Target hardness for AEB-L hunting or edc?

M

Maelstrom78

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Sep 21, 2013
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I was thinking 57-58 but it's kind of a peculiar stainless so I was wondering if anybody could give me confirmation for that?

Thanks!
 
I target 62Rc (might get some at 61Rc) and have no worries or issues at that hardness.
 
Really? I order my kitchen cutlery at 62 but thought that might be high for a hunting knife. AEB-L is weird though.

Thanks.
 
According to a recent conversation with Brad Stallsmith, 62 is as hard as they can get. In my limited experience, I would wager the determining factor on whether 62 is too hard for a hunting knife in AEB-L would depend on how that particular hunter uses his knife. If you are concerned, maybe back it off to 60 but 57-58 is entirely too soft in my personal opinion.

Best of luck!
Chris

Edited to add... I believe Dave Ferry(aka Horsewright) has most of his edc blades in AEB-L at 60 as well.
 
Well heck if his users (and I do believe his blades get a lot of use) are at 60 that's good enough for me to stop worrying about it! Thanks guys.
 
The edge was pretty thick on this one. I'll do a similar test one day with a thinner grind. I like how easily it comes back to shaving sharp.

[video=youtube;MKoTDpxSsYg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKoTDpxSsYg[/video]
 
AEB-L is cool stuff! "The stainless steel for people who don't like stainless steels" :D

I agree that 58Rc is too low... you're leaving a lot of performance on the table.

I've only had it run at 60Rc so far, and I really like it. It holds an edge well and it's still easy to hone or strop. You can grind the edges pretty thin and acute because it has good toughness.

If I had it run at 62Rc I would just try it out on whatever you plan to cut with it, and if it seems a bit chippy, just knock the edge back a bit to thicken it up. Lo/Rez's video above is pretty encouraging :)
 
I like to have my ABE-L at 60 - 61. It seems to work great at that hardness . I seem to recall reading that the 61-62 is a Bueller recommendation for general use of this steel.
Frank
 
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