Testing RWL-34 pics.

[Jason Cutter]

I posted a thread a while back about some testing of RWL-34 swedish powdered stainless steel. I just found the photos stored in the wrong file on my computer. So here they are.

http://fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dl...02-E61E55FBF8B4}&exp=f&moddt=37950.8426716088

The pics.
A. The offending knife.
B. Chopped down all these branches (and more) from my lemon tree.
C, D, E, F. Edge details after lots of chopping, whittling and also whacking on deer skull bone to simulate dinging against bone and teeth when skinning, gutting etc.
G. Dropped knife 3 and 5 feet onto concrete, then stabbed full force x3 times into brick wall. The tip doesn't seem to want to deform any more than this.

Thanks for looking. Cheers. Jason.

 

[rlinger]

Jason, very impressive to me. Can you share the HT ?

Hey, what's that hole thingie in the bottom of ricasso used for ?

RL

 

[golok]

Looks like something that anyone would be proud to add to their collection. Smart-looking blade, too.

 

[Jason Cutter]

Addendum - forgot to add Picture H. shows that after all that abuse, the edge was still "rippy" enough to cut up a soft drink can. I find that it the edge is too blunt, it just slides on aluminium. You can't "start" the cut.

The hole in the handle is #1 - for style !! Seriously, it is for some folks who like to tie a lanyard between the rear lanyard hole and that forward hole - it works like a D-guard to keep the knife securely in their hands. Some people also use it as an indexing hole when doing detail work.

I'm not sure what quenching temp the heat treater uses. They are using the same method as for ATS-34 (vacuum chamber heat and nitrogen quench from 1850F - something like that) then a first temper cycle followed by a dry ice and acetone bath for 15hours, then 2 more tempering cycles. I think they are using 425F for the temper cycles. Each blade is Rockwelled - most come out on average 60 - 60.5HRC.

Honestly, I was very surprised at how well the blade stood up to the testing. I purposely ground the blade very thin and the edge is just under 1/32inch thick ! This was to do a fair comparison again my carbon steel blades which will definitely match the performance, perhaps exceed it. But RWL-34 has got my vote for high-alloy steel. Jason.