I saw this on another forum and copied it to pass along. Seems this new process is promising!



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NEW KNIVES SHARPER AND STAY THAT WAY

Friction forging makes knives stay sharper longer, but not without a price

By JIM MATTHEWS
Outdoor News Service
FRAZIER PARK - More and more new technology is incorporated into outdoor gear every year. It wasn't long ago that no one had heard of GPS (Global Positioning System) units, now it's a rare hunter or fisherman who doesn't understand GPS and many own them. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I remember the first graphite fishing rod.
(For you kids, a brief history lesson: Fishing rods were made with fiberglass for years before graphite came on the scene, thanks to the aerospace industry.)
Some of the new technology just makes little improvements in performance or the ease with which we can do things in the field. Other things have very significant impacts in improving products.
This week I have been using a new knife with a blade that is made with a new process called "friction forging." Remember that process.
Using heat caused by pressure and rotation, the process reduces the grain structure of steel while making it harder at the same time. It doesn't melt the steel, it becomes plasticized and its properties change. The technical specifications of how this happens are fascinating and took a panel of five metallurgical experts about two hours to explain.
The process is less important than what it does to knife blade steel. In a nutshell, this new super knife blade can be made extremely sharp, but more importantly, it holds that edge for magnitudes longer than any other steel used to make knife blades. It is also more durable.
Hunters know that most steel knives dull after the dressing and skinning process of a single deer. The new friction-forged blade may never need sharpening by the average deer hunter who shoot a deer or two a year.
As a bonus, the edge of the blade is corrosion-proof because of the high chromium content, but it is not made from stainless steel. This means that rust won't dull the blade either.
The new knives will be marketed under the name of Diamond Blade.
Charles E. Allen, the president and founder of Knives of Alaska, a 12-year-old Texas company that supplies over 100,000 high-quality hunting knives a year to the hunting marketplace, is the principal who's pulled together the team for this new undertaking.
Utilizing the research efforts over the past decade by Brigham Young University metallurgists Dr. Tracy Nelson and Dr. Carl Sorensen, the technology was adapted to knife blades to create what Nelson calls "the biggest legitimate improvement in the knife industry in over 40 years."
How much better is it? Using the "shave test" criteria, the new Diamond Blade knife was tested against virtually all of the other steels used in knifes. They were all mechanically sharpened the same way, and a task was performed repeatedly (rope was cut) until the knife couldn't shave hair from skin. Most knives lost that ability with as few as 15 cuttings, and even the best steel lost it's edge after about 150 pieces of rope were cut. The new steel blade continued to hold its edge even after 250 pieces of rope had been cut and time curtailed more testing.
In a less formal test, Charles Allen tells how he and his staff kept performing cutting tasks with the new knife and then shaving hair off their skin. "I can tell you than none of us had any hair left on our bodies after about a week, and the knife was still sharp enough to shave hair."
That may be too much information.
No, the knife isn't cheap. It will be in the $330 to $400 range, depending on the model, and all are presentation quality knives with exotic handles. But that is on par with or priced below most of the quality, custom knives on the market.
"We're not saying the edge is indestructible or that it never has to be sharpened. It's not going to have to be sharpened as often and it's more durable," said Allen.
Sorenson says the friction forging makes the steel able to start out at least 50 percent sharper at the beginning, and it can hold that sharpness several magnitudes greater than other steel.
It won't take 40 years for all other knife steel to become obsolete.

Wow! Too bad they're going to only see "fancy" models so they can get a higher profit margin. At half the prices mentioned I'd buy one in a second just to test it myself.

This is making the rounds of the variousknife forums .However when I Google "friction forging " I get a bunch of sites about "friction welding". So I wish someone would reference a technical paper explaining what it is.Otherwise it sounds like marketing BS.

My understanding is the process is similar to Friction Stir Welding. However, since no welding occurs the process has been named friction forging.

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It won't take 40 years for all other knife steel to become obsolete.

Somehow, I think plain ol' high carbon will still be around in 400 I mean 40 years.

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Originally posted by Mark:

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It won't take 40 years for all other knife steel to become obsolete.

Somehow, I think plain ol' high carbon will still be around in 400 I mean 40 years.

There are quite a few more qualities in addition to edge holding ability- toughness, re-sharpenability, corrosion resistance, flexibility come to mind.

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Originally posted by Mark:
There are quite a few more qualities in addition to edge holding ability- toughness, re-sharpenability, corrosion resistance, flexibility come to mind.

Amen!!
Lots of good steels are available today, and in use as knife blade material. But, it's tough beating good old D-2.

Don

Don, one of my favorite is D2 steel as long as it comes from a good manufacturer. There is some less than desirable D2 steel being produced. The steel utilized in Diamond Blades currently is D2.

Mark, I agree with you accessment! I have read several articles about the testing of these blades. Wayne Goddard performed the cutting test under strict controls. The blade was bent a 110 degrees and did not break. Seems the friction forging process only heat treats the edge and goes up to the spine slightly leaving the rest of the blade in an annealed state. I believe this process will have its niche in the sporting field. However, to say it will replace the other steels...... it ain't gonna happen.

Having said that, I believe there will be a market for this product. In the future I forsee others adapting this process after it is accepted and proven reliable. I once heard a guy asked, " what is the perfect knife". The answer from an anonymous source was, " Blade must be tempered in wine, will cut through a silk scarf when dropped on the blade and cut everything except its owner." Seems folks are always looking for perfection, hopefully friction forging is a step in the right direction. Time will tell!

Sounds a lot like a very old technology - the process the Japanese used to make Samauri swords. Heat, bend, hammer, heat, bend, hammer.

Oh yeah, with all those other qualities I forgot to mention cost!

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There are quite a few more qualities in addition to edge holding ability- toughness, re-sharpenability, corrosion resistance, flexibility come to mind.

Toughness and corrosion resistance are intimately connected to edge holding ability, which is one of the reasons D2 loses out to many stainless steels, especially S30V when subject to wet conditions during testing. As far as flexibility is concerned, within reason, who cares? I'm not planning on using my knives for pry bars or slicing Z's on someone's vest.

Here's some technical info www.cutleryscience.com/papers/DiamondBlades%20info.pdf In other words a rotating tool heats and works the steel producing a very fine grain size.As for differential hardening - in general I was never impressed .

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Originally posted by Gatogordo:

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There are quite a few more qualities in addition to edge holding ability- toughness, re-sharpenability, corrosion resistance, flexibility come to mind.

Toughness and corrosion resistance are intimately connected to edge holding ability, which is one of the reasons D2 loses out to many stainless steels, especially S30V when subject to wet conditions during testing. As far as flexibility is concerned, within reason, who cares? I'm not planning on using my knives for pry bars or slicing Z's on someone's vest.

Not to mention that for the price you are paying for how the steel is forged, as compared to S30V, you are paying for the molecular structure of the steel which has the ability to have a fine grain structure because it is made from powdered steel to begin with, and of course a tried and true HT method of course to get the toughness and edge holding qualities without being brittle.

I wonder how easy this new steel will be to re sharpen?

Anyone wanting technical info should Google the proper term ,Friction Stir Processing !!

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Originally posted by Gatogordo:
As far as flexibility is concerned, within reason, who cares? I'm not planning on using my knives for pry bars or slicing Z's on someone's vest.

Uh huh, I finally put 2 and 2 together....

Mark:



BTW, my tongue-in-cheek comment was referring to what I call normal hunting/skinning knives. Obviously military type battle knives and longer thinner blades have to have some degree of flexibility.