I Don't Hear Much About Tungsten in Knife Steel

GatorFlash1

GatorFlash1

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May 28, 2012
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If you look at a standard knife steel chart you often find a bar with a "W" notation, from the periodic table. For my edc CPM-M4 Spyderco Gayle Bradley it runs about 5 1/2%. Anyone have a good info about the reason for the use of Tungsten in knife steel?
 
If you look at a standard knife steel chart you often find a "W", from the periodic table. For my edc CPM-M4 Spyderco Gayle Bradley, tungsten, "W", runs about 5 1/2%. Anyone have a good into to the use of Tungsten in knife steels?

Chemistries-of-tungsten-steels.jpg
 
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There are two main groups of steels with tungsten: low alloy steels and high speed steels. The article linked above covers the low alloy steels like O7 and Blue Super. The tungsten forms a hard WC carbide which contributes to wear resistance.

In high speed steels the W addition is for “hot hardness” and does not form WC. Instead it forms a W6C which isn’t as hard. https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/03/22/the-history-of-the-first-tool-steel/
 
Not exactly knife use but much of the 30-06, 308 , and 50 cal AP black tip ammo has a hardened steel core made out of something similar to F3 steel. Newer black tip AP stuff is made of tungsten carbide and in use is superior to the steel core ammo. Don't confuse the hardened steel core ammo with the soft steel core which is banned from import in 7.62x39 despite not being or performing like true AP ammo. On the gun and ammo bidding website you can often find ammo listed as AP that isn't such as the 7.62x39 . They call it AP in order to charge 3 to 4 times the amount per round. Likewise they will mislabel the tungsten steel AP ( old Ww2 and Korean war surplus black tip 30-06 which is very legal ) as tungsten core ammo to charge more than it is worth. I know of no real Tungsten carbide 30-06. Only some very rare tungsten carbide 7.62x51N core black tip and some 5.56 tungsten carbide core imported from Sweden by the US military .
 
The Mastiff said:
Not exactly knife use but much of the 30-06, 308 , and 50 cal AP black tip ammo has a hardened steel core made out of something similar to F3 steel. Newer black tip AP stuff is made of tungsten carbide and in use is superior to the steel core ammo. Don't confuse the hardened steel core ammo with the soft steel core which is banned from import in 7.62x39 despite not being or performing like true AP ammo. On the gun and ammo bidding website you can often find ammo listed as AP that isn't such as the 7.62x39 . They call it AP in order to charge 3 to 4 times the amount per round. Likewise they will mislabel the tungsten steel AP ( old Ww2 and Korean war surplus black tip 30-06 which is very legal ) as tungsten core ammo to charge more than it is worth. I know of no real Tungsten carbide 30-06. Only some very rare tungsten carbide 7.62x51N core black tip and some 5.56 tungsten carbide core imported from Sweden by the US military .
Click to expand...
So off topic...:p
Such a good read :):thumbsup:
 
Thanks to all for the great info about tungsten steel use in knives and rifle ammo. I'm surprised it is not used more frequently. My GB 1 is a very good every day use knife.
 
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