X50CrMoV15, knowledge about it

[brets-ftw]

Im looking at a brand of kitchen cutlery and they use x50CrMoV15 @ 58rc (they say 58, i think the range is actually 56-58)

I have no exp with this grade steel, i do with the -Cr--MoV line of steel but this one seems odd. following the way these steels are named i highly doubt that the kitchen cutlery has 5.0% carbon content.

just curious if anyone else has tinkered with it and how it compares to VG10 (my options are this or the shun knives by KAI)

thanks for the input

Brets-ftw

 

[C-9]

Its 0.5% C. It also has small additions of Mo and V, but not enough to form significant amounts of carbides for wear resistance. It is put in there for stuff like grain refinement and such.

I'm assuming you're thinking Wusthof. They have changed the heat treating process over the years, so when they say 58 HRC, I think they actually mean it. Made-in-Soligen requires certain HRC standards to be met for various products, so it would not surprise me if they did some testing and R&D and actually were 58 HRC instead of just relying on charts like many other companies do.

As for which knife to pick, that would depend on what you want out of a knife.

 

[brets-ftw]

well its a gift for a friend, and it would be about 6 knives since hes going into some culinary courses so i think ill just stick with VG10 since ill probably be the one sharpening them up again, and id rather not have to do it to often, thanks for the info

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

VG10 is an excellent steel that I would choose over anything else for a stainless kitchen knife.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

If you want extreme kitchen knives use CowryX or ZDP-189. VG-10 also make superb professional knives.

A set of six made from CowryX will cost a lot to make, probably about $500+ for the steel......but you could make no finer knives.

FWIW, on professional cutlery there is only one word you need to know....THIN - the blade needs to be thin, and the edge needs to be thin.