52 HRC blade? What's the point of this?

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whereismyknife

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May 20, 2023
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I saw this on the internet. What's the point of doing something like this? Is there a purpose to making a 52 HRC knife? So it's also strange that they wrote about it.Isn't this too soft a knife for any job?
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You can cut a lot of stuff with that soft a blade. Lots of Walmart knives are that soft or even softer.

Some of it here might be easy recurve sharpening. Otherwise, it is often a hedge against user error, people chipping blades, warranty calls and returns.
 
Chronovore said:
You can cut a lot of stuff with that soft a blade. Lots of Walmart knives are that soft or even softer.

Some of it here might be easy recurve sharpening. Otherwise, it is often a hedge against user error, people chipping blades, warranty calls and returns.
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Yes, you can cut a lot of things, but you need to sharpen after each one.
 
whereismyknife said:
I saw this on the internet. What's the point of doing something like this? Is there a purpose to making a 52 HRC knife? So it's also strange that they wrote about it.Isn't this too soft a knife for any job?
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Think some machetes are run at about that hardness.
As somebody aluded to, for centuries a lot of blades were produced at that hardness or not much harder. So, yes. It's usable. You just want to carry a pocket steel for straightening the edge every once in a while. Doesn't need to be sharpened, just needs the edge straightened. Just like with most kitchen knives.

As for marking it on the knife? I dunno. Truth in advertising?
 
knarfeng said:
Think some machetes are run at about that hardness.
As somebody aluded to, for centuries a lot of blades were produced at that hardness or not much harder. So, yes. It's usable. You just want to carry a pocket steel for straightening the edge every once in a while. Doesn't need to be sharpened, just needs the edge straightened. Just like with most kitchen knives.

As for marking it on the knife? I dunno. Truth in advertising?
Click to expand...

It's like traditional scything. The blades are very soft. Their set-up includes a special rig for sharpening tools and they do it frequently.

Analogous from a higher level, consider 8Cr13Mov. Whether or not you get it at 55HRC or 58HRC, that hair-popping fine edge doesn't last long at all. It quickly drops to a ho-hum working edge and that's where most of its edge retention lives. Imagine stropping or sharpening after every 15-20 feet of cardboard cut (or whatever equivalent). You could keep that "screaming sharp" edge all day long.

With some of these lesser steels run even softer, you could do the same after ever six feet or so. 😜
 
the lower hrc values like that usually make for a very tough blade, useful if you tend to abuse them

many machetes in 1070 tend to be around 52 hrc, ... very low risk of snapping or chipping along the edge, it might roll a bit but easily pushed back into shape & sharpened on river stone
 
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