Stellite experience?

Lorien

Lorien

Nose to the Grindstone
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Any of you fine gents ever make a chopper from 6K?
Just curious if it's been done, and what the results were.
Thanks!
 
I made some knives from Stellite and from Dendritic Cobalt. Both were OK, but not impressive.
 
Stellite 6-K has a lot of wear resistance at a low hardness. At a hardness of 45 (RWC), a steel file at 60 (RWC) won't scratch it. The edge can be rolled by chopping hard things like bone. A bent edge can also be rolled straight. There aren't many worries about chipping the edge. Stellite 6-K is used to make cutting tools that resist high heat and also Sodium cooled valves for racing engines. Stellite 6-B is a lower spec'ed version that can be scratched with a file.
 
Talonite is in that family. Actually a cobalt alloy , not steel. The matrix is in the low 50s HRc. That means ,as mentioned, it will roll over easily. The precipitates are very hard and wear resistant.Learn how to sharpen it and watch for roll over and it's not too bad but expensive.
There was a time when Talonite was the latest fad but it seemed to quickly disappear when people found with all things considered the better steels were the choice !
 
I have worked with Tantung which is a proprietary cobalt alloy similar to Stellite 98M2, and it was very interesting. it is hard (63 Rc) but brittle, with absolute corrosion resistance. The corrosion resistance was a key requirement for me because I made a neck knife out of it that I haven't taken of in over a year now. I havnt really noticed the wear resistance one way or the other. The usual Stellite 6k or 6bh would probably not be ideal for a chopper because they are not nearly as strong as steel.
 
thank you very much for the informative input, gents!
 
mete said:
There was a time when Talonite was the latest fad but it seemed to quickly disappear when people found with all things considered the better steels were the choice !
Click to expand...
Actually the demand for Talonite is still very high. We get lots of requests for Talonite. The reason it is not around any more is price. Talonite is made in Japan. The devaluation of the dollar has priced Talonite out of the market.

In testing Talonite outperformed steel when cutting some materials. It is excellent when cutting meat or vegetables. The edge holding is better than 440C by a factor of of 4-5. However, if someone were to use it to make a camp knife the edge would go away in a few minutes. Talonite was an excellent blade material for some specific materials and horrible for other uses.
 
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