Bob Kramer: Why Carbon Steel Is The Best For Knife Making

[@MountainFisher]

For high carbon steel I use O1 tool steel with the 0.20% vanadium. It has 0.50% Chromium and 0.50 Tungsten that make pretty hard carbides, if heat treated right along with its high manganese content. O1 is much better than straight up HC steel. The 0.20% vanadium will not make Vanadium Carbides, but what it does do is restrict grain growth from possible over heating. O1 has an odd property, when it's HT and quenched in 120-130 degree F heated oil, within 2 to 3 minutes after quench you can easily fix any warping issues right after heat treat before it hard sets.

[@thecookseye7383]

Low carbide tool steels are generally included under the umbrella of 'carbon steel' even though they have other alloying metals. Bob uses 52100 ball bearing steel which has more toughness and elasticity than 0-1 at comparable wear resistance due to higher carbon content and double the concentration of chromium carbides. The scant Vanadium present in 01 is mainly there for grain structure refinement while tungsten and chromium makes up the majority of carbide formation. I love 0-1, but 52100 especially when pushed to 63-64 rockwell has the benefit of the edge springing back to true after impact with the cutting board instead of staying rolled/deformed. It punches well above its weight in terms of practical edge retention in the kitchen vs more wear resistant steels, especially when used for push cutting, despite its lower comparable scores on CATRA tests. Still though, my favorite carbons for the kitchen are Yoshikazu Tanaka's 64 hrc heat treat on Aogami #1 steel as well as Fujiwara's 67 HRC Aogami Super and Togashi's Water quenched Aogami #1 honyaki thats in a league of its own.

[@MountainFisher]

@@thecookseye7383 You know why the HC steels do poorly in CATRA tests? The silica in the paper is at supposedly 4%, but according to Larrin Thomas it can run as high as 8% and iron carbide or ferrite/cementite doesn't hold up to it very well. Only tops out at 68 Rockwell and the Chromium carbides hit 74 to 80, vanadium is 88.

[@thecookseye7383]

@@MountainFisher Yes I'm well aware, but the point was that people all too often use CATRA results as the end all be all of edge retention, when it only measures abrasion resistance and not impact resistance/elasticity.

[@Competitive_Antagonist]

2:52 Actually starts talking about carbon steel here.

[@Fearlessjodh]

You saved my time mate and i got a piece of information i was looking for! Thanks

[@mfreeman313]

If you had any more seconds of him talking in more depth about why carbon steel is the best for knife making you'd have to cut some of that uber-stylish B-roll. Apparently these folks never heard of voiceover.

[@GlenAndFriendsCooking]

How does Bob have time to make knives? It seems like every KZbin channel about knives and cooking has interviewed him. Not complaining - I love watching him talk about knives... but... let the man work.

[@cutleryandmore]

Haha. He certainly is busy these days. Everybody wants a few minutes with the blade master. In case you were not aware, we have a pretty big happening on Kramer Cutlery bit.ly/kramercarbonknives

[@GlenAndFriendsCooking]

Thanks - we'll check that out!

[@ElfBroYaHa]

Literally his job to make and sell knifes so...

[@daw162]

I'm guessing that the knives are done by other people and he's the "shop master". I literally never see his name unless it's being promoted by people who don't know much about knives (vs. someone like Joe Calton who is toiling away looking specifically for results).

[@Horizon344]

Nice film, what was missing is examples of his knives to view.

[@MrPriceMonroe]

Wild jazzy softcore intro... Wait this is a knife manufacturing video.

[@donaldsharp3682]

Passion!, I have that passion, maybe not the resources, but you can feel that passion in the way it feels, Perfection! He has that!

[@markjohnson6]

Mr. Kramer is an artist.. Fantastic!!

[@carlosmatos9848]

"Stainless makes a good knife, but carbon steel and its fine grain structure performs better" I just summed up this waste of 5 minutes in one sentence.

[@unguidedone]

if you own one of his knives like i do and use it everyday watching it being made by the maker himself is worth the 5 minutes

[@AC-wl7ve]

unguidedone do you have one actually made by him or one of the mass produced ones?

[@davesmith5656]

Media & money. There is a video about the molecular structures of steel alloys - which is what I thought this video would be about.

[@hardcase1659]

@@unguidedone Don't be a snob.

[@americanscarelines2757]

Creeping Death cool story.

[@pangdogmichael]

then why zwilling won't sale the carbon line in europe :(

[@JoeMama-vj8es]

Gotta admit...I was expecting more.

[@stevecausey1590]

did I miss something? I never did hear why carbon is so much better.

[@jennytalbert5547]

The only part I seen was where he said you finer grain and a nice edge with carbon. There are stainless steels out that can outperform high carbon steels in every area and not rust.

[@blackjon8]

Is. That GoGo in the background music

[@b01tact10n]

Hey Bob I'd love to learn how-to-make knives teach me!

[@StephenWorth]

too much glitz not enough info

[@mauricehollands2425]

What is 3CR14 STEEL? Is it any good for a kitchen knife. How hard is it?

[@nathandkreosote9917]

Its low end chinese stainless steel, very soft and not good for a kitchen knife

[@leejones9757]

Didnt actually explain much about Carbon Steel!? 🤔

[@podsmpsg1]

Is 52100 steel good for survival knives?

[@bboness713]

I like it but it will patina very quickly. Takes a scary sharp edge and it's tough enough for a hunting, camp knife for sure

[@joeyripswell]

To carry everyday, in your car, or in your ShTf bag...?

[@FRONTIER_KNIGHT]

Bab What's the best steel to make scythe

[@brokenrecord3523]

What a pointless video. I gave up 2/3 the way through. Did they ever talk about carbon steel? I was waiting for some guy with a mustache to come in and say "I came to sharpen your knife." And the housewife: "Ooooo, that makes me soo hot."

[@daw162]

I don't think they're trying to sell to the part of the audience who actually knows what carbon steel is. I see joe calton on the pick list to the right in my videos (I make things for myself, but I wonder how a fairly inexpensive calton knife compares to almost anything high dollar). (actually, anyone who is proficient at sharpening would have no issue with a $75 rikizai japanese knife around 61/62 hardness).

[@mfreeman313]

Haha yeah so very, very '80s. He said maybe two sentences about carbon steel, don't worry. He said it was good.

[@MrFreeGman]

I'm more knocking the video title than the video itself, but he literally just described what carbon steel is and said it was the best. He didn't explain why.

[@e.c.jr.3580]

I thought this was going to be informative.

[@hrvojesoric2270]

He was on a plane simple way

[@poonsnorkeler9129]

Same not a life story on this guy

[@Exodus26.13Pi]

Turn up the music, I keep hearing someone mumbling.

[@liverpain3485]

What's with people named bob being master knife makers?

[@maxcaddy8914]

Bullshit... only reason for 1095 is that it is easy to work with and dirt cheap...doesnt require advanced technology it easy to heat treat...you can basicaly make knives from it in your shed... now try that with zdp 189, cts xhp or even 440c... 1095 is fine.. but it will fucking rust in no time and good luck using it for kitchen knife...why the fuck they make knives from modern particle metallurgy steels then if 1095 is so much better...? Respect to this dude tho..he surely can make knives

[@soundped]

stop with the porno music please

[@alcamacho4968]

Michael Schwartz Thats A you problem

[@ALLENNEWLIN1979]

You are obviously not old enough or mature enough to be watching this.

[@brokenrecord3523]

@@ALLENNEWLIN1979 Remember when there were porn theaters and at the bottom of the marquee it said "For Mature Adults Only"? Cracks me up!

[@michaelforman6292]

This video should have been 30 seconds. Lame channel.

[@donaldduck6414]

Try the video again and actually have some information because other than a lot of music and stupid cut screens this was completely pointless.

[@13bravoredleg18]

That was a waste of time!

[@llen6970]

waste

[@dusanpavlovic2201]

stainless steel is better really, new super steels have just as fine grain

[@asintonic]

No

[@dusanpavlovic2201]

​@@asintonic they are generally better only rex121 us the best steel there is in the world but others are 90% stainless

[@thecookseye7383]

No they don't, modern PM stainless has finer grain structure and more homogenized distribution of carbides than conventional stainless, but free chromium will always degrade grain structure during quenching additionally chromium carbides are quite large. Additionally free chromium reduces toughness and elasticity, two important qualities for impact resistance on a cutting board. Where stainless will roll and stay deformed, well heat treated carbon will deform under impact and spring back to true. Edge retention is not just a matter of abrasion resistance.

[@zackworrell]

I disagree on Stainless. Steels like S30V, RWL-34 and A-EBL and a handful of others can easily outperform 1095 or 52100 which are top American carbon steels for kitchen cutlery...I know becasue I make high performance kitchen knives, but then my name isn't Bob Fucking Kramer. The carbons just jake the edge quicker and easier, but they also lose it quicker too.

[@charlesmolnar2359]

zack worrell h

[@StuninRub]

Low carbon steels like 52100 makes shit knives, especially when it comes it kitchen knives. The only reasons why you would want to use it is if you like using dull knives or you like to sharpen your knives all the time. S30V is used less and usually on small knives only because it is expensive to manufacture.

[@StuninRub]

Бојан Павловић Raw material cost is not the same as total cost. The equipment and expertise needed to manufacture s30v blades far exceed the cost of raw materials. The reason s30v is cheaper then say the likes of s110v is because there is more readily available support for this material when comes to manafacturing. Unlike low carbon steel you can't just bang it around with a forge.

[@StuninRub]

You literally just proved my point. You are bitching about s30v being low quality steel in the comment section of video about a guy who sells his knives for upwards of $5,000 using 52100 steel which cost him $10 max. If you want to base whether or not a steel is high quality by price, then your low carbon steel is literally garbage. Oh and large manufactures do not purchase steel by the cut, their cost for s30v is about half of what you would purchase it for. If high edge retention and high corrosion resistance does not mean anything to you in a kitchen knife setting then maybe you need to re-evaluate what makes a good kitchen knife.

[@valebliz]

@@БојанПавловић-е3й you guys hardly know what you are talking about. There's a lot of other parameters to steels other than edge retention. S30V is a good steel but mostly suited for rather short folders/fixed blades, in long and thin kitchen knives it would be chippy. Are there better steel than s30v? Sure, depending on what you have to do with them. Try using a s90v blade to pry something and than come back saying how awesome it was. It was just the wrong choice.

[@DoctorTooploop]

ahh no the carbon steels produced these days are never just iron and carbon they always have small amounts of things like manganese or chromium in them

[@patrickkelly8095]

He should stop waisting his time and make a true. Wootz Damascus steel and then we’ll see how good he really is.

[@TheAndersDanilet]

Ok boomer

[@MrBrokenwrenches]

Do know what it takes to become an ABS master smith?

[@patrickkelly8095]

cody allen cody allen I do know what it takes. Do you know what it takes to make real Damascus steel? Wootz Damascus. It is exceptionally difficult to replicate the true method and took a team of some of the finest forgers a years of research and scientific testing to achieve it. Basically I was being sarcastic. I’ve been a Bob Kramer fan for years.

[@jennytalbert5547]

Wootz isn't really that great stacked up against modern Damascus. Really cool concept though.

[@russellfrancis813]

@@patrickkelly8095 By that logic, if knowing how to craft that damascus is the litmus for a great knife maker then all modern day masons must not be masters because they can't replicate roman concrete.

[@jinw8974]

waste of time