02-20-2018, 07:17 PM
Well, yes, modern American carbon tool steels are probably all borrowed from industry, but other countries have much longer histories of desirable blade metals, that advanced to blade steels. After all, knives and swords were the tools and weapons of choice for approximately thousands of years in most advanced cultures, in my estimation.
I'm not sure how many primary uses for stainless tool steels there are either, so I could imagine most stainless knife steels might have been primarily designed for blades.
Recently there has been a huge boom in powdered steels, and starting with the first, S30V was designed specifically for knives. I'm not aware of other big demands for powdered steel, so I think it's safe to say that a lot of steels are being produced for knives.
Some Scandinavian steels seem purpose driven, as well as mid-eastern and Japanese steels. Those cultures were winning or losing wars based on the steel of their blades.
American tool steels were probably meant to be used for industrial applications, but it turns out those steels make all kinds of good tools, and knives are tools too. It shouldn't be surprising that tough, hard alloys were plenty acceptable for knives, so it makes sense that with all the awesome tool steel available for high performance tasks, folks naturally looked toward industrial steels and found them plenty suitable for knives. Maybe they figured (correctly) that there wasn't any reason to try to design steel specifically for knives, due to the abundance they had to choose from.
Just kinda off the top of my head, I'm not really trying to elevate or dispute anything. I guess I'm just trying to state an explanation as to why things are as they are.
I never like to see you have a one sided conversation with yourself, Mr. Mike....
I'm not sure how many primary uses for stainless tool steels there are either, so I could imagine most stainless knife steels might have been primarily designed for blades.
Recently there has been a huge boom in powdered steels, and starting with the first, S30V was designed specifically for knives. I'm not aware of other big demands for powdered steel, so I think it's safe to say that a lot of steels are being produced for knives.
Some Scandinavian steels seem purpose driven, as well as mid-eastern and Japanese steels. Those cultures were winning or losing wars based on the steel of their blades.
American tool steels were probably meant to be used for industrial applications, but it turns out those steels make all kinds of good tools, and knives are tools too. It shouldn't be surprising that tough, hard alloys were plenty acceptable for knives, so it makes sense that with all the awesome tool steel available for high performance tasks, folks naturally looked toward industrial steels and found them plenty suitable for knives. Maybe they figured (correctly) that there wasn't any reason to try to design steel specifically for knives, due to the abundance they had to choose from.
Just kinda off the top of my head, I'm not really trying to elevate or dispute anything. I guess I'm just trying to state an explanation as to why things are as they are.
I never like to see you have a one sided conversation with yourself, Mr. Mike....