It is. I’ve brought it up before. They never corrected it. It is 8 percent though! I was confused till I got a direct answer. And according to Frederic haakonsen the heat treat is dependent on the elemental makeup of course. He helped me on the heat treat, and I had to get exacts on the makeup before he would help me. I wish they would update it. Doesn’t seem to difficult to do.
What's your opinion of A8 Mod's fine edge stability? I know it's considered a "chopper" or "sword" steel by seemingly most commentators, but what would stop a guy from making a wood working knife with the stuff? Or maybe a 5-8" "survival" knife?
Well I make a lot of different knives out of it. I really think it’s a versatile steel personally. Run at 60-61 rc it would have good enough fine edge stability. That’s just my personal opinion. I run mine at 59, and I’ve had no issues as my primary hunting blade. I’ve skinned and quartered several elk this year with no issues. If that’s not testing, I’m not sure what is. I’ve taken several blades to destruction in my testing, and I’ve been more than impressed. For me, I’ll continue using it, in testing it’s tougher than 3v, yet holds an edge almost as long, as far as wood and game processing. 3v may cut longer because of the vanadium. But A8 is Way easier to touch up than high alloy steels. And it’s much cheaper. I think only 8670 and s7 are tougher, but not by much. And this holds a better, and longer edge. I’ve done some extensive testing, and have tried different heat treats. And with the results I’ve gotten, I ordered a lot of it. Lol. It’s more of a malleable steel, it won’t chip, you may get some edge rolling at more acute edge angles! But I’m running my smaller knives at a near zero convex, and they’ve held up great. Even carving and chopping wood. If I have to chop bone, I fatten the edge up a little.
Cool. I just bought some.
| A8 Modified Carbon Steel, HRDA × 1 ( .124 in x 23.5 in x 1.5 in ) | Wife will yell at me. |
| A8 Modified Carbon Steel, Flat Ground × 1 ( .150 in x 11.6 in x 1.5 in ) | No sex tonight. |
I will do my own heat treatment. That's a big part of the fun for me. 1900F, 30 min. Maybe 1925, 20 min. 400F tempers. Plates and dry ice slurry.
I think Dulo knives also use A8mod from Bestar. Or, at least, they used, some years ago.
Dulo knives look sweet. Never heard of them until now.
rodriguezryan14
What is your favorite heat treat protocol. A friend might be sending me some blanks to heat treat and I could use some suggestions.
You asked zillion question here but you would not share HT protocol you use with members here ? Why ?
Because I don’t need to. Do you ask Nate and others the same question? If you look up above, you’ll see the other heat treat I recommend! I spent a lot of time refining this, I don’t feel I need to share absolutely everything about it!
This is what I started with, and I’ve refined it from here. If I take the time to test and refine a process, why should I share absolutely everything about it? This is my hard invested time. And as a single father and part time knife maker, who works a full time job. And a lot of hours, my time is very important to me! It’s something I can’t get back!
I may have came off rude. And I apologize. Yes. In the past I’ve asked a lot of questions. And I got little to no help. So I’ve learned how to refine my own process based off the data sheets. I have no issues helping people. But I don’t think everyone needs to know exactly what I do. It’s my process that I’ve developed through trial and error and a lot of broken blades!! I don’t really test coupons. I test actual knives! If anyone pm’s me, I have no issue helping them how I can. I just don’t feel like I need to make it public for everyone to see. Kind of like some other companies and certain smaller knife makers. It’s my proprietary heat treat for that specific alloy. I started with a standard heat treat, 1900 aus temp, 30 minute soak. Cryo and triple temper at 400. I worked from there and found better attributes with different hold times and different steps and tempering temps! Not a big deal. It just took time and testing! I still use that heat treat for certain things, but I also use my own developed heat treat for other blades!
I like how you test...... I saw the hammer test. Pretty impressed!!!
I can be a little extreme sometimes. But what can I say, I like tough blades. That’s why I started making knives to begin with. I’ve been using thinner stock lately because of the toughness I can get with this heat treat. I tend to go overboard , but with the tests I’ve done, I know I won’t have failures in the field with normal use! You should see some of my flex test and hammer impact videos!
