Cryo Temper

[Apocryphiliac]

Chris, I saw you mentioned some time back that you were thinking about doing cryos on your blades. Just wondering what yours and others’ thoughts are on that. I have heard people swear by it, but I’m neither a metallurgist nor a knife maker. Curious if it really adds as much as some people say.

 

[FeralGentleman]

I'm curious to hear Chris' thoughts as well. Last time I spoke to him, I know he had the process in motion for somewhere down the pipeline. So he must think it is worth doing. I know he is busy getting the new 80CRV2 oxide finish line up and moving so not a lot of time there to add another step to the process.

For someone meticulous about maintaining their knives, I wonder what the added benefit, if any, would be for the average knife user in real term use. I know for me, I sometimes strop when I don't even need to. It is strangely therapeutic to me, and I like the opportunities to get out the WE and touch up a knife. Yet, who wouldn't want a knife that had an extra process to it that increased the edge stability and kept it sharper longer? Definite plus for anyone using a knife in a professional setting.

It also sounds good to say a knife had a cryogenic process done to it

 

[Apocryphiliac]

It also sounds good to say a knife had a cryogenic process done to it

Yes, it sounds very cool (no pun intended).

I feel like I read somewhere along the line that a cryo quench causes the martensite to become more uniform, but I don't understand these things well enough to say that it is really a noticeable difference to the end user.

I also seem to remember hearing that it frees chromium so that stainless properties are enhanced. This feels a little more dubious to me, but again, what do I know... I'm just a simple caveman.

Again though, I think the process of knifemaking is so cool, (why I love the way Chris posts pictures of the process!) and always interested to hear more details about the way it all works.