420J2: (Produced by Cold Stee Company) Due to its low carbon and high chromium composition, this steel is an excellent choice for making tough and shock-resistant blades. It also has good corrosion resistance and good durability. Blade edge retention. It is an ideal blade material that can be used in various environments, such as high temperature, humidity, sea water, etc. The high amount of chromium gives it super corrosion resistance, making it an ideal tool for manufacturing portable knives and Excellent material for knives that require little maintenance.
4Cr13: Domestic high-quality stainless acid-resistant steel, low-carbon high-chromium steel, widely used in weakly corrosive media parts. Medical tool springs. Rolling bearings. Surgical knives. Surgical instruments. It has excellent corrosion resistance. The processability is excellent and the overall performance is equivalent to 420J2.
425m: A modified version of 420 series steel, named 425M. The carbon content is increased to about 0.55%, and 1% molybdenum is added. After heat treatment, it can achieve a more ideal hardness. (HRc58), but retains the excellent processability of 420 series steel, so it is extremely suitable for use in factory-made knives. The two famous knife factories in the United States, BUCK and GERBER, selected 425M as their blade material in the 1990s.
9Cr18: Domestic high-quality stainless acid-resistant steel with a chromium content of 18% and a carbon content of 0.9%. It is widely used in automatic lathe parts, fiber factory machinery, and corrosion-resistant and wear-resistant parts in the petroleum industry. .Surgical knife. Surgical instrument, with excellent corrosion resistance and excellent processability. After mature treatment, it can reach a hardness of HRc58.
440-C: High-quality stainless steel made in the United States, containing 16-18% chromium. Originally used in surgical knives and the shipbuilding industry, it has excellent corrosion resistance and corrosion resistance; and has strong toughness. Now it is more widely used in hand-made knives and high-quality factory-made knives. The carbon content is about 1% (440 series is divided into A, B, C, and F grades; C grade and F grade have the highest carbon content, while A grade has less carbon content). After mature treatment, it can reach a hardness of HRc58.
9Cr18Mo: Domestic high-quality stainless steel, containing 18% chromium, 1% molybdenum, and 0.9% carbon. It is mainly used in parts of weakly corrosive media. Medical tool springs. Rolling bearings. Surgical knives. Surgical instruments have excellent corrosion resistance and processability, and can reach a hardness of HRc58 after mature treatment.
154CM: High-quality stainless steel made in the United States, with a chromium content of 15%, a molybdenum content of 15%, and a molybdenum content of 4%; hence the name 154CM. It was first adopted by R.W. Loverless, one of the masters of modern hand-made knives. It has excellent processability, corrosion resistance, blade damage resistance and toughness, but the price is relatively high, so it is only used in handmade knives. The carbon content is about 1.05%. After heat treatment, it can reach a hardness of HRc60~61.
ATS-34: A high-quality stainless steel developed by Japan's "Hitachi Metal Industries" for the US-made 154CM. The materials and ingredients are similar to 154CM, and all aspects of performance meet the standards of 154CM, and still have the best quality. Although it is cheaper, it is recognized as one of the best knife steels in the industry and has now become the mainstream application of handmade and high-quality factory-made knives. After heat treatment, the hardness can reach HRc60~61.
AUS8(8A): A high-quality stainless steel material developed by Japan's "Aichi Steel". It has excellent corrosion resistance, blade damage resistance and toughness. It is often used in high-quality Japanese-made knives. . AUS steel grades are divided into three types: 10A (carbon content about 1%), 8A (carbon content about 0.8%) and 6A (carbon content about 0.6%). 8A has a hardness of HRc58~59 after heat treatment.
D2: Wear-resistant tool steel D2 for metal machining, belongs to Air-Hardening steel; it is widely used in the production of felling knives or hunting knives, with a carbon content of up to 1.5%, containing The chromium content is also as high as 11.5%, and the hardness can reach HRc60 after heat treatment. However, the ductility (toughness) is relatively weak, the resistance is not very good, and the surface of the steel is difficult to mirror polish.
Hi-Speed ??Tool Steel: Highly processed tool steel with high carbon content and low chromium content (about 4%), so the surface of the steel is polished to a glossy finish It is darker and can reach a high hardness of HRc62 after heat treatment, but its resistance is not very good.
Cowry Large felling knives, the carbon content of the steel is as high as 3%, and after heat treatment it can obtain a high hardness of HRc67.
Cowry Y (CP-4): A high-quality powder-based alloy steel developed by Japan's Daido Special Steel Co., Ltd. in 1993. It contains 1.2% carbon and is rarely mixed with the metallic element "columbium". 0.2%, after heat treatment it can reach a high hardness of HRc63, but still maintains excellent ductility.
A-2: High toughness and wear-resistant tool steel A-2 for metal processing. It is an air-hardened steel with a high carbon content of about 1%. After heat treatment, it can reach a hardness of HRc57. Chromium The content is about 5%. After polishing, the surface of the steel will have a darker luster, excellent corrosion resistance, ductility (extremely strong), and good damage resistance to the blade.
VG10: The "V Gold No. 10" stainless steel of Japan's "Takeo Special Steel" is "V Gold", which is the best grade of steel. It contains about 1% carbon, 1.2% molybdenum and Cobalt 1.5%. After heat treatment, the hardness can reach HRc60-62. VG-10 has excellent processability, strong toughness and corrosion resistance, and is mostly used in high-quality Japanese-made knives.
BG-42: An extremely high-quality stainless steel with a carbon content of 1.15% and a vanadium content of up to 1.20%. Therefore, the steel structure has fine particles and can reach a hardness of HRc60-61 after heat treatment. The workability is Excellent, with strong corrosion resistance and good toughness. BG-42 was originally used in the aerospace industry as a material for making pulleys and crankshafts. Due to its high price, it is mostly used in the knife making industry to make handmade knives by knifemakers.
SANDVIK: SANDVIK is a leader in the Nordic steel and hardware industry. 120C stainless steel is one of SANDVIK's excellent steel types, with a carbon content of about 1% and a chromium content of about 14%. After heat treatment It can reach a hardness of HRc56-58, has excellent processability and flexibility. Most of the famous knives produced in Northern Europe are made of SANDVIK steel.
1095: The best quality among high carbon steels is 1095. Its carbon content reaches 1.03%. After heat treatment, it can reach a hardness of HRc58-60. It has very good toughness, but it is not corrosion-resistant. It is used in traditional European hunting knives, large felling knives and military knives. For example, the famous KA-BAR saber in the United States during World War II used 1095 as the blade material.
T10: Domestic high-quality high-carbon steel with a carbon content of 1%, which can reach HRc58 after heat treatment -60 hardness, very good toughness, good wear resistance, tool steel that does not heat up when cutting, but not corrosion resistant, widely used in my country's export knife industry
W-2: High carbon. The tool steel designated as W type is Water-Hardening Steel, which is the cheapest among tool steels. W-2 steel (after heat treatment) can easily reach high hardness (HRc65) and is easy to be partially hardened. And it is easy to harden locally, so that the adjacent parts are hard enough to be wear-resistant, but soft enough to be easily manufactured. It has excellent processability, so it is widely used. However, W-2 has poor endurance, so the surface of steel is mostly protected by coating. , to prevent corrosion.
O-1: Oil-Hardening types of tool steel are the most widely used, and the best among them is O-1 type, which has high manganese and chromium. Tungsten can increase the hardening energy, so that the steel can be hardened to a high hardness level (HRc62) without severe water quenching (replacing it with strong oil quenching). O-1 steel has good processability, but its toughness and endurance are weak. . The famous American knifemaker Randall often uses O-1 tool steel as the material of his blades.
ZDP-189: a new powder steel developed by Japan's "Hitachi Metal Industries" in 1996. Its research and development goals. Inherited from the Cowry , has excellent processability, the metal structure particles are more uniform and finer than ATS-34 and 440-C, and has excellent corrosion resistance and toughness. Therefore, "Hitachi" declares that ZDP-189 is "the next generation of blade steel that spans the 21st century." .
GIN-1 (G-2): Japan's "Hitachi Metal Industries" "Ginzhi No. 1" steel is the best grade of "Ginzhi" steel, and its steel properties are similar to those of "Aichi Steel" "Steel" is similar to 8A, but the hardness is slightly softer than 8A (HRc57-58) and the price is cheaper.
ATS055: A high-quality steel material developed by Japan's "Hitachi Metal Industries" after ATS-34. It is an improved version of ATS-34. ATS-34 contains about 4% molybdenum, so it can withstand extremely high temperatures and has a wide range of applications (it can be used to make mechanical parts, such as crankshafts, pulleys, air chamber valves, etc.). ATS-55 reduces the molybdenum content to 0.6%, but also adds 0.4% cobalt. This reduces the heat resistance of the steel itself but increases its hardness (making it more suitable for the knife-making industry). Overall, the performance of the ATS-55 is slightly inferior to the ATS-34, but it is better than the G-2 from the same manufacturer.
CPM440V: CPM (Crucible Particle Metallurgy) powder steel is a new generation of knife steel developed by Crucible Raw Materials Company in the United States. The manufacturer once claimed that CPM440V is a super custom knife steel of the 90's. Although the carbon content of CPM440V is nearly double that of traditional 440-C, the hardness after heat treatment is only HRc57-58, due to the influence of other contained elements (5% vanadium, 17% of chromium). Its real excellence lies in retaining the damage resistance and ductility (flexibility) of the blade. The price of CPM440V is quite high, so it is mostly used in handmade (handmade by knifemakers) knives.
CPM420V: In 1996, Crucible Raw Materials Company of the United States once again developed a higher-level CPM steel than CPM 440V: CPM420V. It has nearly double the vanadium and molybdenum content than CPM440V, so it can retain more steel. Superior blade damage resistance and corrosion resistance (25-50% better than CPM440V). The hardness obtained after heat treatment is equal to CPM440V. The price of CPM420V is quite expensive, twice as high as ATS-34.