I've gone steel crazy

DeadboxHero said:
I'd follow the Protocol Tracy has up on Midwest knifemaker.

64rc should be where this stuff shines.

It should be used like a turbo charged Vanadis 4 extra that trades raw toughness/shock resistance for more strength and wear resistance yet has that sweet spot for not being edge chippy.

Tracy recommends
2 preheats and a 2010°F Austenizing, soak for 15min

Plate quench

Temper twice for two hours each for 950°F

I'd throw in a cryo immediately after quenched and up to room temperature.

Skip the snap temper. Immerse directly in the LN -300 for an hour then temper.

That should boost it to 65rc +


The steel is capable of going to extreme hardness 67rc plus but is perhaps not as ideal. The merit of V8E should be a balance of strength, wear resistance and chipping resistance.

I'd also recommend using very high end sharpening stones with this steel to get the most out of it.
Click to expand...
I can wait to use it!
And I definitely need some sweet stones. Everything now is just straight off the grinder. 600 grit SiC belt then buff to break the burr. 2 compounds. If I feel its needed I will bring it up to the green fine compound or red ultra fine.
Then I go to 1 mic diamond.
If I'm really feeling it I will go to 0.5 mic.
The edge that comes up is wild.
 
DeadboxHero said:
This steel is in the sweet spot of available steels that maxs out strength and wear resistance without being edge brittle.

K390, K294, Z-A11, CTS PMA11, and 10v will out cut this steel when used for purely cutting but the Vanadis 8 has qualities that balance it more towards edge toughness than the other A11 types. It's not shock resistant like lower alloy steels but will hold a wayyyyyy longer edge then S7, A8mod and 3V.

The edge it will hold it's shape better then most steels thanks to hitting that sweet spot for hardness, strength, wear resistance and relative toughness.

It's a high performance edge steel.


It's not the Nitrogen that helps with corrison that's the Chromium.

High chromium is not ideal for high strength and high toughness. You have to sacrifice some edge performance for stainless

But then you have to sacrifice ease of maintenance. Luckily a steel like this isn't going to be as reactive as 1095 etc.

Everything has trade offs.
Click to expand...
Sooo...
......
Badass pig sticker?
Because if not I'm just gonna make a cool camp knife or 2.
 
2 good camp knives will be worth more than a big pig sticker (imho)... unless you have someone that has agreed to pay a high price for a big sticker
 
The nitrogen helps with pitting when there is already a chromium oxide film. But you can't make a stainless steel with nitrogen alone.
 
ShannonSteelLabs said:
Vancron 40 has nitrogen. But I havemt seen any knives in it. Hell i havent even seen the steel for sale anywhere. Id love to mess with that too. As for the Vanadis 8 I'm not too worried about corrosion. 4.8% is more than M4 and 4V. I coat all my carbon steels with EDCi and rarely have issues. Only basic high carbon steels give me issues.
Stuff like:
80CRV2
8670
O1
5160.
Those rust super fast.
Click to expand...
Agreed on those simple Carbon Steels , I live a couple of blocks from the Pacific Ocean and when I started Knife Making I bought 3’ lengths of O1 & 1095, when the wind was
Up I could be finish grinding a HTed blade, Stop for lunch and come back. To see a few spots forming on the Steel from the Salt Air, I became a devote of the 440C and family of Steels from it, ATS-34, CM154 etc, I still use 440C for my large Culinary, & Camp blades & AEB-L and NitroV for the rest!
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Agreed on those simple Carbon Steels , I live a couple of blocks from the Pacific Ocean and when I started Knife Making I bought 3’ lengths of O1 & 1095, when the wind was
Up I could be finish grinding a HTed blade, Stop for lunch and come back. To see a few spots forming on the Steel from the Salt Air, I became a devote of the 440C and family of Steels from it, ATS-34, CM154 etc, I still use 440C for my large Culinary, & Camp blades & AEB-L and NitroV for the rest!
Click to expand...
You should give the Lc200n a try, Chuck has it at alpha knife supply
 
DeadboxHero said:
You should give the Lc200n a try, Chuck has it at alpha knife supply
Click to expand...
Haven’t heard of that one? I have some 100 plus water jet cut blades of 440c & NitroV As Of now, Plus I’m sure there is a few billets I’ve forgotten about I’m my shop, lol .... so it’s gonna be a while before I’m buying any more Steels but I appreciate the suggesting and will do some research on Lc200n.. Thanks
 
That’s sounds almost to good to be true! In the next year or so as I grind& handle all of my current inventory of profiled Blade & billets I’ll continue to read up and look for the sizes I’d want... thanks to Deadbox & Larrin!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
That’s sounds almost to good to be true! In the next year or so as I grind& handle all of my current inventory of profiled Blade & billets I’ll continue to read up and look for the sizes I’d want... thanks to Deadbox & Larrin!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
Click to expand...
It tops out at 59-60rc which is fine for what it is. It takes an excellent finish, its not as tough as AEB-L but should be more wear resistant. I think of it as a more stable, rust proof vg10(59-60) that sharpens better.

Real world testing amongst many different users shows great enthusiasm because of stability and ease of sharpening.

It doesn't have the horsepower of more expensive steels like Vanax that offer more wear resistance pushing close to Elmax


Nor does it have the higher hardness capability of bd1N, Nitro V or Nitrobe77

But it makes a blade that would really fit with what you like my friend and your customers would enjoy it too.
 
DeadboxHero said:
It tops out at 59-60rc which is fine for what it is. It takes an excellent finish, its not as tough as AEB-L but should be more wear resistant. I think of it as a more stable, rust proof vg10(59-60) that sharpens better.

Real world testing amongst many different users shows great enthusiasm because of stability and ease of sharpening.

It doesn't have the horsepower of more expensive steels like Vanax that offer more wear resistance pushing close to Elmax


Nor does it have the higher hardness capability of bd1N, Nitro V or Nitrobe77

But it makes a blade that would really fit with what you like my friend and your customers would enjoy it too.
Click to expand...
It sounds worth giving a try in one of my 7 3/4” Asian Chef patterns! 59-60 doesn’t bother me at all, I’ve have people here rant at about how AEB-L needs to be at 62-63 ... Since I started using these Steels about 8-10 years ago , I called Paul Farner at Paul Bos at chatted with him on this and he said an RC of 60 plus should work fine. So years ago, About 20? Paul Bos came to one of our Local Cal knife makers meetings and told us that there can be a Spread of a degree in hardness, that I should mark my blades, for instance, 58-59 for the CM-154 Steel I was asking about at the time .. I’ve sent all of my AEB-L & Nitro-V to be HTed at Paul Boss 60-61 and never had an issue with any I’ve made or sold... So how machinable is this LC200N???
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
It sounds worth giving a try in one of my 7 3/4” Asian Chef patterns! 59-60 doesn’t bother me at all, I’ve have people here rant at about how AEB-L needs to be at 62-63 ... Since I started using these Steels about 8-10 years ago , I called Paul Farner at Paul Bos at chatted with him on this and he said an RC of 60 plus should work fine. So years ago, About 20? Paul Bos came to one of our Local Cal knife makers meetings and told us that there can be a Spread of a degree in hardness, that I should mark my blades, for instance, 58-59 for the CM-154 Steel I was asking about at the time .. I’ve sent all of my AEB-L & Nitro-V to be HTed at Paul Boss 60-61 and never had an issue with any I’ve made or sold... So how machinable is this LC200N???
Click to expand...
Lc200n is Very, very easy to work with. Its not as easy as 1095 and AEB-L at 60rc but easier then CPM154 and it takes a dreamy finish even at low grit.

I'm totally into the high hardness stuff though too man. You should definitely give AEB-L a try at higher hardness (62-63) it has plenty of toughness to spare and isn't that much more difficult to work with and will sharpen a little better for some since the burr falls off and the apex wants to be really really crispy.

Larrin has spilled his guts into a killer Patreon article about AEB-L, it really goes into extreme detail. You should consider signing up as an investment. I've definitely seen my work get a huge boost from all the research and knowledge that I have been putting into practice.

Yes give that Lc200n a try, you'll enjoy it.
 
DeadboxHero said:
Lc200n is Very, very easy to work with. Its not as easy as 1095 and AEB-L at 60rc but easier then CPM154 and it takes a dreamy finish even at low grit.

I'm totally into the high hardness stuff though too man. You should definitely give AEB-L a try at higher hardness (62-63) it has plenty of toughness to spare and isn't that much more difficult to work with and will sharpen a little better for some since the burr falls off and the apex wants to be really really crispy.

Larrin has spilled his guts into a killer Patreon article about AEB-L, it really goes into extreme detail. You should consider signing up as an investment. I've definitely seen my work get a huge boost from all the research and knowledge that I have been putting into practice.

Yes give that Lc200n a try, you'll enjoy it.
Click to expand...
Don't forget to tell him it grinds backwards.

It's harder on low grit belts.
But once you get to finer grits. 220+ it gets buttery to work with. A really nice steel to work with once you go finer.

In my experience it is a very very tough stainless. I made a prototype Bowie out of it. Customer uses it as a cleaver in his kitchen. No chipping or rolling at 60HRC.
600 grit finish looked super nice.
Rhinoknives1 said:
It sounds worth giving a try in one of my 7 3/4” Asian Chef patterns! 59-60 doesn’t bother me at all, I’ve have people here rant at about how AEB-L needs to be at 62-63 ... Since I started using these Steels about 8-10 years ago , I called Paul Farner at Paul Bos at chatted with him on this and he said an RC of 60 plus should work fine. So years ago, About 20? Paul Bos came to one of our Local Cal knife makers meetings and told us that there can be a Spread of a degree in hardness, that I should mark my blades, for instance, 58-59 for the CM-154 Steel I was asking about at the time .. I’ve sent all of my AEB-L & Nitro-V to be HTed at Paul Boss 60-61 and never had an issue with any I’ve made or sold... So how machinable is this LC200N???
Click to expand...
I highly recommend the steel.
 
I will be using about 7-8 inches of the Vanadis 8 for a personal EDC fixed blade.
It is not my design. A close friend designed it.
But I really like it. I made a Damascus prototype this past weekend. Star fire 3V Damascus from Vegas forge. Needs to be heat treated.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top