Steel and blade material that doesn't need hardening?

I think the steel that Cutco uses is 440A
Not bad, But even 440C is a big improvement. I sharpen a lot of cutco and its funny when customers come in for the first time and tell me that they have the best knives in the world and they purchased them from the son, Daughter, Neighbor kid etc.

They certainly aren't the best knives in the world, but they are a usable cutlery and better than some of the other junk people bring in for sharpening.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Quite a few years back I was talking with Chuck Bybee (Alpha Knife Supply), who I believe to be the exclusive distributor of Talonite. He mentioned that initially Talonite was known as Stellite 6BH, but because of confusion related to Stellite 6K, it was renamed Talonite.

Over the years I've made several knives using the material. Having said that, I believe it to be a task specific blade material choice. Dive Knives for instance, due to its extreme resistance to corrosion.
It's also non-magnetic, so it could also be a good choice for Military personnel working with things that go "Boom !!"

IMO, when working with Talonite, edge grind angles will need to be adjusted, less acute than the 20*-30* angles we normally use for primary edge angles when grinding carbon steels.

Although a 30* primary edge angle on Talonite might hold up ok when slicing meat, fruit and any other soft material, it will most likely roll when it hits bone or other hard materials.

As with so many other blade materials, it definitely has it's followers. Some guys love it.

Like many of you, I make my knives using the old adage, "form follows function". So I guess it does have it's place.

Give him a buzz, Chuck Bybee is a great guy ! There's no doubt in my mind he'll share all he knows in regards to the material.


:42:
 
David Wesner said:
Quite a few years back I was talking with Chuck Bybee (Alpha Knife Supply), who I believe to be the exclusive distributor of Talonite. He mentioned that initially Talonite was known as Stellite 6BH, but because of confusion related to Stellite 6K, it was renamed Talonite.

Over the years I've made several knives using the material. Having said that, I believe it to be a task specific blade material choice. Dive Knives for instance, due to its extreme resistance to corrosion.
It's also non-magnetic, so it could also be a good choice for Military personnel working with things that go "Boom !!"

IMO, when working with Talonite, edge grind angles will need to be adjusted, less acute than the 20*-30* angles we normally use for primary edge angles when grinding carbon steels.

Although a 30* primary edge angle on Talonite might hold up ok when slicing meat, fruit and any other soft material, it will most likely roll when it hits bone or other hard materials.

As with so many other blade materials, it definitely has it's followers. Some guys love it.

Like many of you, I make my knives using the old adage, "form follows function". So I guess it does have it's place.

Give him a buzz, Chuck Bybee is a great guy ! There's no doubt in my mind he'll share all he knows in regards to the material.


:42:
Click to expand...

David,
I did call Alpha and Perhaps Chucks wife was the nice lady that answered the phone?
She said they no longer carry Talonite.

I have decided to pass on it anyway due to the cost from the source I found. CPM-154 will do fine for these small gents folders I have in mind. Also after your experience with it I am even more sure that It's not what I want.
"Form follows Function"

I do thank for the info and will call and talk to Chuck If I ever do decide to make any knives with Talonite/Cobalt 6.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
rhinoknives said:
David,
I did call Alpha and Perhaps Chucks wife was the nice lady that answered the phone?
She said they no longer carry Talonite.

I have decided to pass on it anyway due to the cost from the source I found. CPM-154 will do fine for these small gents folders I have in mind. Also after your experience with it I am even more sure that It's not what I want.
"Form follows Function"

I do thank for the info and will call and talk to Chuck If I ever do decide to make any knives with Talonite/Cobalt 6.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
Click to expand...

My pleasure Laurence

Of course I can't be sure, but you may have talked with Chucks daughter Jessica. She's a sweetheart, and very knowledgeable about anything related to knives and the materials we use to make them.

In regards to deciding to use CPM154 - you can't go wrong with that one. It's excellent in virtually every aspect for making knives via stock removal method.


:cool:
 
I'm not sure such a perfect compromise exists. Either it will be to hard and/or brittle to drill/grind/cut efficiently, or it will be too soft to hold a useful edge. Anything outside of those criteria is likely to be very very expensive as you are already beginning to see.

Probably the closest you'll get without actually "heat treating" would be a titanium blade with a carbidized edge, but then you'd have to ask yourself if you're really saving anything? Not only are carbidizers very expensive (perhaps needlessly so) but it takes time to carbidize an edge, especially if you want it to look good.

I'm not sure how much time/money you'd ultimately be saving over heat treating and finishing a large batch of blades all at once.

The nice thing about keeping heat treating as part of your process is that you make the steel work for you, rather than you working for the steel.
 
Andrew,
You are correct so far that the main reason we still use Martinisic steels for knife blades is that it works in function and costs better than any other materials around.

I ground titanium once not knowing that the brightness of the sparks would give me a headache and boy did it.
I almost collapsed on my shop floor and had a migraine for about two weeks. I haven't tried to work ti since. lol.

CPM-154 and some Damascus blades will work for now.

Thanks everyone.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
I don't know if its useful information but I believe that talonite and stellite have very high elasticity which means the edge wil roll over when cutting hard materials if ground too thin.
 
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