The common steel materials for knife manufacturing produced in the United States are: (1) 154CM high-quality stainless steel, which was originally used to make aircraft engine turbine blades. It is the best tool material. This high-quality stainless steel contains chromium. 15. Contains molybdenum 4, carbon 1.05, hardness value as high as HRc60~61, corrosion resistance, strong toughness, extremely long blade retention period, but the price is high, so it is only used in the production of knives for a few elite units of the US military and police, such as The famous M.O.D company produces special police folding knives for indoor close combat. The blade is made of 154CM high-quality stainless steel; (2) 440 series of high-quality stainless steel. This stainless steel includes several different models such as A, B, C, and F, among which 440C and 440F have the highest carbon content. The 440 series is currently the most widely used knife-making material. Among them, 440C was originally the first choice material for making surgical scalpels and is also widely used in the shipbuilding industry. 440C contains chromium 16 to 18 and carbon content of about 1. It has acid and alkali corrosion resistance and can It has good processability and strong toughness, but its hardness is slightly lower than that of 154CM high-quality stainless steel. The hardness value can only reach about HRc58. Friends who like wild camping often wear the Jungle King survival knife produced by Spanish AITOR company, which is made of 440 steel. ; (3) 1095 high carbon steel, although its carbon content is as high as 1.03, its toughness is still excellent. After special processing, its hardness can reach HRc60, and its price is moderate. It is a high-quality high-carbon steel and is widely used in the mechanical processing industry. It is often used in the manufacture of drill bits and turning tools, so it is also called tool steel. However, 1095 high carbon steel is not resistant to corrosion. Therefore, the surfaces of tools made of it as the main material are mostly protected by various coatings. The famous Kabbah saber used by the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II was made of 1095 high-quality high-carbon steel.

Japan, a major steel country in the world, is also rich in high-quality knife-making steel. The more common ones are: (1) ATS-34 high-quality stainless steel. Its materials and main ingredients are similar to those of American 154CM high-quality stainless steel. The performance indicators also reach the standard of 154CM, but the price is slightly lower than 154CM. It is the preferred high-end tool making material in the tool manufacturing industry. The SEAL2000 fighting knife used by a few elite units in the US Marine Corps is made of a whole piece of ATS-34 high-quality stainless steel. Made; (2) AUS high-quality stainless steel is a high-quality stainless steel widely used in Japanese knives. It has the characteristics of corrosion resistance, good toughness, and strong blade damage resistance. According to its different carbon content, AUS is divided into 10A There are three models (carbon content 1), 8A (carbon content 0.8), and 6A (carbon content 0.6). AUS-8 (8A) high-quality stainless steel is commonly used in knife making. Its hardness can reach HRc59 after heat treatment. Japan The blade material of the manufactured SOG/PEⅡ folding knife is AUS-8 high-quality stainless steel; (3) Handmade laminated steel is a commonly used knife-making material in the traditional Japanese knife-making industry. It is estimated that the technology originated from China. It is a special craft steel made of steel with different hardness and toughness, which is carburized and then repeatedly folded and forged. The blade of the knife made of it has patterns left by forging, and the polished part of the blade can also be vaguely seen layer by layer. The natural patterns are so beautiful. Of course, knives made of this material are expensive.

1. The trademark VICTORINOX = the "Christian name" of the original boss "stainless steel" = VICTORI INOX;

2. No matter who writes or calls the factory to ask about the composition of its stainless steel, The result was a polite refusal;

3. Now, the good guys have found out and confirmed that the stainless steel raw materials for the blades of the factory are supplied by a company called Sandvik;

4. . If you call Sandvik to ask for the answer to the second point, the answer you get will be "The stainless steel our company provides for VICTORINOX is 12C27." But this answer is vague and incorrect.

5. It can be found from Sandvik's steel data sheet that the composition percentages of trace elements in 12C27 are about 0.59 carbon, 13.75 chromium, 0.375 manganese, and 0.4 silicon.

6. Through metallographic analysis, the stainless steel composition of VICTORINOX's blade is not the 12C27 steel claimed by Sandvik. Its trace element composition percentage is 0.52 carbon, 15 chromium, 0.45 manganese, 0.6 silicon, 0.5 molybdenum. Therefore, this steel was called INOX (Blade steel of Victorinox Swiss Army Knives (V-SAK)).

7. Comparing the ingredients of INOX with ATS55, except that the carbon content of the latter is 1, the rest are almost the same.

8. The standard hardness of INOX blades is HRC56, but the edge retention is very good. VICTORINOX has proven (again) through long-term experiments that hardness is a variable in (function of) edge retention, but not the only variable. (Don’t ask “What other variables are there?” when following the post. Please refer to the old post. Thank you.)

9. The relationship between 12C27 and INOX: The latter is a variant of the former. In addition to fine-tuning the ingredients, it also Added 0.5% molybdenum. This is a steel type specially made by Sandvik according to the requirements of VICTORINOX, and its heat treatment process is completely the commercial secret of VICTORINOX.

10. INOX is not the only steel type of V-SAK. The company has also used (or is currently using) 420 series steel to make blades. However, it is different from the situation where Leizeman mostly uses the 420 series (and a small amount of 154CM is used). INOX is still relatively popular in SAK.

11. The Rockwell hardness C values ??of V-SAK components are arranged from low to high: corkscrew and spring leaf 49, screwdriver, bottle opener, awl 52, wood saw, scissors, nails The file is 53 and the blade is 56. The metal file is harder and chromium plated, so it is difficult to calculate. The materials are generally INOX. V-SAK's spacers are aluminum alloy and the rivets are brass.

12. The heat treatment of INOX is precise and complicated. It is only said that it is quenched when heated to 1040°C, and then annealed at 160°C. Nothing else is known.