Tantung, a material for custom knives?

Marion David Poff

Marion David Poff

Joined
Oct 8, 1998
Messages
5,403
Good Day,

I was contacted by a representative of Fansteel/VRWesson. He is interested in introducing Tantung, with it's improved
performance to knifemakers. Following are quotes from his emails.....

"I have been working with a material called Tantung for the past year and have improved upon it greatly. It is a cast cobalt
alloy that has primarily been used for cutting tools and woodworking, but our improved production techniques have made it
suitable (I think) for knifemakers. In some ways it is a similar material to Talonite and Stellite except that it is a casting and contains more carbon, making it harder (~Rc 60). For cutting tools it is valuable in that it can cut very hot and not anneal, keep a sharp edge and is very wear and corrosion resistant. Our new processing improves the toughness and so it could be a good potential knife blade."

"I checked some standard blanks, say 1-1/8x3/16x6 and it's around $40-$50 depending upon quantity. There are some stock
items and delivery is usually a couple of weeks if not in stock. Custom blanks and even shapes are possible as well."

http://www.fansteelvrwesson.com/products/tantung.htm

Any makers interested, any makers you can think of that I should contact?

Any thoughts?

------------------
Thank you,
Marion David Poff aka Eye mdpoff@hotmail.com

My website, guided links, talonite/cobalt alloy info, etc....
http://www.geocities.com/mdpoff

>>--->Bill Siegle Custom Knives<---<<
-http://www.geocities.com/siegleknives-

"To wait for luck is the same as waiting for death." -Japanese Proverb

"Place you clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark." -Lazarus Long

"We cut things to create things" - James K Mattis
 
Last year I got a couple bars of Tantung to try. The stuff will cut soft materials like crazy but even a light brass rod test it failed misserably, you could hear the metal pinging as the chips flew off. The material I worked with is however has some tungsten in it that may have contributed to the brittleness. I couldnt find an exact breakdown in their site, but apperas to be very close to the same stuff.
 
From Larry Kramer(lkramer@erols.com ), the representative of VR Wesson/Fansteel that prompted my posts about Tantung.

"I have trouble accessing your links sometimes, but I recall someone on the forum stating they had received some bars and were performing tests. I am almost sure that they must have the older product and their results will not be representative of the new stuff. Since I can't seem to get back to that forum, perhaps you could step in.

- Steve Harvey, has an interesting point about carbon level. The fact is that during the processing of this alloy, very few carbides actually form and those that do are extremely fine. Surprisingly, most of the carbon and transition metals in the alloy (Mn, Fe, Nb, Cr, W) are in solution in the cobalt matrix, and so squeezing more of them in does make a difference."

He is referring to a thread at Tactical Forums….

http://64.177.53.248/ubb/Forum8/HTML/000155.html

Considering the samples, he has contacted some who have posted and replied by email, after that he is awaiting more samples. His email is lkramer@erols.com.

------------------
Thank you,
Marion David Poff aka Eye mdpoff@hotmail.com

My website, guided links, talonite/cobalt alloy info, etc....
http://www.geocities.com/mdpoff

>>--->Bill Siegle Custom Knives<---<<
-http://www.geocities.com/siegleknives-

"To wait for luck is the same as waiting for death." -Japanese Proverb

"Place you clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark." -Lazarus Long

"We cut things to create things" - James K Mattis
 
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