Wondering about stainless

T

Thomas_1

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Nov 11, 2007
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When did knife makers start using stainless steel for their blades? I remember that in one of my metallurgy books it said that “Harry Brearley, a British expert in the analysis of steel, was the first to realize its practical uses. In 1912 Brearley developed a grade of stainless that contained 12.8 percent chromium“.
My first knife I ever made was from S/S 316. Not the best for knives but I worked in a factory that made commercial kitchen equipment and there was plenty of 304 and 316 around.
 
I have an old sailor's knife which is excellent but I don't know how old.Cheap stainless kitchen knives have been used since at least 50 years. Other products have been available since WWII.I have a European military pot and a US army canteen from WWII.My canteen was made by Volrath.
 
If I recall, Queen was one of the first to use stainless in their knives, but I may be wrong. I do know that it was quickly put to use for fruit knives. Silver alloys used to be used for the blades since it wouldn't taint the flavour of the fruit, but stainless quickly came along and deposed of it.
 
popcornpicker said:
I thought it was Victorinox.
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NO! Vicktorinox was just the first to use a form of stainless that would take and hold a decent edge, until then NO ONE believed that stainless would ever be worth a flip, in Europe, however, edge holding never mattered to most of the people and stainless was widespread many years before it was accepted in the United States. Buck actually lied about their use of 440A in their early production knives, telling people that it was not stainless.

I still have a person, every once in a while tell me that there is no such thing as a good stainless steel for knives.
 
When I grew up in the sixties, stainless was pretty much deplored in pocket knives - and expensive. Most folders were carbon steel 1095, and a few vanadium - D2.

Imports used stainless, and we just didn't understand what we were getting was actually a badly profiled blade - thick edge, saber ground, and heat treated soft to prevent tip breakage. US makers pretty much followed that formula as they introduced stainless. A lot of it was lower carbon, too.

Custom makers started using 440C in the late sixties. It was much better, and they would take it to a much finer edge. By the seventies, it was being used by a variety of shops, and imported from Japan.

Today - an ATS34 or S30V blade will outcut and outlast most any carbon blade - if it's made right, which is what it's all about. Saying it's "Stainless" really means it's high nickel or chrome, and not much else. It's what else is in the steel, how it's tempered, and what profile it's ground to that makes it worse or better.
 
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tirod3 said:
When I grew up in the sixties, stainless was pretty much deplored in pocket knives - and expensive. Most folders were carbon steel 1095, and a few vanadium - D2.r.
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Please tell me about the pocket knives made of D2 in the 1960s. I seem to have missed them.
 
I have to repeat "Victorinox". This was a major development in cutlery. Read some history.

Otherwise it would be '1095 vs Butterknife'.
 
popcornpicker said:
I have to repeat "Victorinox". This was a major development in cutlery. Read some history.

Otherwise it would be '1095 vs Butterknife'.
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Telling AG Russell to "Read some history." is not only ridiculous but rude and only serves to show your ignorance.
 
markksr said:
Telling AG Russell to "Read some history." is not only ridiculous but rude and only serves to show your ignorance.
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Having lived that history, I thought it was pretty funny. I also thought it was pretty neat that he knew about it, I have very seldom heard it commented on.
 
markksr said:
Telling AG Russell to "Read some history." is not only ridiculous but rude and only serves to show your ignorance.
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High point of this thread! :D

Ah, geez...I have tears!
rofl.gif
 
BTW, Victorinox didn't begin to use stainless steel until 1921; interesting that their web site claims stainless was invented in 1921, while most people credit the invention of stainless steel to the French in 1904-1910 (the web site doesn't claim that Victorinox invented it). Even the "inox" part of Victorinox" is based on the French term for stainless steel, "acier inoxydable."
 
This is a fascinating thread for me as a metallurgist .Unfortunately in my earliest days I worked with alloy and tool steels not stainless. Today we certaily have a choice of very fine stainless blades !
 
A. G. Russell said:
Please tell me about the pocket knives made of D2 in the 1960s. I seem to have missed them.
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Oops, I think I just got caught. Have I assumed "Vanadium" blades were not quite D2 grade in composition?

I'll be happy to defer to your expertise, after all, I have learned a lot from your catalogs and website. Unlike some, I do understand I may have lived a lot of the history, but like a traffic accident, I only saw my part of the scene. I'm used to finding out things weren't quite what I thought. Gee, I recently found out stuff about Marilyn Monroe I didn't need to know.

So, for the benefit of those who don't know better - Vanadium vs D2 in the '60's - apparently not the same thing. Just like Vic stainless, I'm sure.
 
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Looks to me like someone needs to follow their own insult.
Infraction was issued.
Personal insults are not going to be tolerated at all in this forum.
 
A. G. Russell said:
Having lived that history, I thought it was pretty funny. I also thought it was pretty neat that he knew about it, I have very seldom heard it commented on.
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In your case A.G. lets be honest here :D. You made as much history as you lived when it comes to knives.;)
 
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