KNIFE MAKING & STEEL INFORMATION FAQ
How to use this Knife Making & Steel Information FAQ Page
As a fellow knife lover and steel enthusiast I (Canadian Bladesmith Matt Sicard– head honcho around here) realize there are many questions surrounding knife making and the many, varying, and often confusing steel types and their properties.
Professionally, I’ve answered many many questions to help people find the best knife and steel to suit their wants and needs. Common topics I’m often asked center around understanding: kitchen knife blade types & their uses, the many steel types, steel properties, knife & steel performance, edge retention, chef knife construction methods, and the ease of use and maintenance for specific steels and knife types.
Additionally, I’ve helped countless people overcome the limited, or outright incorrect, information often passed off as fact on the internet.
This page is a steel, knife, and knife making FAQ information center. For longer topics it will include two explanations if necessary:
1) A quick “TLDR” (Too Long Didn’t Read) summary
2) A deeper, more comprehensive, explanation for people who have the time and interest for greater detail.
What Type of Steel is Best for Knives?
There is no single or best answer to the question: “What Type of Steel is Best for Knives.” Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying or selling you something specific.
Short answer (TLDR) is: The best steel type for a knife completely depends on the primary intended use and the end user’s needs preferences, and knife skills.
Long answer: Steel choice for any knife is ABSOLUTELY an application specific question. Knives and blades of all sorts need to be optimized in many different ways. However, ALL blades and knives have two primary considerations for the construction:
- What is their primary intended use?
- What are the needs, preferences, and knife/blade wielding ability of their user?
For example, let’s compare the blade functions (which leads to steel choice) for a Fish Boning Knife and an Axe:
An axe doesn’t need to be razor sharp, or to have especially fine geometry to effectively rough chop logs of wood. Additionally the axe is swung with great force and violently slams into wood. Firewood, depending on type and age, can greatly vary in its hardness.
However, a fish boning knife MUST be both razor sharp and have a fine geometry in order to quickly and effectively fillet and process fish.
Can you imagine why applying the blade geometry of a fish boning knife to an axe would be a detriment to its intended function? Or vice versa?
An ax ground to the thinness and sharpness of a fish boning would fold/snap under the force of the first strike if trying to split aged oak.
And a fish boning knife with the thick edge and wide blade geometry of an axe would lack the sharpness and agility to quickly and effectively cut into the fish and maneuver around the delicate structure of bones to remove the maximum amount of flesh with precision.
In the end, the true answer for “what type of steel is best for knives” is subjective to each unique person.
To truly uncover what type of steel is best for YOUR knife depends on YOUR knife related skills and knowledge, including: primary uses for the knife, your knife skill level, how you cut, type of cutting board you have, knowledge of steels, your ability to care for steel, your sharpening ability, etc.
What is a High Alloy Steel?
A high alloy steel is generally considered a steel that carries a greater than 5% alloy content.
Steel alloying elements include, but are not limited to: carbon, chromium, vanadium, tungsten, molybdenum, manganese, cobalt, silicon, and niobium.
All stainless steels and “semi” stainless steels fall into the category of “high alloy”. These steels don’t need to be cooled very quickly to harden, and most are air hardened.
Some examples of high alloy steels used in kitchen chef’s knives include: MagnaCut, AEB-L, SG2, 154CM, 10V, Zwear, S90V, A2 (SKD12), and SLD(D2).
What are the Advantages of a High Alloy Steel for Kitchen Knives?
High alloy steel is advantageous for kitchen knives due to its high-performance characteristics in the three main areas general blade performance:
- Edge Retention
- Toughness
- Corrosion Resistance
This balance of these three traits in kitchen knives make high alloy steels the perfect choices for chefs & cooks in: high volume professional kitchens, knife enthusiasts who like to sharpen as little as possible, or for those who prefer not to meticulously clean their blade after every use.
While high alloy steel knives may not sharpen as quickly or polish as easily as low alloy steel, they make up for it by excelling in: corrosion resistance, edge retention, and wear resistance.
What is a Low Alloy Steel?
A low alloy steel is a steel with less than 5% alloy content.
These include all “carbon” steels, such as the 10xx series (1084, 1095, 1075 etc) as well as 52100, Apex Ultra, 26c3, the Hitachi White and Blue steels, 15n20, and many more. These steels are all either water or oil hardening steels.
What are the Advantages of Low Alloy Steel for Kitchen Knives?
The main advantages of low alloy steel for kitchen knives mostly center around reasonable steel cost and ease of sharpening.
Low alloy steels were mainly popularized by the Japanese White Steels, also known as Shirogami Steels (White Paper Steel #1, White Paper Steel #2 ) and the Japanese Blue Steels, also known as Aogami Steels (Blue Paper Steel #1, Blue Paper Steel #2 ).
Low alloy steels are also known for their unique hardening characteristics and versatility.
The trade off’s or “disadvantages”, for the reduced cost and ease of sharpening in low alloy steel for kitchen knives, is a relative lack of corrosion resistance and reduced edge retention vs high alloy steel.
Low alloy steels are more prone to corrosion/rust when introduced to water and certain acidic foods.
Therefore low alloy steel knives require more immediate attention during use and more general maintenance to prevent corrosion from occurring when cutting common acidic ingredients such as: onions, tomatoes, citrus (lemons, oranges, limes grapefruit, etc.), garlic, and pineapples.
The best way to prevent corrosion on low alloy steels during use is to clean the blade as soon as possible after cutting acidic ingredients.
Pro tip: if ALL knives, including low alloy kitchen knives, are immediately cleaned and dried after use, when cutting all ingredients, then the best kitchen knife maintenance and care habit is formed. This all but eliminates the likelihood of corrosion (rust) for ALL steel types, including low alloy kitchen knives.
What is the Ability of A Steel Type to Develop a Hamon?
The ability for a steel to develop a Hamon depends on whether the steel in question is a low alloy steel or a high alloy steel type.
High alloy steels cannot develop a hamon.
Most low alloy steels can, However, generally speaking, water quenching steels will form the best hamons.
Steels such as W2 tool steel, 26c3, 1095, and 1075 will form the sharpest and most active hamons.
Steels like O1, 52100 and Apex Ultra that are deeper hardening and are able to form a hamon, but it tends to be very soft, poorly defined and fairly inactive compared to what’s possible with a steel like W2.
Do Honyaki Kitchen Knives Have Better Edge Retention Than San Mai or Through Hardened Blades?
Honyaki kitchen chef knives do NOT have better edge retention properties than san mai or through hardened blades.
Assuming the same hardness, with the same steel and same geometry, there is no additional edge retention benefit from a honyaki blade as a result of it being differentially hardened.
The reason many Japanese-made honyaki kitchen knives are marketed as having superior edge retention, to their san-mai counterparts, is because they tend to be harder.
The honyaki steel is tempered at a lower temperature and so may reach rockwell hardness levels of 65hrc, or sometimes higher, rather than the 61-63hrc commonly seen in san-mai blades.
Are San-Mai Kitchen Knives More Chip Resistant than Monosteel Kitchen Knives?
San Mai kitchen knives are NOT more chip resistant and monosteel (single steel) kitchen knives.
Because San Mai blades tend to bend or flex more before breaking, it is a common misconception they are also more resistant to chipping.
However, when it relates to chipping, the cladding steel (the steel on the outside of the majority of the blade) offers no meaningful support to the edge of the core steel– which is the steel engaged in cutting ingredients and impacting the cutting surface.
Cladding steel is simply too far away from the edge and has no function in cutting to make any difference for chip resistance in a kitchen knife.
Does Steel "A" Have Greater Edge Retention (Toughness) Than Steel "B"?
I don’t have the equipment to be testing this sort of thing, but fortunately I don’t need to.
Dr Larrin Thomas, son of the very well known knifemaker Devin Thomas, spent a few years testing and writing about just that on his website knifesteelnerds.com.
I highly recommend you look to it for more in depth information on blade steels.
Below you can find the links to his most relevant tables and charts.
| Edge Retention: | https://i2.wp.com/knifesteelnerds.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/magnacut-edge-retention-chart.jpg?resize=670%2C1536&ssl=1 |
| High Alloy Toughness: | https://i2.wp.com/knifesteelnerds.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/magnacut-non-stainless-toughness.jpg?w=755&ssl=1 |
| Low Alloy Toughness: | https://i2.wp.com/knifesteelnerds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/low-alloy-steel-toughness-9-4-2022.png?w=749&ssl=1 |
| Stainless Steel Toughness: | https://i1.wp.com/knifesteelnerds.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/magnacut-stainless-toughness.jpg?w=755&ssl=1 |
Apex Ultra Toughness: | |
Apex Ultra Edge Retention: |
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Carbide Type And Volume of Common Blade Steels:
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| Iron Carbide Volume Vs Edge Retention: | https://i2.wp.com/knifesteelnerds.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cementite-vs-edge-retention2.jpg?w=752&ssl=1 |
Steel Types | From Common to Rare for Kitchen Chef Knife Making
MagnaCut is a remarkable steel developed by metallurgist Dr. Larrin Thomas, son of renowned knifemaker Devion Thomas.
MagnaCut is a unique kitchen knife steel because it is one of the most corrosion resistant stainless cutlery steels ever made that simultaneously has very low chromium content for a stainless, and no chromium carbide. It’s a high wearing steel with 8% MC carbide volume, and is regarded as a stainless version of 4v. It’s very tough even at high hardness and is among the best steels that could be used in kitchen knives.
There is one drawback to MagnaCut steel I have found that makes it difficult for most new and intermediate knife lovers and enthusiasts; it cannot be effectively sharpened on <1000 grit conventional aluminum oxide or natural stones.
The carbides formed within the steel are simply harder than aluminum oxide. This means that using <1000 grit traditional sharpening stones (purchased at most all retail outlets) will yield some VERY SLOW PROGRESS — at best. This is because aluminum oxide is an untenable choice of abrasive to sharpen MagnaCut.
In my opinion, based on my knowledge and professional experience with customers and interacting with many hardcore knife enthusiasts, the vast majority of kitchen knife users looking to purchase MagnaCut would be better off with either AEB-L or 14c28n
As an alternative to MagnaCut, I believe CPM-D2, CPM-CruWear (Zwear) and CPM-154CM offer a similar range of favorable characteristics for the majority of kitchen knife users. Both have similar edge retention at high hardness, and adequate toughness for kitchen use (though CPM-D2 and Zwear are only semi-stainless).
And knives made from them are fully serviceable on conventional aluminum oxide stones.
Unless you have diamond sharpening stones at your disposal, or find >1000 grit edges acceptable, I would not recommend purchasing a kitchen knife made of MagnaCut.
If you have diamond stones and have never used a high wearing CPM steel, MagnaCut is a real treat.
52100 is a chromium enriched, low alloy, high carbon tool steel that is commonly used to make ball bearings and bearing raceways.
52100 steel is special for kitchen chef knives because its hardness to toughness ratio is among the highest of any high carbon steel. In addition 52100 steel, for kitchen knives, boasts better edge holding properties than more traditional alloys used in Japanese kitchen knives such as White Steel #1 (“White #1”, Shirogami), White Steel #2 (“White #2”, Shirogami #2) and Blue Paper Steel (“Blue #1”, Aogami), and even Blue Super (Aogami Super).
52100 is a very easy kitchen knife steel to sharpen and takes an extremely fine edge that is quite chip resistant, even at a higher hardness rating (HRC | rockwell hardness).
The only potential drawback to 52100 steel is that the very alloying additions, that make it both tougher and more wear resistant than most other steels in its class, simultaneously increase the hardenability of the steel making it ill-suited for honyaki and hamon formation in general.
Overall, 52100 is my favorite low alloy steel to work with. It does everything well, with fewer drawbacks than many of the more commonplace low alloy steels, and is readily available at very reasonable prices.
If I had to choose only one carbon steel, to work and create kitchen knives with for the rest of my life, 52100 would be it.
AEB-L (All around Kitchen Knife Steel Super Star aka “Stainless 52100”)
AEB-L is a simple stainless steel originally designed for razorblades and surgical instruments.
It is as easily sharpened as any carbon steel and boasts a toughness to hardness ratio that is nearly equal to that of 52100.
The properties of AEB-L and 52100 steels are so similar that AEB-L is often referred to as “stainless 52100” in some circles. On paper, 52100 is slightly tougher than AEB-L. However, AEB-L is slightly better than 52100 in terms of edge retention and almost rivals the edge retention properties of Apex Ultra steel.
AEB-L is my overall favourite stainless steel to work with. It has excellent properties and none of the drawbacks of more commonplace stainlesses such as 440C.
AEB-L steel is an outstanding option for all kitchen knife types including: small paring knives, lasers, workhorse Gyuto chef knives, or long sujihikis (slicers).
You literally CANNOT go wrong in choosing AEB-L for your kitchen knife. AEB-L suits everyone from the most distinguishing professional chefs to home cooks who want to buy their first high-quality knife.
Apex Ultra is the newest low alloy cutlery steel on the market. Designed by two fairly prominent European bladesmiths, Tobias Hangler and Marco Guldimann, and perhaps the most prominent cutlery-oriented metallurgist in the world today Larrin Thomas.
Apex Ultra has achieved the highest hardness to toughness ratio of any low alloy cutlery steel ever designed. With a functional rockwell hardness of up to 68 hrc and edge retention exceeding that of AEB-L, when pushed into that range, Apex Ultra completely outclasses all other steels in its category. Apex Ultra Steels edge retention is so impressive for a low alloy steel that it approaches the edge retention of softer high alloy steels like 154CM and D2.
Apex Ultra is truly a remarkable steel that I seriously hope gains traction in the kitchen knife world.
It’s only marginally harder to sharpen than 52100 and 26c3 (“spicy white steel”) and offers a solid 10%-15% increase in edge retention over 52100.
While there are many positive characteristics of Apex Ultra, currently it’s quite expensive and production volumes remain low.
In light of the high cost and low production volumes, I think that for the vast majority of kitchen knife users the benefits of apex Ultra’s greater edge retention will be somewhat negated by the increased cost of the steel.
I believe most home cooks would be better off selecting a blade made from 52100 or AEB-L for the time being (2022-2025).
26c3 and SheffCut
26c3 is a very high carbon steel most readily compared to Hitachi White #1. It has lower
impurity tolerances than many of the more classic simple carbon steels such as 1095 and
1084, and as a result has better edge stability, all else being equal. It also
belongs to the shallow hardening class of steels, so it’s ideally suited to forming vivid hamons
with lots of ashi.
SheffCut is a derivative of 26c3 with a minor niobium addition to its
composition. The practical differences between the two steels are too insignificant to be
noteworthy. Both 26c3 and SheffCut have a particularly high proclivity for the formation of
“alloy banding” when exposed to mild etchants and acidic foods.
On the maker’s side of the equation, these steels are easier to work with than 52100 and Apex-
Ultra when making forged blades as they are less prone to “hot shorting”. Both are capable of
attaining a very high functional hardness and are quite crisp feeling on stones, without being
particularly difficult to sharpen. In my own opinion these steels are ideally suited for honyaki.
CPM-D2
CPM-D2 is the powder metallurgy variant of D2 tool steel which has a long history of use in high performance blades.
Conventionally made D2 tool steel has very large carbides that make it somewhat ill suited to very acute edges such as those found on kitchen knives, and so its formed a reputation as a somewhat brittle steel, but the powder metallurgy version is a very different animal in that respect. CPM-D2 has much finer and more evenly distributed carbides and is in the order of 2x (or a little better) tougher than conventionally produced D2 at the same hardness.
Regarding corrosion resistance; D2 is often referred to as a semi-stainless and while it is less corrosion prone than conventional carbon steels and doesn’t require quite the same degree of care it will rust if left wet for too long.
The Japanese version of D2 is known as SKD11 or SLD and is not made via the powder metallurgy process.
Wolfram Special
Wolfram Special is an interesting steel which you might think of as Blue#2 with the tungsten content of Blue Super, or just a tougher version of Blue#1. It’s a European made variation of V Toku-1 steel. I haven’t used this steel a whole lot, but it’s probably the cheapest western made option for someone looking for a blue steel equivalent. It’s also an excellent hamon former easily on par or better than 26c3.
14C28n
14C28n is from the same family of AEB class steels as AEB-L, and AEB-H (Ginsan, silver 3, 19c27) but with added nitrogen that has the effect of making it roughly twice as corrosion resistant as AEB-L.
A2 Tool Steel (SKD12)
A2 tool steel is an excellent semi-stainless air hardening tool steel with a long history of use in knives. It forms the same volume of the same carbide type as AEB-L and thus has comparable edge retention and similar toughness. It’s well known in the kitchen knife world by under the title of its Japanese variant, SKD12. As with all semi stainless steels, it is somewhat more corrosion resistant than carbon steel, but it will rust if neglected.
Z-Wear (CPM CruWear)
Z-wear is the powder metallurgy version of CruWear. Originally designed as a higher toughness replacement for D2 in die forming operations Z-Wear has proven itself to be an exceptional cutlery steel. It has the highest hardness/toughness ratio of any powder metallurgy steel, and its carbide composition is such that it can be fully serviced on conventional stones (though diamonds will still be faster). As if that wasn’t enough it’s also semi-stainless. My preferred finishing stone for Z-Wear is the Belgian Blue Whetstone.
CPM-M4
M4 is an M class high speed steel in the same lineage as M2 and M3, which are commonly used for woodworking tool blades and drill bits (albeit sometimes modified with Cobalt in the form of M36 and M42). It has roughly equivalent toughness to MagnaCut at this hardness, and scores in the low 600-620 range in CATRA testing, ahead of Zwear, MagnaCut, and S35VN, just behind S30V, and just ahead of S45VN and Elmax. With the appropriate abrasives it sharpens to a blisteringly keen edge that lasts. According to the last line cook I sold an M4 gyuto to, approximately 4-6 weeks worth of shifts between sharpenings. For the average home cook that translates into a perhaps semi-annual sharpening schedule.
W2 Tool Steel
W2 tool steel is essentially a lower Mn version of 1095 with a little bit of vanadium. It is THE steel, for high activity hamons in mizu-honyaki bar none.
I feel it’s important to state that within the realm of low alloy steels for kitchen knives (or any knives at all), particularly of the many of the 10xx varieties, there isn’t much variability with respect to toughness, edge retention or corrosion resistance.
In fact, when using identical dimension kitchen knives side by side– with one kitchen knife made of 1075 steel and the other chef knife made of 1095 steel–most people would not be able to tell the difference. However, these steels still have some subtle uniqueness.
I’ll list the more notable properties of many common Low Allow Steels used in kitchen knives below.
Each of these steels make excellent kitchen chef knives, and each of these steels is readily available in the western world.
1075 Steel– A tough simple carbon steel, it is commonly used for swords, as well as Sabatier’s production carbon steel knives 15n20- Effectively 1075 with a 2% nickel addition. It’s used to make the silver/bright contrastlayers in damascus/pattern welded steel.
1084 Steel– A plain carbon steel with more carbon than 1075, and typically higher manganese. It hardens more deeply and etches quite dark. It’s typically used for the dark layers in damascus steel. Not a great hamon former due to its higher hardenability.
80CrV2 Steel –Essentially 1084 with a chromium addition to keep some carbon out of solution increasing toughness, as well as a little vanadium to minimize the susceptibility of grain grown during overheating. Its properties are largely similar to 52100 below 61 HRC, but 52100 has better edge retention. Like 1084 this steel is not ideal for hamons.
1095 Steel –A common staple in knifemaking for many decades, this steel is more sensitive to quench temperatures than any of those above and tends to be much less tough overall with insignificantly superior edge retention.
O1 Steel –One of the original tool steels. Its properties are basically identical to 1095, however it has better hot hardness and is heavily alloyed with Manganese making it a very deep hardening steel.
It’s sometimes used in place of 1084 in damascus as it etches even darker.
W1 Steel –Essentially 1095 with a wider set of compositional tolerances
W2 Steel –Similar to W1, but only made at one mill these days. Its very low hardenability gives it the potential to be one of the best hamon forming steels there is, though this can lead to some difficulties in heat treating.
26c3 Steel “Spicy White” – Very similar to White #1, but with a little added chrome to improve hardenability. Its toughness is superior to 1095 despite its higher carbon content
52100 Steel –A very old and relatively simple steel. Compositionally 52100 stell is basically 1095 with 1.5% chrome added.
Performance wise, 52100 stell is overall the best low alloy steel for kitchen knives that I know of. 52100 has a superior toughness and edge retention balance at high (64+ hrc) hardness to all steel listed above it on this list. Additionally, 52100 steel has been commonly produced since the 1920’s making it readily available and inexpensive.
The one potential downside is that it is not easily heat treated in a forge.
Hitachi Shirogami and Aogami steels are the two most commonly utilized classes of carbon steels in the production of Japanese knives and have been for many decades. Both date to the formation of Hitachi Metals Inc. in the 1950’s. As it turns out, the designations of “White Paper steel” and Blue Paper Steel” are a reference to the colour of the labels used at the factory to mark the steels and nothing else.
Both of these classes of steel are produced exclusively in Japan, and they are quite difficult to obtain anywhere else, though they do occasionally get imported in small quantities by knife makers and knife supply shops.
There is a tremendous amount of nonsense written about these steels, and in truth they’re not that different. The primary difference between them is that the “Blue” steels contain Tungsten and a smidge of chrome while the “White” steels do not.
If adjusting for equivalent hardness and blade geometry, there would likely be no subjectively discernible performance difference between “White” and “Blue” steels #1 & #2 beyond their sharpenability.
The tungsten additions in the “Blue” steels are simply too insignificant to have a meaningful impact on edge retention (though they may change the sharpening characteristics of the steels).
With that said, for the smith the “Blue” steels are going to be the easier to heat treat. The chromium addition, though quite small, will serve 2 functions in the heat treatment of the steel.
The first is that it will improve the hardenability of the steel (reducing the rate of cooling required to fully harden) increasing the viability of oil quenching, which has a significantly lower failure rate than water quenching. The second is that it will help keep a little of the carbon “out of solution” essentially reducing the volume of plate martensite formation, and perhaps increasing toughness as a consequence.
Now whether the toughness would be discernable to a chef or home cook is open for speculation, but I suspect that if you controlled for hardness and blade geometry, it would not be. It’s also possible that the tungsten addition reduces toughness by a margin greater than the chromium potentially increases it.
This leads me to another point. Steels have pretty finite limitations on performance. By no means will a bladesmith ever make White steel as tough or wear resistant as a good CPM tool steel like M4 or MagnaCut. It just can’t be done. These simple steels are limited by their chemical composition.
Part of what lends itself to the proliferation of misinformation which hypothetically accounts for the differences between these steels, is the erroneous attribution of the subjective qualities of one particular knife’s performance to the heat treat— instead of the geometry of the specific knife itself. More acute bevel angles will create finer edges that cut more easily but are more susceptible to impact related degradation. Assuming an equivalence in toughness (or even a disparity not exceeding the ratio of the relative edge geometries), an edge that is thicker will simply be able to tolerate more abuse than one that is thinner as a function of its greater cross-sectional area.
Often when people refer to a knife steel being “chippy” as compared to another, it’s probable that the issue itself lies in the geometry. With the “chippy” blade in question being too fine for the mechanical properties of that steel to support in its mode of use, and/or that the other blade is thicker/more obtuse without the user realizing it.
This isn’t to say that occasionally the smiths themselves are not at fault, which brings me to my next point. I’ll lead by saying that yes, blades have been heat treated by eye for hundreds upon hundreds of years and can be more than adequately heat treated in this way. But, when you’re talking about optimizing the mechanical properties of a given steel, consistency and a finely calibrated means of controlling temperature are essential to minimizing human error and repeatedly achieving the most that any steel has to offer. Additionally, owing to the typically lower carbon content of the steels used historically (for swords and knives) there was more of a margin for error with their heat treating temperatures).
There are steels, and the Whites and Blues are among them, that a 25 degree Fahrenheit change in austenitizing temperature can lead to drastic (~20%+) differences in toughness, which would fall into the range which a user would be able to pick up on. Not only are these steels sensitive to slight temperature variation in austenitizing, but in tempering too, where the difference between a point of hardness and another is often separated by only ~25-40 degrees Fahrenheit, wide variability in finished blade is easily introduced when temperatures in these operations are not precisely controlled.
Compounding those factors creates a fairly wide final potential range in not only blade hardness but toughness too. Even with a commercial heat-treating oven with quality sensors and coils, a range of variability of only +/- .5 point of hardness in a set of 10 blades would be uncommon, and 1-1.5 would be more typical. Even so, there are always outliers that show up from time to time, that for reasons unknown end up registering even 3-4 points lower than expected.
None of this information is intended as a put down. I’m just trying to illustrate that there is a greater variability in traditional heat-treating methodology than might be expected, and that there are other factors in play that are of equal significance to the apparent cutting properties of a knife steel.