Zapp Z-Wear experience and heat treat

Willie71

Willie71

Warren J. Krywko
Joined
Feb 23, 2013
Messages
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I bought a stick of z-wear from aks over a year ago, and finally got around to making a couple knives out of it. I followed the heat treat parameters on Chuck's site, and added a 10h cryogenic treatment as part of the quench. I'm now doing three tempers at 2h each.

The composition of the steel is similar to 3v, with higher carbon' 1.15%, and 1% tungsten. The rest of the alloying is about the same.

https://www.alphaknifesupply.com/zdata-bladesteelC-ZWear.htm

Is anyone using this steel, and what us your experience? Secondly, I'm thinking that cryo plus 400 temper might be an option. I'm going to buy more this week to experiment with. Chuck says no sub 1000f temper. Does the additional carbon and tungsten make low temper impossible?
 
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I use it for camp knives and choppers . But I get Peter's heattreating to do my heat treating .
So far I'm very happy with it and will keep using it on hard use knives. It holds a good edge and it compares to 3v to me .
 
Thanks for the info. I'll be using one as an edc and the other in the kitchen to see how they wear and hold up. I'll do some experimenting with cryo and low temper. I came out two RC points higher than expected using cryo prior to temper. I checked my tester, and it was fine.
 
For kitchen use you can run it up to 62rc and the chicken don't stand a chance lol.
Plus it don't rust that bad. Think it will make a fine kitchen knife for sure .
 
I normally wouldn't use a high alloy steel in the kitchen, but the powdered steels such as this one might change that for me. I want to have some personal experience first though before I sell any.
 
I just bought the steel and would like to hear your opinion on 1000F vs 400F tempering? (if both were sub-zero right after quench)
 
I haven't ordered the second batch for the 400f temper experiment. I've been pretty busy with non knifemaking stuff lately. I'll order the steel today, so I can experiment when I get time.
 
I just had a conversation via e-mail with Chuck at AKS. Chuck offered to donate some steel for testing different heat treats :thumbup:. He isn't aware of anyone testing the cryo/400f temper with z-wear. He is interested in the results too.

I'll document my methods and results for everyone to see. I'm very curious and excited about testing.

I work on knives part time, so I can't make any promises as to when I can get things done, but will do my best to be expedient.
 
Thanks for the update and keep us posted!

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk
 
I've been busy with work and orders. I finally finished a z-wear knife. I did this one following recommended heat treat, but went cryo as part of the quench. Three 2h tempers at 1000f. It's Rc63.5. This stuff is a bear to grind and sand. I just did a medium scotchbrite finish on the blade. I went 0.003" before sharpening and 11dps. It took the edge quite easily on a diamond stone. I went to 1200 but will try to use ceramic water stones and go finer. Edge seems stable, and with the thin geometry, it slices quite nicely. :thumbup:

I read through the information on the Zapp website. Z-wear has higher toughness than 3v at Rc62+, but at Rc60, 3v is far tougher. That's where the claim of better wear resistance and better toughness comes from.

30855280463_45b8b42e01_z.jpg
[/url]IMG_0625 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]

I'll post additional updated as I get to testing a few different heat treats. Will probably be after Christmas, I'm curious to try cryo plus 400f temper.
 
That's a good looking knife. What kind of wood is that handle? That's very attractive.
 
kuraki said:
That's a good looking knife. What kind of wood is that handle? That's very attractive.
Click to expand...

It's compression curl Koa. It's from a tree that grows out the side of a cliff. The curved stump creates this look. It's not common, and bloody expensive.
 
Willie71 said:
It's compression curl Koa. It's from a tree that grows out the side of a cliff. The curved stump creates this look. It's not common, and bloody expensive.
Click to expand...

Dang. That mottled light and dark look is compelling. And complements your shaping too.
 
I have looked into this steel a little bit and I'm guessing there clame of higher wear resistance and higher toughness is comparing agenst 3v with a industry standard heat treat not a modified 400°. I had also read here on the form that thy say higher toughness and wear resistance but thy can only hit one of these at a time. Thy can eat her have higher toughness OR higher wear resistance not both at the same time. I don't know this but that was the word on the street.
 
JTknives said:
I have looked into this steel a little bit and I'm guessing there clame of higher wear resistance and higher toughness is comparing agenst 3v with a industry standard heat treat not a modified 400°. I had also read here on the form that thy say higher toughness and wear resistance but thy can only hit one of these at a time. Thy can eat her have higher toughness OR higher wear resistance not both at the same time. I don't know this but that was the word on the street.
Click to expand...

I'm going to experiment with cryo and 400f temper after Christmas. From what I've read, it's tougher at Rc62 than 3v at Rc62, but 3v is tougher by far at Rc60, which Z-wear can't match at any hardness. It's engineered for high hardness, fine edges.
 
Z-wear s the same make-up as the old Vasco-Wear....Edge retention is exceptional,
and it's far tougher than a hand held knife should need to be.
 
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