06-23-2018, 11:45 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-23-2018, 11:59 AM by Mark Reich.
Edit Reason: to add
)
It's a different kind of crucible, Ken. For the Viking sword, Bill Burke (another gentleman who has spent a lot of time learning from Ed Fowler) and Kevin Cashen (another well known bladesmith) smelted their iron ore in an actual (tiny) crucible.
Crucible Industries is a giant steel company that makes all of the specialty steel with the prefix "CPM", which stands for "Crucible Particle Metallurgy". As far as I know, CPM S30V was the first successful "powder steel", so as far as I know, Crucible Steel invented powder steel.
You will hear people abbreviate the powder steel that comes from Crucible Industries as "Crucible steel". The Viking sword was made from "crucible steel".
Now, as far as Mora knives go, they are made in Sweden, and only use Sandvik steel, as far as I know. Sandvik steel is awesome, and doesn't need to be powdered. It probably comes finer grained than any powder steel, and just as clean (pure, within tight tolerances).
Sandvik doesn't produce carbon steel or powder steel. They are very focused on high grade martensitic stainless, which is great for consumers. Since Sandvik is so practiced at making clean stainless, their steel is way less expensive for such high quality, which is why Mora knives have always been such a fabulous bargain.
This is all coming from my memory bank, which has absolutely no security guards or guaranteed funds. Mora could easily use some carbon steel, I just don't know anything about it. Sandvik could produce simple 10 series carbon steel without advertising it, or Mora might get simple carbon anywhere. It's not hard to throw some iron and carbon in a crucible and make simple steel.
Crucible Industries is a giant steel company that makes all of the specialty steel with the prefix "CPM", which stands for "Crucible Particle Metallurgy". As far as I know, CPM S30V was the first successful "powder steel", so as far as I know, Crucible Steel invented powder steel.
You will hear people abbreviate the powder steel that comes from Crucible Industries as "Crucible steel". The Viking sword was made from "crucible steel".
Now, as far as Mora knives go, they are made in Sweden, and only use Sandvik steel, as far as I know. Sandvik steel is awesome, and doesn't need to be powdered. It probably comes finer grained than any powder steel, and just as clean (pure, within tight tolerances).
Sandvik doesn't produce carbon steel or powder steel. They are very focused on high grade martensitic stainless, which is great for consumers. Since Sandvik is so practiced at making clean stainless, their steel is way less expensive for such high quality, which is why Mora knives have always been such a fabulous bargain.
This is all coming from my memory bank, which has absolutely no security guards or guaranteed funds. Mora could easily use some carbon steel, I just don't know anything about it. Sandvik could produce simple 10 series carbon steel without advertising it, or Mora might get simple carbon anywhere. It's not hard to throw some iron and carbon in a crucible and make simple steel.