Other information.
STEEL QUALITIES
What is a stainless steel, in general?
Roughly, we can say that the stainless steel has been around for about a hundred years only while the high carbon steel is well known for more than a thousand years. So what is a stainless steel? In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel, is a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5% chromium content by mass.
Stainless steel does not corrode very easy. However, it isn’t fully rust-proof in low-oxygen, high-salinity, or poor air-circulation environments. There are different grades and surface finishes of stainless steel to suit the environment the alloy must manage. Stainless steel is used when both the properties of steel and corrosion resistance are required. Treating a stainless steel knife with some common sense, you will have a problem-free knife for many years.
Stainless steel differs from high carbon steel by the amount of chromium present. Stainless steels contain sufficient chromium to form a passive film of chromium oxide, which prevents further surface corrosion by blocking oxygen diffusion to the steel surface and blocks corrosion from spreading into the metal’s internal structure. Due to the similar size of the steel and oxide ions, they bond very strongly and remain attached to the surface.
420H: High Carbon content
420: Steel with partial high Carbon content. Very stain resistant and tough. Easy to re-sharpen.
“MOVA” 1.4116 (X50CrMoV15):
It´s classic steel used in fixed knives and folding knives. An excellent
combination of Molybdenum and Vanadium that is highly stain
resistant, though and corrosion resistant.
SANDVIK 14C28N:
One of the best stainless steels to make knives. Increased
nitrogen in the formula enables 14C28N to provide both
excellent corrosion resistance and the ability to be hardened
to 58-61 Rockwell.
RWL34:
One of the most appreciated steels. RWL34 uses a rapid solified
powder system (RSP). Based steel which assures the following
properties:
- incomparable purity and free of inclusions
- extreme edge sharpness
- easy to maintain
- high hardness
- tough
- high corrosion resistance
BÖHLER N690:
Premium steel, which is most peculiar for its content of:
- 5% Cobalt
- Carbon 1.07%
- Chromium 17%
- Manganese 0.40%
- Molybdenum 1.10%
- Silicon 0.40%
- Vanadium 0.10%
Cobalt allows for a very uniform structure of the steel, as well as excellent edge retention and wear resistance.
STAINLESS DAMASCUS STEEL:
The “Stainless Damascus Steel” consists out of a compound up to 130 layers.
It can range between 90 and 130 depending on the thickness and production.
Using two kind of rapidly solidified powder steels (RWL34-PMC27) welded at a temperature of 1150ºC and at a gas pressure of about 1.000 atmospheres.
This results in a hard and durable material, heat resistant.
Thereby increasing radically the fracture strength.
DAMASCUS VG10:
Hand-Crafted in the way they made Samurai swords.
These traditional Japanese kitchen knives, uses VG10 laminated blades.
The VG10 High Carbon Cobalt core is clad with 7 layers of stainless
steel (410) on each side, producing the beautiful 15 layers
Damascus steel. VG10 is known as “Super Steel” that holds
its sharpness longer than other steels.
DAMASCUS (CARBON STEEL):
“Damascus steel” forged by hand following
ancient techniques.
Fallkniven Lamite Steel:
Fallkniven uses in some of their products, laminate steel. Such a steel is at least 20 % stronger than a solid stainless steel. Designing a survival knife you always have to consider about the strength of the knife since you might be forced to use the knife beyond standards. Usually we go for strong low/medium carbon stainless steel for the outer layers and add VG10, Cobalt-Special or Super Gold Powder Steel as a center steel. The 420J2 is a low-carbon high chromium alloy steel and we are using that because of its strength and its almost corrosion-free properties. We’re using VG2 stainless steel as well and, with a higher carbon content, the VG2 steel is less scratch sensitive than the 420J2, a little stronger but also more expensive and tougher to work.
Cowry X: An extreme powder steel developed by Mr. Ichiro Hattori
SGPS: Super Gold Powder steel
CoS: A newly developed high alloy cobalt-special steel
VG10: A well known high alloy molybdenum/cobalt steel
VG2: A standard semi alloy strong stainless steel
420J2: A standard low carbon durable stainless steel