-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
VG-1 San Mai
- Thread starter mete
- Start date
Larrin
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2004
- Messages
- 5,048
There have been a few threads about it lately. You can read about it here: http://www.e-tokko.com/eng_vg1.htm Some complain that CS is just saving money by not using VG-10, and that it is about the same as AUS-8, but if the VG-1 is taken to the same hardness as VG-10, I can't come up with many reasons why VG-10 would be any better in any area but possibly corrosion resistance due to the higher molydenum in VG-10. Looking at the phase diagrams, they should have about the same amount of carbon and chromium in solution, even if you take in to account extra molybdenum. Unless the cobalt adds something to the VG-10 other than red hardness, I can't see where the difference would be, and it should be closer to AUS-10 than AUS-8 anyway.
Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
Yes, from the same viewpoint that says AEB-L = 440A. I think this is also getting the axe simply because Cold Steel is using it and thus there is a lot of bias. If some popular custom manufacturer noted the same thing I doubt it would get torn into as readily. It is another high carbon, high carbide fraction stainless. It is a fairly low alloy version and you can classify it fairly easily by seeing where it falls on the C/Cr diagram for stainless and it is basically right around AUS-10 as noted.
Generally molybdenum will decrease the carbon content in solution and raise the carbide fraction, so at a given hardness you would expect more wear resistance and less edge stability and toughness. It also increases corrosion resistance as you noted. The promoted advantage of cobalt in those steels is carbide stability due to solid solution strengthening. That is the theory, I have seen no actual comfirmation. It could simply be there because it was made for something else and then reinvented as a knife steel, though common promotion of VG-10 is otherwise. Sodak noted some feedback on use of VG-1 when this was discussed in the reviews forums recently. Someone should ask Cold Steel for a passaround on one of their high end models.
-Cliff