Tell me about Sweedish steels

Fish30114

Fish30114

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Jan 5, 2014
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I have an acquaintance who is from Sweeden, he is relatively mechanically knowledgeable, he ran a rifle mfg co here in the US, but he actually isn't very knowledgeable about blade steels from Sweeden--he actually got me several blanks, some of 12C27 already hardened, and on my RC tester tested 60-61 and also some blanks that all he claimed to know was that they were 'Helle' blanks actually from Norway. Having said this I found both of these steels to be superb. They are highly stainless, take a great edge easily, and hold that edge well. I would like to obtain more of this steel if someone knows of a source I would really appreciate learning of it.

Thanks for any info/input
 
My experience with Sandvik, SSAB, and Ruukki (now part of SSAB) is that it's excellent steel held well within the stated grade/alloy composition tolerances. In general "cleaner" than American or other steel mill production. Nothing special about it other than that. It's just chemistry, held to a higher tolerance.

ETA: for example, laser cutting is highly dependent on alloy composition. What works to cut .25" thick steel with .1% carbon may not work for .9% carbon. When we were getting Ruukki material of a particular thickness and grade, every sheet would cut beautifully with the same laser parameters (wattage, feed, duty cycle, standoff, gas pressure, etc). Sheet after sheet, beautiful cuts. When switching back to an American supplier, different sheets, even different sheets of the same heat, would require various tweaks to the cutting parameters to get acceptable edge quality. All of the American steel was within tolerance for the alloy, but it was not as tightly controlled from one end of the coil to the other.
 
Sandvik is perhaps my favorite steel, especially their 14C28N. I've used 12C27 and 13C26. My only gripe about Sandvik is how hard they are to get. Not many suppliers carry the steel because Sandvik doesn't seem to market to the custom knife makers requiring.... is it a ton? Or 1/2 ton of steel on each order? That's a LOTS of steel. I've recently started using AEB-L which is another Swedish steel company and is widely available. Alphaknifesupply.com is a good source. Chuck and his wife are good folk.

Ken H>
 
kuraki said:
My experience with Sandvik, SSAB, and Ruukki (now part of SSAB) is that it's excellent steel held well within the stated grade/alloy composition tolerances. In general "cleaner" than American or other steel mill production. Nothing special about it other than that. It's just chemistry, held to a higher tolerance.

ETA: for example, laser cutting is highly dependent on alloy composition. What works to cut .25" thick steel with .1% carbon may not work for .9% carbon. When we were getting Ruukki material of a particular thickness and grade, every sheet would cut beautifully with the same laser parameters (wattage, feed, duty cycle, standoff, gas pressure, etc). Sheet after sheet, beautiful cuts. When switching back to an American supplier, different sheets, even different sheets of the same heat, would require various tweaks to the cutting parameters to get acceptable edge quality. All of the American steel was within tolerance for the alloy, but it was not as tightly controlled from one end of the coil to the other.
Click to expand...

SKF, NSK claim that their "super clean steel" drastically extends bearing life . I guess the same goes for a knife made of such "super clean steel" ?
 
ive seen Sandvik come in rolls, so you will see warping sometimes. id say make sure you have a plan for that if you source some in such a way.
 
Nearly everything under 1/2" thickness is a coil at some point.
 
I am now in the US but what I can say is that in France almost all artisan knife makers in particular in Laguiole and Tiers but I also have a nice "le camargais" when they use stainless use 12c27.
Also used for stainless opinels.
 
Good intel so far folks, I knew that Opinel's in stainless were 12C27 Terrinecold, but I just can't seem to find a readily available supply here stateside.
 
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