Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Ram's horn Skinner

WOW,,What a beauty!!

my hats off to you,you are very talented!!

I am just curious. What did all of that extra time and energy doing the cyro get you in terms of performance that you wouldn't have had if you wouldn't have done it.

The austenite to martensite transformation never happens completely in heat treating, so a portion of austenite is always retained. Cryo increases the transformation of austenite to martensite, as well as causing a denser more uniform particle structure to the steel. That in turn allows more wear resistance, toughness and more uniform grinding. All of that means you'll get better edge retention as well as durability/toughness of the knife. As an additional note all steel manufacturers call for it for the best quality result and I tend to trust their metallurgists.

Thanks for the interest.

Dale

If you ever feel the urge to build another, I'd be mighty interested.

Do you have a Rockwell tester?

If so, do you pick up one or two points on the C scale after cyro quenching? I have read that steel like 154 CM and ATS 34, and possibly 440 C will gain a small amount of hardness after being cyro quenched.

Ii have a very good friend who has a tester and He tests samples out of my batches for me.

Dale the Ram Horn is wonderfull. Hell i guess I'm going to get a set or two. I test Dale's stuff. Its already treated when I get it. what you are saying has been the results. d-2 you will gain a point also. S30v I have had mixed results. All material is Rc with the same finish because this make a diff. 154cm has been the most constant steel I have ever missed with. Believe it or not but 440c is a lot better than most people think. The key to 440c is get American made. I think it got bad rap. Dale's oven temp are in line almost perfect with mine.

Just for people to know most stainless will have secondary hardening after a year or so and will go up another point. Theyre is no doubt cryo knifes sharpen and grind easyer.

I have never used it, but I have heard the same thing about 440C, that is makes a very good blade.

I have also read that cyro quenching 440C makes it even better.

Can't comment on whether or not cyro grinds and sharpens better, because I have never used 154CM or ATS34 that was not cyro quenched.

I've never built a knife without cryo. My personal perspective, but I won't deliver anything that isn't as optimal as I can make it, so I refuse to deliver a blade that doesn't get my full treatment. I've done a little grinding on bits and pieces that I use around the shop that I didn't cryo, and I can say that it doesn't seem to grind as well, so I cryo everything nowadays, even the crappy little stuff that is just a shop tool or some such.

Looks very nice!