Thin 15N20 - Great for kitchen knives

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith

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Just heard from Aldo ( New Jersey Steel baron) that he has .058, .065 and .130 15N20 for sale at $3.00 per pound. This is a great price, and 15N20 steel will make good fillet and kitchen knives. If the width you need is not on his site just call him with the size you want. I think this price makes a 4 foot bar of 2" wide steel about $10-20 ( depending on thickness). You should get four nice chefs knives from that.

HT is pretty basic:
Austenitize at 1450-1500F for 5-10 minutes
Quench in medium speed oil.
Temper twice for 2 hours at 350-400F.

My personal program is 1500 for 10 minutes > quench for 10 seconds in AAA > immediately into aluminum quench plates till cool > immediately into 375F oven fro two hours > Cool in water > temper again at 375F for two hours.

Just to avoid disappointment and to pre-answer the question - No, 15N20 isn't good for a 2BF, torch, coal, or a propane forge without temperature control. It is best to do HT in a programmable oven or send it out to a professional HTer.
 
I saw this and was really tempted to pick up some stock... it's a bit harder to find 1/16" range materials than I had expected. I needed to place an order there anyways pretty soon.
 
I picked some up yesterday, but had to call them to get the shipping corrected. It rang up as $52 shipping, ended up being $13 shipping after the call. Pleasure to do business with them.

Isn't this deal spotting?
 
Stain resistance is almost as bad as O1. I have several paring and medium kitchen knives made out of it and they stain easily. Grain is very fine. They take a fine edge, much like 01. I have two of them at Rc61, and the edge will chip if you don't use a cutting board. I just got the last 24" of the 15n20 from Canadian knife maker. I just got some in 3/16 from Aldo for hunters and edcs. One of my kith knives is 15n20 mono steel.
 
The nice thing about 15N20 for kitchen knives is the fact that the Ni helps it patina pretty fast. 15N20 will easily hit 65-66 RC and at 62RC holds up damn well.
 
I hope it didn't sound like I don't like 15N20. It is a steel I REALLY like working with. I highly recommend it.
 
Just picked some up as well. For those wondering, it ends up around $5 for a 2" wide bar in the thin stuff (0.065), $10 for 2" wide of the thicker stuff (0.130). Can't beat that.

Also, after being... scolded by Aldo for not using a real quench oil, I went and ordered 5 gallons of Parks AAA and #50. My wallet is feeling pretty light right about now.

Question, and I apologize if I missed this being answered elsewhere: What temperature should I be pre-heating the oil (AAA) to for quenching this stuff? Googling, I see numbers all over the place from room temperature to 140F :confused:
 
weebus said:
Just picked some up as well. For those wondering, it ends up around $5 for a 2" wide bar in the thin stuff (0.065), $10 for 2" wide of the thicker stuff (0.130). Can't beat that.

Also, after being... scolded by Aldo for not using a real quench oil, I went and ordered 5 gallons of Parks AAA and #50. My wallet is feeling pretty light right about now.

Question, and I apologize if I missed this being answered elsewhere: What temperature should I be pre-heating the oil (AAA) to for quenching this stuff? Googling, I see numbers all over the place from room temperature to 140F :confused:
Click to expand...



What ever suits you. Just know the less viscous and warmer the oil (to a point), the faster it will pull the heat from the blade. You'll have to confer with TTT chart and see where the pearlite nose is and cross reference that with the phase diagram and the steel's carbon content. I'm using the McMaster 11 sec/"high speed" oil at room temp, straight into the 5 gallon bucket with mild agitation and I can consistently get 61-64 RC from 52100 and 15n20.

here are some generic charts.
FeC-PhaseDiagramWallpaper.gif

2-Isothermal-%E2%80%93-Transformation-Diagram-for-a-1080-Eutectoid-Steel.jpg
 
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