What is x75c ?

[Bart student]

I ordered some of this steel, just to try it.
But I would like to know what it really is.
It was good too work it, but for the heat
treath I must know what exactly it is, and
my heat treather knows only the AISI system
or "werkstofnumber" (I live in Belgium, and
here there is like one steelsupply, two heat
treathers, and four forgers in the whole country, not to mention that the carrying of any blocking knife is illegal - when the catch you that is. )

Thanks is advance for the help.

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[AchimW]

Hello Bart!
I am sure you are talking about XC75, which is the french name for the american 1075 or the german C 70 / C 75. It is a high carbon steel with 0,75 % carbon. In general it is a water quenching steel. But tell your heat treaters to quench in oil, because with the small diameters of knife blades they will have severe cracking problems if quenching in water. Or do the heat treat yourself, which is not very difficult with this kind of steel.
I am astonished to hear about the strange knife laws in a country with otherwise nearly free access to firearms.
By the way, i live near Aachen, about 10 km from the belgium frontier. And i speak french and netherlands. So if you have got problems, just email me. Maybe i can do something for you.

Achim

 

[Bart student]

Thanks for the reply!
I am a hobbyist knife maker, and a full-time
student psychology in Leuven (near Brussels).
I live about 600 meters from the Dutch border, So in a straight line about 30 km from the German border. It feels good to hear
from someone who isn't on the other side of the globe. Aachen is about 50 km away, hell, thats closer than the nearest decent steel-supply, and closer than my university (100 km).

My E-mail adress is : Bart.Weijs@student.kuleuven.ac.be

I am a member of the belgian knife society,
and I am currently involved in two articles,
one about steel and one about a folding-knife test (which we plan to do in January ).
I already thought it maybe 1075, and Joe Talmadge and Bob Engath say it is decent stuff. I currently am waiting for my first D-2, before that I only used M-2 industrial saws to make knives and that is very hard (you can't drill, it eats grinding belts and stones ... ).

Nice to hear from you, and feel free to mail me..

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[AchimW]

Hello Bart!
I write you on the forum because i have problems with my email. Please try to write a short message to me at my e-address achim.wirtz.wuerselen@mail.aachen.de

Everybody on the forum have a nice christmas time and a very, very good start into the new millenium.

Achim