I wandered over to knife steel nerds but didn’t spend much time there, yet. I’ve watched my fair share of forged in fire so I’m an “armchair expert” like every body elseThe general rule of thumb is higher hardness means lower toughness, but over the years there have been discoveries that have engineered steels with balanced properties of hardness, toughness, and corrosion resistance. Those are the three general metal properties. Standard high carbon low alloy steels that are easiest to forge such as 1084, 1095, and 15n20 have decent toughness but low hardenability because the hardness comes ony from added carbon. The added carbon creates iron carbide which is the softest type of carbide.
High alloy tool steels contain alloys that provide more hardenability. High alloy steels with high Vanadium and tungsten fall under high speed steels because Vanadium carbides and tungsten xarbides are the hardest types of carbide
One of the biggest inventions that has brought more toughness into extremely hard steels is powder metallurgy. Powdered metallurgy technology reduces the size of the carbides in the carbide structure of the steel. In return, the fine carbide structure makes the steel much tougher.
If you look up knife steel ratings on Google and go to knife steel nerds, you can read an excellent article about different ratings and some tables on the ratings of different steels.
Moderator Edit - I think this is what you wanted us to see. https://knifesteelnerds.com/2021/10...ness-edge-retention-and-corrosion-resistance/
The spine thickness greatly effects the strength, the weight, and the flexibility of the blade. The bevel and the edge are what effect how well the blade slices the most, but a thicker edge will also make it more difficult for the blade to pass through the material. An ax has a thick spine and a wide angle edge to easily split the wood, and gives it high durability.I wandered over to knife steel nerds but didn’t spend much time there, yet. I’ve watched my fair share of forged in fire so I’m an “armchair expert” like every body else
Knives are tools- how much does spine thickness affect slicing? Are heavier blades more prone to being reduced to camp chores? Why are some blades serrated on one side yet flat ground on the other?
For some reason I’m now a knife collector and not understanding the reason behind some of the design choices
A thick spine prevents deflection of the blade and adds mass to assist with chopping tasks, such as an axe or machete. Most tools of this nature will have a convex or obtuse Vee edge to split materials apart. Conversely, knives with thin spines will generally be more flexible and suitable for controlled slicing motions and will feature an acute bevel edge to part materials more efficiently much like a filet knife or boning knife.I wandered over to knife steel nerds but didn’t spend much time there, yet. I’ve watched my fair share of forged in fire so I’m an “armchair expert” like every body else
Knives are tools- how much does spine thickness affect slicing? Are heavier blades more prone to being reduced to camp chores? Why are some blades serrated on one side yet flat ground on the other?
For some reason I’m now a knife collector and not understanding the reason behind some of the design choices