Tool Steel Help

W

Wanderlust

Joined
May 31, 2009
Messages
472
Okay so as I look at all of these beautiful knives everybody has and makes, I see all of the different tool steels that exist out there and it gets me curious. Now I own knives in VG-10, 154, s30v, H1, and 1095, but I do not own any with tool steels. I was wondering if anybody could educate me on the differences between all of the tool steels and some of the qualities and shortcomings of them. Also, what does the letter in the front designate? Thanks for the help.
 
Its not much but I can tell you this,

Tool steels are steels that have been developed to machine other steels. Tool steels are usually harder and have more ware resistance then stainless steels. As a result of this they are not as corrosion resistant.
 
Wanderlust said:
Now I own knives in VG-10, 154, s30v, H1, and 1095, but I do not own any with tool steels.
Click to expand...

Those steels you've listed are all tool steels. They are used in the plastics industry, in jet engines, and tools like files. Only S30V was designed as a knife steel, and even that's used in tools.
 
I thought the VG series was also a cutlery grade, not co-opted from another application by the knife industry.
 
Uh - last time I checked a knife is still considered to be a tool and is in fact one of the earliest tools developed by man.

Steel formulations when combined with appropriate heat treatment were developed for specific purposes. Some steels just happen to have properties that make them suitable for several different applications. There are many reasons why a particular "tool" steel is chosen for a knife - some makers are looking for very specific properties for specialised applications - eg many high end competition knives are M2 or M4. But cost and ease of machining and heat treatment and/or expertise with a specific steel type and/or manufacturing process are also reasons why some makers choose to use a "tool" steel - eg Friction Forging uses air-hardening D2 and at this point of development could not be used with a steel that requires cryogenic heat treatment
 
@Antonio Luiz
Technicality and nomenclature are different entities...
He wants to know about "tools steel" as we refer to them as, not every steel because of a technicality.
 
The letter prefix of tool steels does mean something ! A-airhardening, O -oil hardening, W- water hardening. There are others that mean for cold working, hot working etc.
The important thing is which are appropriate for knives.
 
A_Blade_Afficionado said:
@Antonio Luiz
Technicality and nomenclature are different entities...
He wants to know about "tools steel" as we refer to them as, not every steel because of a technicality.
Click to expand...

I do know the difference between technicality and nomenclature but my comment was a reminder that the main usage of knives, including military issue knives, is as a cutting tool, just as a wood chisel is a cutting tool - and there's a tendency for knifenuts to forget this. The difference between "cutlery" and "tool" steels is that the former were developed to meet parameters that are peculiar to knife performance, usage and abuse. Many "tool" steels just happen to have enough cost and versatility benefits to justify their usage for knives - I'm not sure the corollary applies
 
wanderlust, well yuu've opened pandora's box now.within 2 or 3 days the bees are going to have buzzed youi're query about 90 times.keep reading the replies & soon you will be a P. H. D. or totally confused or both.this is a great start for monday.thank you for energizing the forum.
 
Wow okay so I have a lot of reading ahead of me but thank you for the references and the help. I was referring to the common nomenclature on the forum of tool steel as O, A, M, D and the others. Keep the comments coming and I'm glad I could spice things up a bit.
 
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