New Knife Steel Nerds video covering K390

[metaphoricalsimile]

The tl;dw is that it's good, but doesn't offer any *huge* advantages over other similar-class high-edge-retention-moderate-toughness tool steels.

I do wonder if the hot hardening benefits Larrin mentions in the video result in a steel that has better properties after factory grinding and sharpening though.

[RamZar]

I posted the following in another thread and reposting here as well...

Dr. Larrin Thomas (Knife Steel Nerds) has a new article on K390:

K390 – Best High Wear Resistance Steel?

BÖHLER K390 MICROCLEAN


https://youtu.be/UhfBLjuyqsU

[zuludelta]

Great article on a great steel. I frequently carry a K390 Delica 4 for work & it's in that sweet spot of holding an edge for an extremely long time whilst not taking obnoxiously long to sharpen, relatively. It's kicked the Para 3 Maxamet out of my regular work knife rotation for this reason (also, the Delica 4 just carries & handles better than the Para 3 for me personally, YMMV).

[Wartstein]

Thanks for sharing guys, interesting!
/ ... And as a proud Austrian I like that Boehler K390 is an Austrian steel...

[Unluckycharm]

Callout to Shawn, BBB. Have you done any extensive work with K390 in the heat treatment process to try to improve the properties? In my opinion the K390 from seki is a great blend of toughness and edge retention- the stropping and sharpening ability is great too. Probably not the steel for someone in a high water/humidity environment but in my experience a patina forms before rust.

With the Golden expansion I would expect to see some K390 produced there, has there been any work to get the optimal treatment for the steel? Any findings to share?