What AVAILABLE steel for stainless chopper?

JG Custom Metal Works

JG Custom Metal Works

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Nov 27, 2013
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I have a customer who wants a stainless steel chopper.

I’ve done a good amount of research and I think I’ve narrowed it down to CTS-XHP or S7. The problem is, I can’t find any 1/4” thick CTS-XHP anywhere. USA Knifemaker has the CTS-XHP but only in .188” thick. I have found S7 a few places but it’s pretty dang expensive. I’m looking for a piece around 2” wide, 1/4 thick, 18” long. It’d be nice not to have to pay $100+ for the steel for one knife. But the customer knows the drill and is paying for the steel up front.

So I’m trying to figure out what the best route to go will be. Any ideas?

ETA: S7 isn’t a stainless steel, so disregard.
 
Last edited:
i4Marc said:
How soon do you need it? I hope I'm not giving away any secrets but Aldo told me he had some 1/4 Nitro-V or AEB-L (I forget which) coming in by the end of the month.
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Hmmm.... nice! I know there had been some problems with the Nitro V stuff. Did they ever get those figured out?

The customer doesn’t need it immediately, but I’d like to get the ball rolling soon for him. He’s a repeat customer and good friend so I’d like to get him hooked up.

Thanks for the info everyone, I really appreciate it. Elmax is looking pretty good at the moment. AEBL could be an option. I do gyutos with it and already have the heat treat/firing schedule uploaded into my kiln. I kind of like .200” approximate thickness. Bridges the gap between 1/4” and 3/16” nicely. 1/4” can be a little slow in the hand with longer blades, yet 3/16” doesn’t carry momentum into the cut as well as 1/4”. So .200” would be nice. How does AEBL hold up toughness wise compared to Elmax?
 
I don't have a link handy but in one of Larrin's articles it shows AEB-L to be surprisingly tough.

What were the problems people were having with Nitro-V?
 
AEB-L is the toughest steel I have tested so far. While I'm sure there is something out there that is tougher, AEB-L is plenty tough:
toughness-summary.jpg
 
That AEBL test still shocks me every time I see it. I just don’t understand how or why it tested so high.
 
JG Custom Metal Works said:
Hmmm.... nice! I know there had been some problems with the Nitro V stuff. Did they ever get those figured out?

The customer doesn’t need it immediately, but I’d like to get the ball rolling soon for him. He’s a repeat customer and good friend so I’d like to get him hooked up.

Thanks for the info everyone, I really appreciate it. Elmax is looking pretty good at the moment. AEBL could be an option. I do gyutos with it and already have the heat treat/firing schedule uploaded into my kiln. I kind of like .200” approximate thickness. Bridges the gap between 1/4” and 3/16” nicely. 1/4” can be a little slow in the hand with longer blades, yet 3/16” doesn’t carry momentum into the cut as well as 1/4”. So .200” would be nice. How does AEBL hold up toughness wise compared to Elmax?
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try here. seems to be lots of 1/4". cpm30V, cts-xhp, and 154cm. this is just drops, they have more in other areas of their site. http://sb-specialty-metals.com/drops-knife-steel/
 
JTknives said:
That AEBL test still shocks me every time I see it. I just don’t understand how or why it tested so high.
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.
Maybe because is similar / in some way/ like spring steel ?Simple steel ......low carbon % and have nothing more in composition then carbon and chrome ?
 
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