Subject: Knife Steel

From: [email-masked] (Rich S)
Date: 4 Jun 1995 14:02:05 GMT

I came across with what I beleive would be a tremendous
steel for knives. About a year ago I watched a PBS show on high
tech materials hosted by Spencer Christian (one of the nation
wide morning weather men). Various segments of the show talked
about kevlar and spectra (ultra high strength fibers), cermet--
an armour that is used on helicopters made from aluminum and 
ceramic. But the segment that really caught my eye was on a steel
called Super Plastic Steel or acasionally during the segment Ultra
High Carbon Steel.
	Super Plastic Steel was developed at Lawerence Livermore
Labs about 17 years ago. It is very similar in charcateristics 
to the ancient Damascus steel. 
	Reported stats:
	Stronger and tougher than conventional high carbon steels.
	It has a 1.6% carbon content.
	Can be elongated  many times more that what  conventional 
steel can endure before breaking--hence the name.
	Has an ultra fine grain structure.
	Superior corrosion resistance.
	Very hard, but tough.
	It sounds like a great knife steel to me!
	North Star Steel was reported to make a trial batch(?)to see 
if it was feasable to produce on a commercial basis. Caterpillar 
Tractor was reported as using it in their latest designs but wouldn't say
in what way (I guess industrial espionage is the reason behind that).
	So, if anyone out there is, or has used this steel in making
knives I would be very interested in hearing about it.

				PS  I did a couple searches of the web
and found nothing. 

					Thanks,

						Rich S.