What do you guys know about this steel? I was at the Blade show back in June and had a long chat with the guys from Bohler-Uddeholm. The conversation turned to my hobby/job and corrosion resistant steels and they mentioned that one of their steels (Vanax) was a Nitrogen version of Elmax and was supposed to have Elmax like performance with very high corrosion resistance. When I left they gave me a bar of the steel to do some testing on.
I have been working on a design for a rigid fillet knife for awhile so I thought that would be the perfect knife to do some testing on. It is small enough to mount on my kayak so I am going to put it through the rigors of my everyday saltwater fishing and see how it performs. I am still in the states so I can't start the saltwater testing yet but that doesn't mean I can't still go fishing and start seeing how it performs on the cutting board.
So does anyone else have experience with this steel? I know that marketing is marketing and real world results will tell the story but man, the idea of a steel like Elmax that has been optimized to have extreme corrosion resistance sounds really appealing on paper! If anyone is interested, I will try to keep this thread updated with my findings over the next month or two but in the meantime I would love to hear from anyone who already has experience with this steel.
I have no experience with that steel but I really like that blade shape. I like old trade knife patterns, roach bellies and trailing points and it has some of that vibe with a nice sweeping taper to a good tip. Very nice!!!
-Darby
sal wrote:Knife afi's are pretty far out, steel junky's more so, but "edge junky's" are just nuts. :p
SpyderEdgeForever wrote:
Also, do you think a kangaroo would eat a bowl of spagetti with sauce if someone offered it to them?
I looked it up. Are we talking Vanax 75 or 35? I note both have .20 C while Elmax has 1.70 C. The 75 has 4.20 N and 21.20 Cr. The 35 1.90 N and 20.00 Cr. Both should be pretty corrosion resistant. I would think the low C would help with that and the N maybe (?) would give it some help in replacing the carbon. However, the 75 has 9.00 V (!).
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Hey Dan, I think the idea of the nitrogen is to replace carbon, thus increasing the corrosion resistance. I believe there is only one Vanax being made now and according to the link that Nate provided (thank you Nate) the current Vanax has the same composition as the old Vanax 35. I'm not positive though so I just sent an email to Uddeholm requesting confirmation on that. I'll update if I learn anything new.
Not a bad steel, holds a nice edge very much like ELMAX in many aspects from what I saw in the few blades I tested.
For a saltwater environment and knowing how Lance treats his blades (LOL) it would be worth while I think as he needs all the help he can get. :D
I can't speak of actual corrosion resistance, but being a Nitrogen based steel it should offer higher resistance over ELMAX, and ELMAX is already very stain resistant as it is.
Although I personally believe that N690 and N680 offer more of what Lance would need in a filet knife, while not as wear resistant as ELMAX they both are very aggressive with the right edge and both are VERY stain resistant.
Surfgringo, two things. First of all I thought this thread was a spam thread for some mystery drug etc. Lol. Anyway are those some type of mackerel? Nice looking fish. How's the eatin'?
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Wants/Wishes (only NIB and EU): Militarys in 52100, Maxamet, Cru-Wear, Manix 2/Maxamet
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Midnightrider wrote:Surfgringo, two things. First of all I thought this thread was a spam thread for some mystery drug etc. Lol. Anyway are those some type of mackerel? Nice looking fish. How's the eatin'?
Rainbow trout. It looks like Lance found his way to some fresh water.
-Darby
sal wrote:Knife afi's are pretty far out, steel junky's more so, but "edge junky's" are just nuts. :p
SpyderEdgeForever wrote:
Also, do you think a kangaroo would eat a bowl of spagetti with sauce if someone offered it to them?
Based on the picture you provided alone, if that knife ever makes it to production, I will buy one. That's exactly the sort of thing I'd be interested in. No experience with Vanax myself, but now I'm interested.
Hey buddy, that's a 7" knife I designed. I call it a "kitchen fillet". It's seeing mostly kitchen use right now and I'm really enjoying it but the saltwater and big fish work will start in short order. It was made as a vehicle to test this Vanax steel for performance and corrosion resistance.
Hey buddy, that's a 7" knife I designed. I call it a "kitchen fillet". It's seeing mostly kitchen use right now and I'm really enjoying it but the saltwater and big fish work will start in short order. It was made as a vehicle to test this Vanax steel for performance and corrosion resistance.
Awesome! :cool:
Very nice knife Lance! :)
A day without laughter is a day wasted. ~ Charlie Chaplin
Sounds good and do like the 'kitchen knife' style designs, not a fan of trailing points for my use (do like the look..) though but unfortunately also not really capable of much fishing so don't fillet much.
bearfacedkiller wrote:Rainbow trout. It looks like Lance found his way to some fresh water.
Thanks. I couldn't figure out why saltwater fish looked so troutish. I should have concluded like you did.
Millies in S110V, CTS-204p, REX 45, PM2/S110v, Native 5/Maxamet, P4/K390, Pacific Salt SE/H1, UK PK
Wants/Wishes (only NIB and EU): Militarys in 52100, Maxamet, Cru-Wear, Manix 2/Maxamet
Yes, Virginia, that's a Purple Haze in my suit pocket :)
Doc Dan wrote:I looked it up. Are we talking Vanax 75 or 35?.
Surfingringo wrote:Hey Dan, I think the idea of the nitrogen is to replace carbon, thus increasing the corrosion resistance. I believe there is only one Vanax being made now and according to the link that Nate provided (thank you Nate) the current Vanax has the same composition as the old Vanax 35. I'm not positive though so I just sent an email to Uddeholm requesting confirmation on that. I'll update if I learn anything new.
I have the data sheets and H/T instructions that Bohler provided with the steel for this knife. The steel is Vanax Superclean. It has a different composition from both 75 and 35. C 0.36, N 1.55, Si 0.30, Mn 0.30, Cr 18.2, Mo 1.10, V 3.50.
JimP wrote:..What HRC was it taken to?
HRC 60
:)
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