Z-TUFF

Yes, I understand the angles, it’s easier to take it off in small bites rather than trying to cut 2” at once. It’s soft and I stared at 80, I’ll get some coarser belts on my next order.

I’ll let you know as soon as they are ready for HT.
 
Willie71 Willie71
yes we loose big time on our exchange. My order will hit 10k for sure but I use a lot of it and like z wear a lot.
For a order it’s a min two month wait so we have to plan a little ahead. I think there is a balance in how tuff we need to go on a knife .
Z tuff is tuffer but I’ll give up a little on tuff to have a better edge holding . So I think z wear fits my needs perfect.
VSM is my go to belts 60gr 120gr
 
Kevin Cox said:
Willie71 Willie71
yes we loose big time on our exchange. My order will hit 10k for sure but I use a lot of it and like z wear a lot.
For a order it’s a min two month wait so we have to plan a little ahead. I think there is a balance in how tuff we need to go on a knife .
Z tuff is tuffer but I’ll give up a little on tuff to have a better edge holding . So I think z wear fits my needs perfect.
VSM is my go to belts 60gr 120gr
Click to expand...

I love z-wear. It’s my favorite steel by far. I’m using geometry I only used in kitchen knives previously for hunters and skinners, and I’ve had zero knives returned with damage. I’ve got a few customers who want tough knives, out of market influence probably, and have been using 15n20 or L6. For those guys I could probably sell z-tuff as an alternative, especially when they realize the edge holding benefit. I make mostly kitchen knives and slicing knives, but after seeing Larrin’s article on the effects of cold on toughness, and how nickel minimized the loss of toughness, I see z-tuff as a legitimate “exotic” steel for northern outdoorsmen. Testing will tell though.

https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/12/21/why-cold-steel-is-brittle/
 
Gossman Knives said:
I've been working with and heat treating S7 for almost 14 years. It is the toughest steel I ever used. As far as edge holding, it falls in between O1 and A2 at 58/59 rc. Of all the blades I've made in S7, never had a complaint about edge holding and it's easy to re-sharpen with minimal sharping tools. CPM 1V is one I've starting using this year and it's right up there with S7 as far as toughness but with a little better edge holding at 59/60rc.
Scott
Click to expand...

As Fredrik Haakonsen once said in open forum:
“If I had come across a PM steel tougher than A8-mod I would be using it myself. ”. By the time he said that, I was still a newbie regarding steels, and was obsessed by pm steels and datasheets. Now, it’s a bit different. Even Fredrik admits that S7 is tougher than A8mod (if knife blank is cut in the rolling direction of the steel, not perpendicular and the heat treatment is made right), so, Scott, S7 is one of the ideal choices for a hard use blade, let alone a really big one, designed to take high impact in every swing!
 
K Kevin Cox , I sent a z-wear knife to Dennis Paish to try last year.mi heat treated it to Rc62/63, and ground it to 120x. I told him I won’t hand sand it. He said “no problem” at first, but after working on it, he suggested I sand to 400x prior to heat treat. I explained that I grind it after heat treat to make sure the quench is fast enough, and use scotchbrite finishes, rather than hand sanding. He was impressed with how thin it could be ground.
 
hugofeynman said:
As Fredrik Haakonsen once said in open forum:
“If I had come across a PM steel tougher than A8-mod I would be using it myself. ”. By the time he said that, I was still a newbie regarding steels, and was obsessed by pm steels and datasheets. Now, it’s a bit different. Even Fredrik admits that S7 is tougher than A8mod (if knife blank is cut in the rolling direction of the steel, not perpendicular and the heat treatment is made right), so, Scott, S7 is one of the ideal choices for a hard use blade, let alone a really big one, designed to take high impact in every swing!
Click to expand...
Yes, I agree. Toughness can be defined different ways. I'm referring to "impact" toughness which a blade will come up against in extreme hard use. I don't know of many steels that can handle two hits from a 308 cal. at 53 yds. with very little deformation as you saw in my Instagram post a couple of months ago. I will be watching how others that work with Z-Tuff, to see their results. I always like a tough hard use steel.
Scott
 
Willie71 Willie71
Yes Dennis told me he as one of your knives. I’ve done a few chef knives in z wear to and took them down to 0.004 at the edge . I hand sanded mine to 600 gr at 63/64 rc wow that was a blast hahaha.
All my blades goes to Peter’s for heat treat.
I’ve done hunting knives in it to and guys were very happy with it.
I guess I’ll have to get a few pieces of z tuff to test out someday.
 
Kevin Cox said:
Willie71 Willie71
Yes Dennis told me he as one of your knives. I’ve done a few chef knives in z wear to and took them down to 0.004 at the edge . I hand sanded mine to 600 gr at 63/64 rc wow that was a blast hahaha.
All my blades goes to Peter’s for heat treat.
I’ve done hunting knives in it to and guys were very happy with it.
I guess I’ll have to get a few pieces of z tuff to test out someday.
Click to expand...

You can go to 0.002-0.003” on chef’s knives at Rc63/64. Ive done a few, and they hold up very well. Totally impressed.
 
I am wondering how tough this Z Tuff will be to finish. I have no problem with 3V at 60-61 on a big hunter sized blade, but I am used to big knives in W2 and CFV so I may be a bit of a masochist. For me, the heavy lifting part of of hand sanding is done with 320 and 400 grit EDM stones.
 
Gossman Knives said:
Yes, I agree. Toughness can be defined different ways. I'm referring to "impact" toughness which a blade will come up against in extreme hard use. I don't know of many steels that can handle two hits from a 308 cal. at 53 yds. with very little deformation as you saw in my Instagram post a couple of months ago. I will be watching how others that work with Z-Tuff, to see their results. I always like a tough hard use steel.
Scott
Click to expand...

I’m also curious about Z-Tuff, Scott, it’s tough stuff, no doubt, but S7 will be tougher! So S7 will always be one of my first choices for a hard use blade, as A8mod, NZ3 (S1) and K600.
 
jdm61 said:
I am wondering how tough this Z Tuff will be to finish. I have no problem with 3V at 60-61 on a big hunter sized blade, but I am used to big knives in W2 and CFV so I may be a bit of a masochist. For me, the heavy lifting part of of hand sanding is done with 320 and 400 grit EDM stones.
Click to expand...

This is my hope, that it can still be hand finished without killing my neuropathy.

Re: the money in court: our builder sued us 9 years ago for lost profits, after walking away from the build. We paid all the contractors he didn’t pay, and he sued us for that amount. We just st need the court date to show we paid everyone. When we did Discovery, he refused to answer why he sued us, how much he thought we owed him, or who was left unpaid (nobody-and we have the paper trail to show that.) it’s about 50k we paid for security that is still held, and he has no evidence to show for his claim. He was so fraudulent, a judge put his house up for security against his corporations. We just need to go through the process.
 
hugofeynman said:
As Fredrik Haakonsen once said in open forum:
“If I had come across a PM steel tougher than A8-mod I would be using it myself. ”. By the time he said that, I was still a newbie regarding steels, and was obsessed by pm steels and datasheets. Now, it’s a bit different. Even Fredrik admits that S7 is tougher than A8mod (if knife blank is cut in the rolling direction of the steel, not perpendicular and the heat treatment is made right), so, Scott, S7 is one of the ideal choices for a hard use blade, let alone a really big one, designed to take high impact in every swing!
Click to expand...

A8mod has been sent for grinding. Z-tuff is on my bench waiting heat treat. I’m really curious regarding the improvement, if any with cryo/low temper, compared to recommended heat treat. This is really interesting to me. I love nickel bearing steels like 15n20. When I glanced over z-tuff a few years ago, I missed the nickel content. The potential for a pm high alloy Damascus isn’t lost on me either. Big step up in equipment though....
 
Willie71 said:
A8mod has been sent for grinding. Z-tuff is on my bench waiting heat treat. I’m really curious regarding the improvement, if any with cryo/low temper, compared to recommended heat treat. This is really interesting to me. I love nickel bearing steels like 15n20. When I glanced over z-tuff a few years ago, I missed the nickel content. The potential for a pm high alloy Damascus isn’t lost on me either. Big step up in equipment though....
Click to expand...

Great to know A8mod was sent to grinding!

No doubt cryo and low temper heat treatment will improve Z-Tuff toughness, let’s see how it compares to the others (A8mod, NZ3). Do you have some S7 steel pieces to heat treat? Would be great to compare, also!
Regarding 15n20 low toughness first results, I’m sure something went wrong with Larrins samples, because this steel has the potential to be much tougher than first toughness tests indicate! It’s not a 0,5% Carbon Steel, but well heat treated will have a very fine grain, wish helps in the toughness department, as the nickel content. I really like you are giving 15n20 a second chance! I wouldn’t be surprised if it where tougher than AEBL! Let’s wait!
 
15N20 is excellent. It held up great when I used it to gut a deer. I always use my blade to cut up into the breast bone. 15N20 excelled at this task and the edge held up perfectly with the force and torqueing required to cut into that bone. I have the edge run thin and hardened to 59 rc. I used the .130 thickness
Scott
 
Gossman Knives said:
15N20 is excellent. It held up great when I used it to gut a deer. I always use my blade to cut up into the breast bone. 15N20 excelled at this task and the edge held up perfectly with the force and torqueing required to cut into that bone. I have the edge run thin and hardened to 59 rc. I used the .130 thickness
Scott
Click to expand...

Try it at Rc62. It still holds up against bone. Great steel.
 
hugofeynman said:
Great to know A8mod was sent to grinding!

No doubt cryo and low temper heat treatment will improve Z-Tuff toughness, let’s see how it compares to the others (A8mod, NZ3). Do you have some S7 steel pieces to heat treat? Would be great to compare, also!
Regarding 15n20 low toughness first results, I’m sure something went wrong with Larrins samples, because this steel has the potential to be much tougher than first toughness tests indicate! It’s not a 0,5% Carbon Steel, but well heat treated will have a very fine grain, wish helps in the toughness department, as the nickel content. I really like you are giving 15n20 a second chance! I wouldn’t be surprised if it where tougher than AEBL! Let’s wait!
Click to expand...


I don’t have any s7. I think JT offered to make some samples. If anyone wants to send some to me, I’ll heat treat it to the best of my ability. I did send three conditions of 15n20 to be ground. I think 15n20 performs like a non stainless aeb-l. Run it hard, and it still holds up.

All the steels you sent me have been heat treated, and sent for grinding. I might have to redo the nz3 as I’m not sure my oil quenched it fast enough. I have enough if I have to make new samples.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top