Recommendation? "German Tungsten Steel" ?

POCEH KOCEB

POCEH KOCEB

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Nov 21, 2013
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Evening Gents. Good friend of mine gave me this knife made by Coolino Company.

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Not bad for kitchen knife. I personally like a lot the blade geometry, very suitable for working on meat,
little bit heavier and thick (3mm blade thickness at the spine) for cutting veggies but bearable.
What I like with this company is the fact that in the description of the knife, they give you the sharpening angle of the edge and
the approximate hardness of the steel, listed as 57-58 HRC, also the type of steel they used.

I was some how intrigued by the description of the steel. "German Tungsten"... So I did dig around, found the formula but it only
gives me some general idea how the steel should perform.

So my question is to whoever knows more about the properties of the steel and basically, whoever used it - what's your impression,
does it really holds edge because of the Tungsten contain and everything one can think about it...

I only used it few times so far and find it to be sharpened very well, for my needs, but I don't have long experience with it...
Thanks in advance!

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Cedric & Ada did a test on one and thought the steel performed like a basic carbon steel, but he had some trouble keeping all the variables consistent due to some manufacturing defects. It seems like they're more of a marketing company that might be dropshipping knives from China and promoting them heavily on Instagram and Youtube.

 
Larrin said:
If you post the steel composition we can tell you more
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That's what I thought, so I looked up the Coolino Company web site. Unfortunately "German Tungsten steel" is as much info as I could find there. So, some sort of non-stainless tool steel.
 
I like the blade shape. But it would bug me to have a kitchen knife where the handle extends above the heel of the blade
 
There are lots of steels that could be called German Tungsten Steel, and 57-58 Rc would be a very odd choice for 1.2442.
 
Just spitballing here, Larrin, but couldn't most "high speed" steels be termed "tungsten steels," since W seems to be a key ingredient if not THE key ingredient of HSS?
 
Cementite said:
Just spitballing here, Larrin, but couldn't most "high speed" steels be termed "tungsten steels," since W seems to be a key ingredient if not THE key ingredient of HSS?
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Yes, those could. Many low alloy high carbon steels could, which includes 1.2442, or even boring old O1. There is also S1, which goes by a few different names in Europe, which is a lower carbon steel around 0.5% carbon.
 
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Gents, thank you for responding so far.

Yes, I also got to the "1.2442 Tungsten carbon steel" from Z-knives, but it didn't tell me much.
My guess was that it is some kitchen flavor of Stainless Steel Germans are using for those type of knives,
with some Tungsten addition to make it more wear resistant ?
On the other hand, it's getting just rust when left wet, so my guess changed to "carbon steel" +W.
Don't really feels like 57HRC when sharpening with diamonds, I progressed from 600 to 3000 on used plates and stropped it.
It sharpens nice and holds edge fine, strops fine with 1mi diamond paste.
I did polish the bare part of the metal and it gets little less spots but needs cleaning right after one finish cleaning it.
I do love the geometry of the edge, very comfortable to work, at least for me.

I'm still hoping to learn more about the effects of a W added to a Carbon steel, as well if someone did use such knife longer than me...

Another thing - I totally agree about the marketing and the whole "German"/Chinese origins of the Company...
Didn't want to go in much details in my initial post so I won't bloat it with such info.
They actually are some how open about it, mentioning in the site, that the company started by two guys with Russian sounding names.
Some Russian companies that I'm aware of, do use Chinese suppliers for parts or manufacturing, and even they describe the process of manufacturing the knives,
I doubt they do the blades in Germany but I can be mistaking.
I've seen those heavy blades before, and personally don't like them at all. I was surprised when received the gift, that they have such profile knife,
checked their site, and it was the only knife I actually liked.
So the knife could be Chinese made, but I like it so far and will use it mostly because of the ergos...
I'll go check Cedric and Ada's video, curious about their opinion, thanks for posting it.
 
So I found two links about "Tungsten Steel" but seriously doubt the knife listed around 56HRC will have any notable component of W in it's steel...
For the sake of curiosity to learn something new, I would appreciate if someone can briefly throw some light on the links, they have charts and info in it.
TIA!

Tungsten carbide is not a true alloy, but a ceramic-like compound made by using the sintering process where carbon black is added to tungsten powder and shaped to produce an extremely hard and brittle cement once cooled.
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Tungsten carbide comes in grades, depending on which binders have been used – these are commonly cobalt or nickel. Other carbides may be added in order to boost specific properties, especially with regards to density, hardness or transverse rupture strength.
Click to expand...
 
POCEH KOCEB said:
So I found two links about "Tungsten Steel" but seriously doubt the knife listed around 56HRC will have any notable component of W in it's steel...
For the sake of curiosity to learn something new, I would appreciate if someone can briefly throw some light on the links, they have charts and info in it.
TIA!


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There is too much diversity of what the steel could be, but here you go:
knifesteelnerds.com

The History of the First Tool Steel - Knife Steel Nerds

The steel largely recognized as being the “first tool steel” was developed by Robert Forester Mushet, a British metallurgist, in 1868 [1]. Mushet improved the Bessemer steelmaking process through the addition of a small amount of manganese [1]. Later Mushet was experimenting with various...
knifesteelnerds.com knifesteelnerds.com
 
Larrin Larrin and all you guys who chimed in, thank you very much ! This clears the question with the steel.
As I mentioned - I like the knife and will find purpose for it in the kitchen.
 
As long as it's not Huusk knife made of 18/10 "high carbon" pot steel "forged and heat treated the same way as samurai swords" I think you're OK.

Does your knife has some (AI generated) pisitive reviews from thise "world known" cheff masters?
 
1
Larrin said:
There is too much diversity of what the steel could be, but here you go:
knifesteelnerds.com

The History of the First Tool Steel - Knife Steel Nerds

The steel largely recognized as being the “first tool steel” was developed by Robert Forester Mushet, a British metallurgist, in 1868 [1]. Mushet improved the Bessemer steelmaking process through the addition of a small amount of manganese [1]. Later Mushet was experimenting with various...
knifesteelnerds.com knifesteelnerds.com
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1.2419 (105WCr6) is popular with some German makers @62-63 HRC.

I've seen 1.2562 (142WV13) used as well, @64-67 HRC.
 
TC said:
1


1.2419 (105WCr6) is popular with some German makers @62-63 HRC.

I've seen 1.2562 (142WV13) used as well, @64-67 HRC.
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Yes, and based on other information given in this thread it seems unlikely to be either of those.
 
TheOne45 said:
As long as it's not Huusk knife made of 18/10 "high carbon" pot steel "forged and heat treated the same way as samurai swords" I think you're OK.

Does your knife has some (AI generated) pisitive reviews from thise "world known" cheff masters?
Click to expand...
Honestly, I didn't check reviews except the video suggested in this thread, and I have mixed feelings about it because the "knife" reviewed was a cleaver, not a knife.
If I remember correctly (don't quote me on this) the description in the site is different about everything else but the knife I was given.
It performed fairly well in the tests against the two other cleavers - the Victorinox and the inexpensive Chinese one.
It's funny how Cedrick suggested Victorinox to be a better cleaver since it lacks any mass, weight, essential for this type kitchen tools...
The one reviewed have good mass and edge retention so...

When sharpen the knife, it feels abut right to be 56HRC which is perfectly fine with me for kitchen knife that I'm touching every time I finish cleaning.
As I said - it's not heavy and I really like the geometry of the blade, especially when working with meat or chopping veggies.

After reading Larrin's article, I got some idea about the steel and will see if it holds edge the way they claim, I also agree with the two posts above about the used steel,
it is probably some German flavor carbon steel with some small amount of W just to claim it in the description. I'm fine with marketing gimmicks as long as the product works for me...
 
POCEH KOCEB said:
Honestly, I didn't check reviews except the video suggested in this thread, and I have mixed feelings about it
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It was just a joke; don't take it seriously.

POCEH KOCEB said:
When sharpen the knife, it feels abut right to be 56HRC which is perfectly fine with me for kitchen knife that I'm touching every time I finish cleaning.
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Looks like you are very serious about your kitchen knives.
I have no idea about the steel of my kitchen knives. They don't rust and that's all I know.
I discovered how to sharpen them to stay sharp fairly long and when they get dull I sharpen them again and that's it.

POCEH KOCEB said:
it is probably some German flavor carbon steel with some small amount of W just to claim it in the description
Click to expand...
I personally would not over think about this steel. They say ''Hand-Forged Carbon Steel Chef Knives''. I sure would like to know what's in there.
If the steel was something special they would mention on their site with big fat golden letters.

Just to add;
I was just looking at Coolina official site and the way this site is made and the way they write and everything in between my gut feeling tells me they are somewhere at the same level as Huusk company. Hehe; read some of those reviews ... oh man, just pathetic. I don't know why but I have a strange feeling the same person wrote all of those reviews.
I for sure would not buy something from them.
 
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