Knife Engineering: Steel, Heat Treating, and Geometry

The book is an in-depth exploration of the effects of different steels,thermal treatments and edge geometries on knife performance.

This book provides classifications for toughness, edge retention and corrosion resistance for all popular knife steels.

Being a visitor to the Knife Steel Nerdsblog, I recently purchased the fantastic book by metallurgist Dr. Larrin Thomas of Knife Steel Nerds.

I have to say it’s as stunning a job as it is for the work done in LeRoi Price’s Mechanism Knife Vol.1 and Vol.2 books for knife mechanisms.

Dr. Larrin has done an incredible job of creating what is perhaps the most important and accessible resource for knives ever published.

After reading this book, get ready to review and think again about what you know about knife steel.

By the author:

• How to cut knives longer, cut better and resist chipping and breakage.
• What parameters to change to solve knife performance issues.
• How sharpening affects the performance of the knife.
• Recommended steels for use in different applications.
• Simple and clear explanations along with diagrams and illustrations to show what happens in the different heat treatment processes.

* Disclosure: I’m not a Amazon.com affiliate yet, so I don’t get compensation for recommending you purchase this book or other product.

Micrographs of more than 50 steels.

Specific thermal treatments recommended for each steel.

And it answers questions like:

• Does a thinner or thicker edge last longer?
• Which heat treatment leads to the best performance?
• Are there any performance benefits in forging blades?
• Should I use stainless or carbon steel?
• How to cut knives longer, better and resist chipping and breakages.
• What parameters to change to solve knife performance issues.
• How sharpening affects the performance of the knife.
• Recommended steels for use in different applications.
• Simple and clear explanations along with diagrams and illustrations to show what happens in different thermal treatment processes.

Knife Engineering answers all these and other questions where it is answered by, Dr. Larrin Thomas a metallurgist who grew up in the knife industry.

It is absolutely not cheap because in the knife scene level publications are very rare and often the knowledge for those who are not lucky enough to have some very good and helpful friend maker is to rely on blogs and forums.

I hope my work with this blog somehow helps you.

Biography

Larrin Thomas is a professional metallurgist who writes about steel and knives.

He learned to love knives by spending time with his father, Devin, in knife shows and in his steel shop in Damascus.

Larrin learned of all the claims about magic processing of steel for knives to cut knives forever and never break them.

This has led Larrin to pursue a PhD in metallurgy and to use this knowledge to write funny and interesting information for knife enthusiasts and knife builders or if you want knife makers.

Product details

Who is the Knife Engineering book for?

The book covers the main variables that control the performance of the knife such as:

• the geometry of the cutting edge,
• steel selection and
• heat treatment.

This is described through several mechanisms that affect knives, including:

• bending and bending,
• chipping and fracture,
• corrosion
• edge retention,
• smoothness and polishability,
• et cetera.

The different grades of knife steels are introduced, including their composition, microstructure, toughness, edge retention, hardness and corrosion resistance.

The heat treatment and steel processing process is extensively covered, including what happens at each stage such as austenitization, quenching, tempering, cryogenic treatments and more with the explanation of how the microstructure is modified, what are the objectives for each phase and how to optimize the different stages of heat treatment.

In the book you can also find specific recommendations on heat treatment for most major knife steels.

These are all things that knife manufacturers need to worry about for high-performance knives, and knife enthusiasts and collectors can learn what aspects knife makers control, what to look for in their knives, and how to adjust their sharpening procedures in terms of edge angle and finish for different uses.

Conclusions

It is a book to have absolutely if you are a passionate blade builder and always want to push yourself forward in your passion or profession, etc.

Everyone makes his own path, everyone seeks something but knowledge is a fundamental element to evolve and why not with time also experiment.

Are You Experience?

Andrea

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