Bob, I discussed Talonite with DS months ago, and basically asked them why they don't offer age hardening of 6K. They commented that the age hardening that Carbide Processors uses in their opinion does not offer a significant gain which is why they don't use it. Does this sound like the opinion of Carbide Processors? As for Talonite being soft and weak, it is, fact is even Tom Mayo has commented this before :
it is relatively soft-it wont take a hair popping edge and keep it
He has also described how the major source of blunting is by rolling. Rob Simonich has also commented on the low strength before when he noted it was not as strong as ATS-34, and he has also commented in this thread that the weakness is a significant disadvantage in larger knives. Problem is that it has the same effect in smaller knives geometry wise.
Ron :
No where in my post did I say that I was comparing "Big blades"
The point was that the behavior you describe (exceptional edge durability) indicates abilities that would make Talonite a very good big blade, which is in opposition to the comments made in this thread.
Rob, what knife did the fisherman use as a baseline to compare the Talonite one to?
Donovan, what do you mean by an aggressive edge? Is this in regards to "bite" during
slicing? If at what finish did you leave the Talonite blade to get this performance?
E_utopia, there are lots of variables left to float in scientific research as being able to control them is simply impossible. What is important is that you be able to estimate their effect and it must be bounded by the lower level of precision that you want to obtain - as by leaving it free to change you are introducing an uncertainty in your results. If you want specific examples contact me in email and I will provide you with papers and outline the specifics.
You are also overlooking a number of stastical principles when you comment the slices are not identical. That doesn't matter as the mean effect will be very stable and the variation in it can actually be measured if you are interested in it (I was, and it is very small). Same goes for the composition of the material used as blunting stock and the quality of the blade sharpening.
Cougar, Talonite / Stellite etc., are all very wear resistant, tough and ductile. Take the blade I am sending you and one of you better hard steel blades. Cut through some very gritty material (old carpet etc), until both knives are very dull. Now sharpen them both and see which one takes less effort to restore. I would bet highly on the Cobalt one as there should be little material removed whereas the steel one migh very well have fractured along the edge as well as having suffered more extensive wear. However there are steels that are ductile and tough enough to easily handle this as well, INFI for example.
Steve, Talonite has a toughness that is beyond most stainless steels used in blades. I don't know if it is up there with the spring steels, but it is certainly far more impact resistant than ATS-34, VG-10 etc. at about 59-60 RC.
Ron, concerning not wanting a hair popping edge, how come you made no mention of this when you were using Busse Combat's knives, and in fact used the fact that they would stay razor sharp for a very long time as a selling point?
As for high polishes degrading fast, on push cuts they are far more durable than lower polishes. In slicing they are not becuase they don't cut as well, slice for slice they are more durable, but since they get outcut by 5-10 to 1, if you compare equal amounts of work they fall behind.
Rockspyder, all materials blunt much slower after the initial blunting. The more an edge rolls the harder it is to increase the deformation so the rate of blunting is very slow after a decent period of use. As for Talonite vs steel long term, yes quite probably the greater wear resistance of Talonite would make it a winner, however the performance of the edge in that condition would be so low relative to the optimal level that I can't see anyone using it in that state unless they can't sharpen a blade.
Tom you are correct, the numbers I quoted for you are too high, I just checked, you references dozens of animals many times but the largest amount was 48.
-Cliff
