Thought on SK-5 steel

[cramsey3006]

Just curious about everyone's thoughts and "reviews" of SK-5 steel....

 

[Ankerson]

It's good steel, strong, holds an edge great.

 

[samhain73]

It's Japanese 1080.

 

[Hitzy]

It's Japanese 1080.

X2...only thing I'd say is it's overpriced by Cold Steel for what it is.

 

[EDDAKA]

It's Japanese 1080.

I heard it was just a better heat treated 1095...

None the less still in the 1000 series steel.

 

[Gator97]

Sk-5 steel is JIS standard equivalent for AISI 1080, like Samahan said.

 

[Ankerson]

Sk-5 steel is JIS standard equivalent for AISI 1080, like Samahan said.

It's the heat treatment that CS uses that makes the difference.

 

[Gator97]

I'm confused Naming and composition are independent of HT.
Causes difference from what? If CS or whoever HTs 1080 using the same method it'll act the same.
Am I missing something here?

 

[bld522]

If CS or whoever HTs 1080 using the same method it'll act the same.
Am I missing something here?

Yep. Your statement is based on an assumption. The assumption is that CS and "whoever" are using the same heat treat method. That may or may not be true. If it's not true, then they may not act the same.

 

[Ankerson]

I'm confused Naming and composition are independent of HT.
Causes difference from what? If CS or whoever HTs 1080 using the same method it'll act the same.
Am I missing something here?

That's when you get into proprietary heat treatments..

Remember Carbon V?

 

[bld522]

That's when you get into proprietary heat treatments..

Remember Carbon V?

Yep. I also remember Jerry Busse.

 

[Gator97]

Yep. Your statement is based on an assumption. The assumption is that CS and "whoever" are using the same heat treat method. That may or may not be true. If it's not true, then they may not act the same.

I think you misread what I said. using IDENTICAL HT on SK5 and 1080 will give same results. I am not assuming "whoever" else is using same HT as CS, which is hardly the best anyway.

Just the statement - SK5 is "different" from 1080 because CS's HT is meaningless unless you specify who/how HTs 1080. As far as I am concerned, there is no standard procedure for 1080 HT, and if CS heat treats the 1080 using the same method, do you think it'll behave different? Or any other maker using their method...
And if yes, then why would that be?

 

[Hitzy]

It's the heat treatment that CS uses that makes the difference.

You mean the Taiwanese factories that make their blades....and everyone elses blades that outsource there.

 

[bld522]

I think you misread what I said. using IDENTICAL HT on SK5 and 1080 will give same results.

I get it! They're the same alloy. It's like saying that using IDENTICAL HT on DNH7 and 1075 will give the same results. They're also the same alloy.

To quote William Shakespeare, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet!"

 

[Gator97]

I do not get the meaning "CS HT makes SK5 different from 1080"...

 

[cramsey3006]

Any thoughts on the two new military knives from Boker? The Air Force and the Navy? They're SK-5 and I love the looks, and they got a decent little write up in Tactical Knives. They're made in China, which kind of sucks, but I can get over it. I like the fact that they are "old school" type knives.

 

[Hitzy]

Any thoughts on the two new military knives from Boker? The Air Force and the Navy? They're SK-5 and I love the looks, and they got a decent little write up in Tactical Knives. They're made in China, which kind of sucks, but I can get over it. I like the fact that they are "old school" type knives.

Neat looking....I'd take a chance on it if they are $40 or less.

 

[hkpokes_you]

1080 does not have the dash of Si that Sk-5 does. It does not have a whole lot of it...sometimes you see ~.3 Si added to steels during melting to 'kill' the alloy, de-oxidize, and improve hardenability. It might not seem like a lot of Si in the alloy -- but it is enough to deserve some mention.

Also, zknives seems to say that SK-5 is hovering arou t .9% carbon -- not .80...

Not a HUGE difference in the amount of carbon -- but the eucatoid point does hover around .85 -- so you should have some undisolved iron carbide floating around SK-5 that you wouldn't have in 1080. Not a lot, but it could make a performance difference. You could probably heat treat SK-5 like it was some sort of hyperucatoid simple steel alloy and get good results; but if they have a fancy proprietary heat treatment then the dash of Si might let them do something better.

If any of you guys know anything about their heat treatment process I'd be really interested in hearing about it. The Taiwanese subcontractor that did their 420HC heat treatment was actually pretty spot-on with working that alloy...if it is the same people then they are pretty on top of things.

 

[cramsey3006]

I was wondering about the HT too. Can't find any info on RC for those knives anywhere. I like the navy one a lot, but it would get modded a bit to suit me. Probably grind the hilt down on both side to the bare minimum.

 

[hkpokes_you]

I do not know about Boker's HT. Cold Steel quenches their sk-5 at 64 and then tempers it back to the high fifties.