52-100

Gadsden

Gadsden

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Jul 19, 2014
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Hello my fellow knife nuts. Can anyone give me some input on 52-100? I just got a new knife with this steel. It is the Hess Outdoorsman. After a little research I learned it is chrome steel. I contacted Hess to ask the hardness of the blade, they said it was around 58rc. It is my first Hess model, so far I am pleased with it. Fit and finish is great, it also came with a good leather sheath. Thanks.
 
Gadsden said:
Hello my fellow knife nuts. Can anyone give me some input on 52-100? I just got a new knife with this steel. It is the Hess Outdoorsman. After a little research I learned it is chrome steel. I contacted Hess to ask the hardness of the blade, they said it was around 58rc. It is my first Hess model, so far I am pleased with it. Fit and finish is great, it also came with a good leather sheath. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Its a great steel. Glad you like that hess I am going order a couple
Jake
 
You could think of AISI 52100 alloy steel as 1095 carbon steel, but with about 1.5% chromium added to it. Performance is roughly similar.

Not enough chromium to have an impact on corrosion resistance. Enough to form some carbides.
 
52100

C: 0.98-1.10; Cr: 1.30-1.60; Mn: 0.25-0.45;
Ni: 0.30; P: 0.025-0.030; S: 0.025;
Si: 0.15-0.30; Cu: 0.20-0.30; Al: 0.050;

Standard: AISI (US)

Notes:
Formerly a ball-bearing steel, and as such previously only used by forgers, it's available in bar stock now. It is similar to 5160 (though it has around 1% carbon vs. 5160 ~.60%), but holds an edge better. It is less tough than 5160. It is used often for hunting knives and other knives where the user is willing to trade off a little of 5160's toughness for better wear resistance. However, with the continued improvement of 52100 heat treat, this steel is starting to show up in larger knives and showing excellent toughness. A modified 52100 under the SR-101 name is being used by Jerry Busse in his Swamp Rat knives.

That is from the knife steel ap I have on my phone. My personal experience with it has been overwhelmingly positive! It's great stuff. Very tough and very wear resistant. Holds an edge a long time, and pretty easy to sharpen.
 
The 52100 is a popular steel for bearings but other things too. There are others such as 51100 , a whole series differing mainly in carbon and chromium content.Been used for knives for a long time .
 
Great input guys, I will be putting this blade through some use this hunting season.
 
As a knife maker and user, 52100 is my favorite carbon steel. If you are a fan of 1095, O1, etc......you'll LOVE 52100. In my experience, it is easily as tough as those steels while having slightly better corrosion resistance. The best trait of this steel, is how fined grained it is. You can get 52100 screaming sharp! It's also relatively easy to restore/maintain that edge. I've also found it to have good edge stability with acute edge geometry. This hunter I did was heat treated and cryoed to Rc 60 and has a 25 degree inclusive bevel and will hold up to any task in that role.

MapleBurlHunter.jpg
 
Thanks for the info. That is one great looking blade Adam, nice job. You also answered a question that I was thinking about. If 52-100 is a very fine grained steel than it should make for fine edge right?
 
52100 is one of my favorite knife steels.

I find it's very easy to get and maintain a razor sharp edge on this steel.

My steel of choice for dedicated slicers.

Not very corrosion resistant, I little better then the simple 10XX steels.

It will Patina readily if used cutting meats, fruit and vegetables.

Here are a few of my slicers after a season on BBQ and homegrown Tomatoes:

RQRhXO3.jpg


Note: The bulk of that patina will polish off fairly easily,

...I just don't bother when they are in daily use. :eek:



One of the best Old-School high carbon steels. :thumbup: :cool: :thumbup:



Big Mike
 
Big Mike said:
52100 is one of my favorite knife steels.

I find it's very easy to get and maintain a razor sharp edge on this steel.

My steel of choice for dedicated slicers.

Not very corrosion resistant, I little better then the simple 10XX steels.

It will Patina readily if used cutting meats, fruit and vegetables.

Here are a few of my slicers after a season on BBQ and homegrown Tomatoes:

RQRhXO3.jpg


Note: The bulk of that patina will polish off fairly easily,

...I just don't bother when they are in daily use. :eek:



One of the best Old-School high carbon steels. :thumbup: :cool: :thumbup:



Big Mike
Click to expand...

Those are beautiful mike :thumbup:
 
Gadsden said:
Thanks for the info. That is one great looking blade Adam, nice job. You also answered a question that I was thinking about. If 52-100 is a very fine grained steel than it should make for fine edge right?
Click to expand...

Grain size doesn't really have any bearing on edge sharpness. Thats carbide size.
 
I'm with Big Mike on 52100 being one of my favorites. A well made and heat treated knife in this steel can be a real eye opener to people brought up on 440A/C, 420HC, 1065 up to 1095, etc. All of these steels are good quality cutlery steels and done well by companies like Buck, Ontario, Ka Bar, etc. keep people happy every deer season around this country. They are "premium" steels when done properly. 52100 when done right at , say, rc 62 strays well into the super premium steel category. It has very high scores for toughness and wear resistance. It's an alloy steel designed for bearings and most bearings do pretty well as cutlery as the attributes they need for bearing/race use lends itself to a wear resistant, tough edge capable of hitting rc 60 ( or higher) without getting too chippy to be useful. That helps with edge stability as well. Good grain structures and good quality, clean composition from batch to batch are also one reason they are desired by cutlers.

Of course things have gotten easier for knife makers with powder steels, VimVar clean steels being available and easier to find now than 10-15 years ago without getting into buying huge amounts of steel. It used to be very tough to find steels like 52100 in sheet or plate form much less rolled thin enough and ground for knife use.

52100 has been surpassed in some areas it remains an excellent steel for knives that don't need high levels of corrosion resistance. It remains one of my all time favorites and plan on always having at least one knife made from 52100 kicking around if for no other reason than as a link, and a remembrance of my younger days, both better and worse in some respects. I suppose that's the story of steel itself. :)
 
In my robe cutting test, a knife made from 52100 with thermal cycling normalizing, lower austenitizing and heat treat to around 61RC out cut Spyderco Military with reground blade by large margin.
 
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