The option of buying un-annealed knives.

[generallobster]

I am wondering how hard your knives get after the cryo freeze, but before the annealing. I don't really care about toughness since I have never broken a tip in my life, and because I don't chop or throw. I know that they will probably be britle, but for a person who only uses the knife for soft slicing tasks wouldn't this blade require less sharpening? It would be cool if I had the option of buying a knife that could hold an edge longer with the trade-off being that I couldn't pry with it. When I cut stuff like peaches with the 420HC I always roll the edge on the hard seed in the center. Unless the steel is really hard I assume you wouldn't get chipped edges on tasks like that even if the steel wasn't softened.

 

[Jeff Clark]

I thought annealing came first then cryo. Before annealing the knife would be as brittle as a file. The point would break very easily. I would just buy a knife with a 440C blade instead.

 

[peteq]

I believe that following the sub-zero quench cycle in our hardening process, 420HC is 60-61 Rc. Then, we temper the steel back to 58-59 Rc.

The tempering draws back the hardness a few points, but tremendously improves the toughness. You make a good point; if proper care is taken, an untempered blade would perform very well. Just don't drop it!

Keep in mind that we build a couple million knives a year, and without a well-tempered blade, we would be replacing a few too many to stay in business.

Pete