparable to? My Google skills seem to be failing me, as I can't find a thing about it.

Thanks for your time.
 
Wustof Classics all use this as the primary steel. I dont know one person who has ever had one complaint about Wustof steel being hard to sharpen or holding an edge. My 8 inch chefs knife is x50CrMoV8 and I love it, wouldnt want any other knife.
 
Mastiff, i think you got the wrong steel. I do believe that Rez is right and if so, this is a fairly inexpensive stainless steel used in mass market kitchen cutlery. i would disagree with him as for it being "great stuff." it is designed to be good but fairly cheap to buy and work with, especially considering that it has to tolerate having the "integral" bolsters being forge welded to the blade and stamping.
 
jdm61 said:
Mastiff, i think you got the wrong steel. I do believe that Rez is right and if so, this is a fairly inexpensive stainless steel used in mass market kitchen cutlery. i would disagree with him as for it being "great stuff." it is designed to be good but fairly cheap to buy and work with, especially considering that it has to tolerate having the "integral" bolsters being forge welded to the blade and stamping.
Click to expand...

I think its a great steal for the choice of blade. I mean its far more rust resistant than VG10 and it sure is better quality steel than any of the low grade stainless you see in most cheap cutlery.

Wustofs are not cheap either, perhaps you are paying for name but I honestly have not held a chef knife that I liked more in my hand. My friend who is a far better cook than I uses the 10 inch version and he only sharpens the thing once every 6 months on the stone. Think they cost around 100-150 new.
 
Wusthofs are very good for what they are, but if you are willing to accept a bit less stain resistance, you can now buy some knives directly from Japan in the same price range that are superior (some would say vastly), like the Carbonext stuff. I think that you would find a number of kitchen knife nuts who would tell you that other simple stainless steels like AEB-L/13C26 are significantly better IF they are heat treated properly to keep the grain size way down. That may be why the Germans use this steel. It seems like it is a pretty simple to use and very cost effective material to work with in a mass production setting. There is a video out there of Wusthofs being made and the process looks pretty basic compared to how us custom guys might do it.
Dr Rez said:
I think its a great steal for the choice of blade. I mean its far more rust resistant than VG10 and it sure is better quality steel than any of the low grade stainless you see in most cheap cutlery.

Wustofs are not cheap either, perhaps you are paying for name but I honestly have not held a chef knife that I liked more in my hand. My friend who is a far better cook than I uses the 10 inch version and he only sharpens the thing once every 6 months on the stone. Think they cost around 100-150 new.
Click to expand...
 
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For sure, I agree. The kitchen is the only place I value rust resistance slightly over super steel. It is mainly because I am very rough with it in the kitchen and use a chef knife for pretty much everything imaginable when cooking. Not only that but I am always in arms length of a sharpener so being able to hold an edge for an absurd amount of time doesnt really concern me as much.

In my outdoor knives I feel the exact opposite. I really like 1095 CroVan even though it rusts like a beast. If im in the woods I dont typically have a steel in the drawer. I guess my whole point is that steels should be rated by the setting they are used in. In the kitchen I have no quarl using a 440a steel but outdoors I wouldnt touch it with a ten foot pole.
 
JDM61, I got it messed up alright. It wont be the last time either I'd guess by past experience. Best I can tell it's Uddeholm Chipper steel 1.2631, not 1.2360 . I've seen it in different knives run at around rc 60. If I'm wrong and giving bad info, I apologize again. It looks like a good steel. Also called "Viking" and still very close to A8(mod) Chipper steel from Latrobe.A8(mod) http://www.latrobesteel.com/assets/documents/datasheets/LSS_Chipper.pdf

http://www.uddeholm.de/german/files/downloads/VIKING-ENGLISH_990104.pdf Viking



http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3DX50CrMoV8%2BChipper%2BStahl%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DtC5%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Dimvns&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=de&u=http://www.hertsch.ch/0416_werkzeug.html&usg=ALkJrhggrtVvVoaP4ILD3gYfUP4lqsSKdA

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3DX50CrMoV8%2BChipper%2BStahl%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DtC5%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Dimvns&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=de&u=http://www.hertsch.ch/-pdf/-e070-viking.pdf&usg=ALkJrhhr1PNUsmtl1jVA2uPckSGPGdTx0Q


Wusthoff looks like they made up their own designation for the steel they use.http://www.wusthof.com/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-165/317_view-502/categories-502 Note it's different from the OP's steel.

The steel
WÜSTHOF - knives are all made of a special steel alloy.
X50 Cr MoV 15 - a special alloy for superb knives.

X Stainless steel
50 0,5 % carbon- the carbon content is significant for the sharpness
Cr Chromium for stain-resistant properties
Mo Molybdenum enhances the stain-resistant properties
V Vanadium for hardness and edge retention
15 Contents of chromiumin % (15%)
Click to expand...

Joe
 
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Gator, every time I get to doing research on these types of steels I again remember how impressed with the amount of work you put into the knife steel composition chart. You need an eye for details for sure.

Joe
 
Thanks. Sometimes it's rather frustrating, dozen makers and dealers listing the same thing with different names and linking to different alloys.
 
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