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Fundamentals of Knife Engineering: The Metallurgy of Blade Steels: Microstructure, Heat Treatment, and Edge Performance
Paperback
Series: Knife Engineering Textbook, Book 2
Metal WorkTechnology & Engineering
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jul 22 2026
Pages: 478
Weight: 2.42
Height: 0.96 Width: 8.50 Depth: 11.00
Language: English
For decades, the metallurgical science behind knife blade performance has been divided between two inaccessible worlds: dense academic journals on one side, and recipe-based knifemaking guides on the other. A knifemaker who follows heat treatment protocols without understanding the science cannot diagnose why a blade leaves the quench at the wrong hardness, why a nominally stainless knife corrodes despite its chromium content, or why a carefully forged blade sometimes performs identically to stock removal.
Fundamentals of Knife Engineering: The Metallurgy of Blade Steels fills this gap - providing the complete engineering science of blade steels in a single accessible volume built around worked examples, quantitative tools, and fifty profiled steels.
What this book helps you understand and apply:
- Select blade steels using a master selection table covering fifty steels - rated by wear resistance, toughness, corrosion resistance, and hardness across eight application categories including kitchen knives, hunting blades, marine tools, and everyday carry folders.
- Apply four quantitative analytical tools - the Toughness-Ductility Index, effective matrix PREN, composite wear model, and Hall-Petch relationships - to evaluate steel performance with calculation rather than marketing language.
- Diagnose real knifemaking problems from first principles: incorrect post-quench hardness, corrosion in nominally stainless blades, and the actual science behind cryogenic treatment and retained austenite conversion.
- Consult complete heat treatment reference tables for all fifty profiled steels: austenitising temperature, soak time, quench media, tempering protocols, and cryogenic treatment guidance.
- Navigate key engineering trade-offs quantitatively: edge retention versus toughness, corrosion resistance versus edge retention, and powder metallurgy versus conventional steels.
Fifteen chapters cover the iron-iron carbide phase diagram, TTT and CCT transformation diagrams, martensite formation and quench mechanics, tempering science, alloying elements, wear mechanisms, fracture mechanics, corrosion chemistry, a fifty-steel selection guide with eight application categories, complete heat treatment protocols, the forging versus stock removal debate, and advanced topics including powder metallurgy, Damascus steel, and emerging alloy systems.
Written for practising knifemakers, advanced hobbyists, engineering and materials science students, and technically engaged collectors seeking a rigorous single-volume reference on blade steel performance.
Add this technical reference to your library and begin building the metallurgical understanding that turns heat treatment decisions from guesswork into engineering judgment.
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