I have tested many knife steels over the past several years and reported the results in many articles. I also have an article where I created ratings for each steel based on those past experiments. In that article I spent quite a bit of space on what is behind the properties of each steel. For example, I showed an equation I developed that predicts the CATRA edge retention of different steels based on carbide types, carbide volume, steel hardness, and the edge angle of the blade. I wanted to try to demystify the ratings a bit to show that steel results are somewhat predictable based on certain factors. Of course there are always many counter-examples where we test a steel and are surprised by a result, usually in the negative direction. With enough investigation it is possible to find out why a result was different than the expectation, though of course we don’t always have the resources to do that.
So in an ideal world we would have experimental data for each steel and don’t have to speculate on how good the steel might be. Before I started doing my testing there was very little 3rd party data available for comparing steels between companies. So Crucible or Uddeholm, etc. might compare the general properties between their own steels but generally not between their steels and the competitors’. And the companies rarely have data for everything about a steel, many data sheets are missing wear resistance or toughness experimental results, etc. But can the average knife enthusiast look at a steel composition and make a reasonable estimate of its properties? Can it be done just by looking at one or two elements and then checking with a chart? (As opposed to complicated equations). I decided to see if such a thing could be possible. I will also point out some of the cases where the estimates break down and why.
Another fascinating post by Dr. Larrin. I have learned a lot from him over the years. He actually does an excellent job communicating for someone so immeresed in such a technical field.
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How to Estimate Knife Steel Properties
Read the full article here