The Greatest Knife Steel Metallurgists of All Time

Another GREAT article, but I did notice one very important name that was left off the paper. It's the man who's been most important to my knifemaking journey, Larrin Thomas with all the white papers written so even a layman like myself can struggle thru with understanding and improve.

Thank you Larrin!
 
Ken H> said:
Another GREAT article, but I did notice one very important name that was left off the paper. It's the man who's been most important to my knifemaking journey, Larrin Thomas with all the white papers written so even a layman like myself can struggle thru with understanding and improve.

Thank you Larrin!
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Ha! I am not so full of myself.
 
I'm pretty sure you are going to make it on that list too Larrin. Fun read. Its interesting to learn the history of tool steels.

Is there anyway that you could design a steel and test it? After reading your niobium article I think it would be interesting to see a steel based around that.
 
Storm W said:
I'm pretty sure you are going to make it on that list too Larrin. Fun read. Its interesting to learn the history of tool steels.

Is there anyway that you could design a steel and test it? After reading your niobium article I think it would be interesting to see a steel based around that.
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So far we have tested one steel I designed, Niomax. It turned out very well. Getting it made in larger quantities is slow work.
 
Larrin said:
So far we have tested one steel I designed, Niomax. It turned out very well. Getting it made in larger quantities is slow work.
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Did I miss a article on it or do I need to get on patreon? It's on my to do list but with things being tight I didn't want the wife giving me a hard time.
 
Storm W said:
Did I miss a article on it or do I need to get on patreon? It's on my to do list but with things being tight I didn't want the wife giving me a hard time.
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I haven’t written an article about it because it’s not ready for commercial release.
 
Interesting again. I found it amazing how a handful of people are responsible for designing the steels we love, I always assumed it was hundreds of people with incremental changes.
 
Dick Barber and John Verhoeven have helped me out tremendously over the years, many thanks to them and others that have pioneered the way for us today.

I’ve made knives for 42 years, we haven’t ever had this much information, materials, abrasives, media, knife shows, equipment, customers, etc. All knife makers young and old should be very grateful for those who have made this possible.

And thanks Larrin for the countless hours, research, and money you put into helping us.

Hoss
 
DevinT said:
Dick Barber and John Verhoeven have helped me out tremendously over the years, many thanks to them and others that have pioneered the way for us today.

I’ve made knives for 42 years, we haven’t ever had this much information, materials, abrasives, media, knife shows, equipment, customers, etc. All knife makers young and old should be very grateful for those who have made this possible.

And thanks Larrin for the countless hours, research, and money you put into helping us.

Hoss
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I'm good with friends with Tim Wright who lives about 25 mins away, as you know he's been making knives for about that long.
He also mentioned how the abrasives today are much superior to what used to be available.
Tim's been a big part of my improvement.

Tim has told me in the early days he was making kitchen knives, and he couldn't give them away back then! Look at the kitchen knife market now.
 
Larrin said:
I haven’t written an article about it because it’s not ready for commercial release.
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Any chance you can let us know what's in it or is that a trade secret until it gets produced. I could see that as being a big problem.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Great article thank you. I always learn something new and this was no exception. For example, I did not know the name of the man who invented S30V was Dick Barber.

...Dick Barber....
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The first president of the world anti doping organization for athletics is named Dick Pound?!

I find that the youngest people named Richard who go by Dick are about 10 years older than me. For them it doesn't seem odd, but the idea of introducing myself as Dick at work cracks me up every time. I'm sure some people say I'm a bit of a Dick...
 
Storm W said:
Any chance you can let us know what's in it or is that a trade secret until it gets produced. I could see that as being a big problem.
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Niomax is a niobium alloyed knife steel designed to have similar toughness to AEB-L with enhanced edge retention. You can see the good toughness in many of my toughness charts. Edge retention is somewhere around 440C.
 
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