What in a blade makes it less likely to break in the cold?

[NeedItCheaper]

I keep hearing that the colder it gets the more likely it will break in hard use. I have seen blades 3/16 thick break while doing waking on branches in freezing conditions. Not batoning, just chopping.


Are there some steels that do better? What about the make up causes them to break less?

 

[Shorttime]

I would like to see these blades, as well.

Carbon is the chemical that lends toughness to steel.

Any steel which has enough carbon to make a decent blade should not break while chopping.

Unless, the steel was too hard for chopping, or the knife was poorly constructed, such as having a very narrow tang.

The kind of cold that is required to make a piece of steel brittle is very cold, and unless these knives were in Antarctica, it is unlikely that the temperature had anything to do with it.

 

[upnorth]

I keep hearing that the colder it gets the more likely it will break in hard use. I have seen blades 3/16 thick break while doing waking on branches in freezing conditions. Not batoning, just chopping.


Are there some steels that do better? What about the make up causes them to break less?

Good question and one that I have wondered about now and then. I have been in serious cold were trees are hard as flint. I rolled the edge on an old Becker Brute years ago on frozen live trees. I try to go around all that now by switching tools to an axe or preferably in extreme cold, a saw.

 

[Shorttime]

Now that I think about it:

Are we talking about a chipped edge, or are we talking about a blade which actually breaks into two or more pieces, significantly changing the size of the original knife?

 

[The Mastiff]

I've heard that Nickel in the alloy helps steels keep from becoming brittle in cold weather. Example, L6 with 1.5% nickel. Dunno how true that is though.

 

[marcinek]

Now that I think about it:

Are we talking about a chipped edge, or are we talking about a blade which actually breaks into two or more pieces, significantly changing the size of the original knife?

Or are we talking about large "half moon" chunks/chips coming out of the blade? Whacking frozen branches with bad technique can do that to any knife.

 

[NeedItCheaper]

Now that I think about it:

Are we talking about a chipped edge, or are we talking about a blade which actually breaks into two or more pieces, significantly changing the size of the original knife?

No broke in half. Forget which brand and all, this was years ago, but dude was dicking around chopping into a tree like an axe and it broke in half. Only time I ever saw that without batoning and it was in the cold. Though as another poster mentioned, it is likely that his blade was already crap.

 

[mete]

Search " BrittleTransition Temperature" of steel. Composition, grain size, etc all play a part. In the 1900s this subject was studied thoroughly. You worry about your little knife breaking !! See if you can find a photo of a WWII Liberty ship broke in half !

 

[eschwebach]

Good question and one that I have wondered about now and then. I have been in serious cold were trees are hard as flint. I rolled the edge on an old Becker Brute years ago on frozen live trees. I try to go around all that now by switching tools to an axe or preferably in extreme cold, a saw.

Yes, trees can get unbelievably hard in a very cold climate. It would be like chopping into a rock. More likely this was the cause rather than the knife.

 

[A.P.F.]

Search " BrittleTransition Temperature" of steel. Composition, grain size, etc all play a part. In the 1900s this subject was studied thoroughly. You worry about your little knife breaking !! See if you can find a photo of a WWII Liberty ship broke in half !

Yup, that could ruin your whole day.

 

[BladeScout]

Are there some steels that do better? What about the make up causes them to break less?

Shatter proof in extreme cold*? Forget steel knives - go titanium!




*Though it'll take a lot to make a steel knife shatter.

 

[zcd]

Just wanted to mention that some of us live in places with Arctic conditions in the winter heh, and wood becomes much much harder at these temperatures. To prevent chipping I suppose a softer RC values would help

 

[Thomas Linton]

Shatter proof in extreme cold*? Forget steel knives - go titanium!

. . . .

But you might want something that holds and edge.

 

[Swoop03]

I say if your worried about breaking your knife in the cold then just bring a compact saw or a hatchet then.
I am not particularly sure what alloy would be better suited to harsh winter conditions though. I'd think a slightly softer steel with more flex like a thin machete or something would be good.