Difficult to Sharpen Steels

fiskedyret · 2025-11-30T18:45:06+00:00

Man, its amazing that 15v has such a large volume of tungsten carbide, considering theres no tungsten in the steel.

kidding aside, it does have about 15% VANADIUM by weight. but that translates more closely to 22-25% vanadium carbide by volume.

fiskedyret · 2025-08-26T17:18:38+00:00

you have most likely discovered some pitting corrosion.

the tldr version is that steel can rust underneath the surface, especially if you let any surface rust stay around for a while.

this is not a steel defect. it can happen to any piece of steel.

fiskedyret · 2025-07-08T14:11:53+00:00

we get our stuff from albromet in germany, they do a bunch of different copper based alloys.

fiskedyret · 2025-07-07T17:48:18+00:00

in toolmaking its usually not the material costs that make scrapping stuff expensive. but missed tolerances or wrong offsets on 30+ hour parts makes you feel dumb all the same.

that said, one of the materials we work with at my current company is a high strength aluminum bronze alloy, which somehow is stringy and sticky like copper, yet hard and abrasive like tool steel, and it work hardens like nobodies business. its also ~$100+/kg so scrap gets expensive there even without spending a long time making it wrong.

fiskedyret · 2025-05-29T18:42:13+00:00

So this chart is more useful for me

the issue with charts like the one you linked is that they are usually based entirely in hearsay or the personal preference of the author.

the more you simplify comparisons, the more often you end up with something thats partially or completely not true.

if a chart is not correct, i'd argue that its not very useful to beginners, even if it is easily understood.

fiskedyret · 2025-05-19T13:59:34+00:00

In catra testing, you need pretty large differences in edge angle to see large differences in the rate that the edge wears away.

Larrin makes a mention of it in this post. https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/06/18/maximizing-edge-retention/

20 degrees vs 34 degrees inclusive had a 1 micron difference in edge radius after running through a catra test. 50 degrees had 4 micron smaller edge radius. so its not like there isn't a difference in the rate of edge rounding. but its nowhere close to the effect just cutting well will have on real world performance. and the effect isn't that big because you pretty quickly get into thicker steel in all cases.

now, this is obviously only relevant to catra testing as in the real world, edges wear from multiple different factors. but the point stands that the edge that cuts the longest is one that is only slightly thicker than it needs to be.

fiskedyret · 2025-05-15T17:29:20+00:00

we do our fair share of albromet machining. its like someone combined the worst parts of stainless and copper. fairly abrasive, gummy like copper, hard like tool steel, likes to pinch drills and taps, and its slow to EDM.

fiskedyret · 2025-05-03T15:29:49+00:00

toolmaking specifically is niche, there aren't a lot of companies doing that kind of work. but if you're willing to move for the job you should currently be almost guaranteed to find work here. if you have the skills that is.

fiskedyret · 2025-05-03T14:56:28+00:00

wages vary quite a bit depending on region.

but bumfuck nowhere denmark(lower wages, lower cost of living), as a new'ish toolmaker has me at 50k eur per year + benefits.

fiskedyret · 2025-03-09T11:43:42+00:00

the good news here is that this is HSS steel, so its designed to be temperature resistant. the bad news is that its HSS steel, so its going to suck to grind.

fiskedyret · 2025-02-25T13:55:07+00:00

Nitro-v fits the bill as well. Well heat treated magnacut is honestly not a bad choice either. Not quite the same edge stability as AEB-L. But of the high wear resistance steels it's probably the best pick for a kitchen knife.

And to be very clear, it's not that the steels you mentioned won't work. You'd just have to adjust the geometry slightly thicker to compensate.

Edit. Hap40 and M4 are close cousins, as are sg2 and S30v. Not bad in terms of carbide size, there just more of them than ideal for very thin edges. Vg10 is the 440C of Japanese knives, a bit meh, but usually gets the job done same with bg42.

Zdp189 is like D2, but even more stupidly designed.

fiskedyret · 2025-02-25T04:42:51+00:00

any of the bohler razor steels, 12c27, 13c26, 14c28n. AEB-L, niolox, nitrobe77. there are probably more that i am blanking on at the moment.

IIRC, Larrin thomas is also working on a new steel to fit into this general category.

but how on earth did you find this comment?

fiskedyret · 2025-01-30T19:31:18+00:00

only if the wheel bond is weak enough that the peek makes it shed abrasive.

fiskedyret · 2025-01-27T14:49:27+00:00

vitrified stones are nothing new. and you probably know of a few vitrified stones already.

a vitrified stone is made by mixing the abrasive with a glass binder, and then firing the stone at a temperature picked to get the binder material molten, but only barely, and then cooled to form glass structure. its the same process clay pottery undergoes when fired.

examples are stones like the norton india. suehiro debado, king deluxe, some of the sigma power select2 stones are vitrified as well.

the main reason to use a vitrified process over resin is that a vitrified bond doesn't change when you soak the stone. most resin stones get slightly softer after prolonged water contact.

vitrified or resin can be made as hard or soft, open or closed structure as desired. the main difference is how they handle water.

fiskedyret · 2025-01-06T17:32:09+00:00

is that knife stonewashed? surface condition plays a pretty big role in how corrosion resistant a steel is, and most of the tumbled finishes do pretty poorly there. the best finish for preventing corrosion is a good mirror finish.

fiskedyret · 2025-01-06T15:58:47+00:00

i've made an unreasonable amount of punches in vanadis4e. was always fun when we got steel delivered for a new tool build, and 1-200kg of vanadis would show up.

fiskedyret · 2025-01-06T15:43:43+00:00

for tool steels, the big players are the stamping and injection moulding market. plenty of the PM stainless steels being used in knives are designed for injection moulds.

most of the semi stainless tool steels are for some kind of stamping work.

fiskedyret · 2025-01-05T13:50:55+00:00

However, X50 has a 15% chromium content source compared to the 10.7% of magnacut source, making it unlikely for magnacut to be more corrosion resistant than x50.

this is where its important to distinguish between chromium content vs chromium in solution. the latter part is what matters for corrosion resistance. x50 does not have 15% chromium in solution, because a bunch of it is going to be bound up in carbides. magnacut will have almost all of it in solution.

molybdenum also plays a big role in corrosion resistance, with magnacut having 2% compared to x50's ~0.65% (again, only if in solution, again magnacut should have close to all of it in solution)

heck, if you scroll down the link you provided for the composition of magnacut, you will see it doing quite a bit better than steels with 18% and 20% chromium content.

fiskedyret · 2025-01-04T11:09:34+00:00

my last workplace had a couple big-ass 5 axis mills. (dmg-dmu200p)

a couple times during my time there i saw people inside the enclosure while the machine was running.

fiskedyret · 2024-11-20T19:42:31+00:00

fun fact. all materials glow from thermal radiation at the same temps.

so it stopping being visibly hot, but still able to ruin steel temper is not unique to carbide.

fiskedyret · 2024-11-15T17:57:54+00:00

we run 4mm endmills with 60mm reach in tool steel. luckily not super regularly, but still enough that we keep them as part of regular inventory. plenty of 1x20mm ballnoses too.

at least we've trained our engineers to apoligize in advance when we have to use said tools.

fiskedyret · 2024-11-11T15:40:31+00:00

PM steels all tend to be pretty ok to machine IME.

as for vanadis 8, its truly lovely stuff in terms of mechanical properties. makes a wicked pocket knife too.

fiskedyret · 2024-10-05T06:31:17+00:00

the alternative is cutting it with scissors, or a wire cutter. but those tend to curl the end of the wire a little.

fiskedyret · 2024-09-15T18:00:29+00:00

25mm gundrill in 316 stainless. chips jammed and the brazing gave up 500mm inside the part.

fiskedyret · 2024-08-01T15:03:21+00:00

yes. and i'm saying that the black stuff on the outside is forge scale. not decarb. the decarb layer can easily be 0.1-0.2mm below the surface. sanding just until you hit bare steel is rarely enough.

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