plane blade steel

[jorgoz]

Does anyone know how the Qs blades (T10) compare to O1 or A2 blades ?

 

[bugbear]

I cannot find a detailed spec of T10, but it's often called a "high speed" tool steel, and is sometimes used by knife and sword makers.

If I find more, I'll post again.

Damn. It looks like there may be two steels from China called T10. There is a strong consensus (mainly on the sword/knife) forums that it's a tough, high speed steel.

There's an equally strong view on more metallurgically biased sources that the composition spec matches W1 or W2 steel, which is a pretty old-school water hardening tool steel.

BugBear

 

[Alf]

Not had extensive enough use of my Q3 to really say, but it feels like it takes a finer edge. Longevity of the edge, I couldn't say. It's in a smoother, and I tend to want a fresh edge more often, rather than let an edge elegantly deteriorate over a longer time. Quite a bit quicker to hone than A2 (using my set up) so it ticks the boxes for me. I'll take quick honing to a finer edge over longer retention of a coarser edge (and a longer honing time) all day, and twice on Sundays. But it's a pretty subjective thing, and you milage may vary, as they say across the Pond.

BB, Matthew describes T10 as the "Chinese equivalent to W1", so I think the latter.

 

[bugbear]

BB, Matthew describes T10 as the "Chinese equivalent to W1", so I think the latter.

OK. With that to go on, I'll post this with a bit more confidence:

According to Daido steels - a japanese supply house, their brand for T-10 (also T-9, is called YK4. The japanese standard designation is SK4 and AISI is W1 or W2. Here's the composition they list for it:

C - .9-1.0
Si - .35 max
Mn - .5 max
Ni - .25 Max

I am used to seeing Vanadium in W-2, but they don't list it, instead they are listing Nickel. Does this actually meet AISI for W1 or W2?

Anyhow, they say to harden from 760*-820* C, water quench, and temper at 150* to 200*C. Being too lazy to pull up a C to F converter right now, and much too lazy to do the math the long way, I'll trust that someone else will see if these fit into typical W2 temperature ranges. If I had to venture a guess, looking at the chemistry, I'd say it's right about on the mark.

BugBear

 

[yetloh]

I agree with Alf about the T10's edge taking ability - I have found it to be very impressive. It also seems to hold the edge well although that is rather subjective, short of doing extremely tedious back to back trials against other blades, and I have more enjoyable ways of occcupying my woodworking time.

Jim