What steel *exactly* does Victorinox (Wenger) use?

T

tnozh

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Hi,

Does anyone know what steel exactly Victorinox uses? I looked at their website and all I could find is some vague reference to "high quality stainless steel" (or something similiar).

For that matter - what do/did Wenger use?

Thanks
 
It's a proprietary formula, I don't think anyone here can say for sure. It is rumored to be 420 series with some extras added and a very high quality heat treat. It is much much better than 420j series and others that are popular for cheap blades.

It's said to be Rc 55-56, which is softer than the typical D2, 440C, S30V etc, but the thin blades make them great cutters anyway.
 
why would that be a secret? Surely anyone in the industry can by a Vic and then analyze the steel used and the rc this yields?

also - what about Wenger?
 
tnozh said:
why would that be a secret? Surely anyone in the industry can by a Vic and then analyze the steel used and the rc this yields?

also - what about Wenger?
Click to expand...


Very true, but just what are they doing with it? They get very predictable and reliable results from a run of the mill steel.
 
jackknife said:
Very true, but just what are they doing with it?
Click to expand...

well, if these analyses proved that the steel used by Vic is less than stellar they could market their own copies as "improved" versions. if the results are great - they could market their copies as made of the "same superior steel as Vics". and if the test are done by academics, rather then by prospective vic competitors - they could simply publish them.

no?
 
I've read that it's called 425 modified. Better than 420J, not quite as "good" (I use the term loosly) as 440A. Edge retention is still low compared to better steels, but that'd raise the price quite a bit if better steel was used. And even so, it sharpens very easily, and gets extremely sharp. The only steel in my experience that gets as sharp is VG-10.
 
thats interesting....i have some spydies in vg10 that are quite sharp, but not as sharp as my ingram and winston custom blades in D2.

also, probably my sharpest knife is a buck/mayo TNT model 172 in S30V :eek:

But YMMV
 
Buck used 425M before they switched to 420HC. It's a fine steel for everyday use.

Paul
 
cali said:
i belive it's sth between 420 and 440A. the one place i've seen composition of this steel:
http://www.canit.se/~griffon/knives/text/steel-designations.html
INOX 0.52 15 0.45 0.6 0.5 Victorinox's SAKs, RC 56
but i can't say it's true...
Click to expand...
The mystery steel from Victorinox has been discussed lots of times on BF -
here are a couple of threads (found using "inox" as a search term) :

Forschner steel specification??

AUS8 vs SAK steel

from this page -

http://www.pizzini.at/info_sak_engl.htm#Steelinfo

QUOTE:
For both blades we use chrome molydenum stainless steel with 0.52% carbon, 15% chromium, 0.5% molydenum, 0.45% manganese and 0.6% silicium. After a sophisticated hardening process at 1040°C and an annealing temperature of 160°C the blades achieve a hardness of RC 56.

*

The woodsaw, scissors and nail files have a hardness of RC 53, the screwdriver, tin opener and awl a hardness of RC 52, and the corkscrew and springs RC 49.

*

The metal saw and file, in addition to the special case hardening, are also subjected to a hard chromium plating process so that iron and steel can also be filed und cut.
UNQUOTE

(there's something not right about that annealing temperature - as pointed out in the linked previous threads)

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVT2005.cjb.net
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net
http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net
 
UnknownVT said:
The mystery steel from Victorinox has been discussed lots of times on BF -
here are a couple of threads (found using "inox" as a search term)
Click to expand...

thanks a lot for the interesting info!

Why would Vic keep this info "mysterious" at all? Their blades are known to be of good quality and their production methods are probably not that big a secret anyway?

Cheers!
 
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