steel properties

[Rolf]

HI,

Can anyone please explain in layman's terms the characteristics of these five kinds of steels used in knives. VG-1, Satin 3G (both Fallkniven), San Mai (Cold Steel), A2 steel (Bark River) and D2 tool steel. As in which ones are more prone to rusting, holds an edge longer or are easier/difficult to sharpen. D2, I have heard, is a tools grade steel and very resistant to corrosion.

Regards
Rolf

[Moin.]

Rolf a few good links on the various types of steels and their properties on the Spyderco Website. The basic I guess that Steel being an alloy, the more the Carbon Content the more the hardness(measured in terms in Rockwell Scale), wear resistance and edge retention (but more brittle and harder to sharpen) . D2 being a tool steel has a carbon content of 1.5.

http://www.spyderco.com/edge-u-cation/S ... hart11.pdf


Cold Steels San Mai is not a steel type but as per my limited understanding a laminated blade done very similar to the Japanese Katana Blades with a combination of soft & hard steels.Most of teh Cold Steel and Sog Blades are in Japanese Aus 8 Steel which is fantastic, even the chinese version 8Cr13Mov used in the budget range of Spydercos Tenacious, persistance, Byrd Series is fantastic and takes a superb razor sharp edge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminated_steel_blade

P.S: But unless you are an Infantry soldier or a hard core outdoorsman and your life depended on the blade no reason to be very finicky about the steel in your blade. But nonetheless it is a very interesting subject to study and learn about.

Best Regards
Moin.

[Rolf]

Thanks a lot Moin. Yes, you are right, metallurgy is really very fascinating, and yes, if you take proper care of your blades, whether its carbon or not, they will last long

Thanks again
Regards
Rolf