Vanadis 23 SuperClean

The Vanadis 23 SuperClean from Uddeholm is a PM steel that has a very high hardness, high wear resistance and high toughness. The steel corresponds to the material number 1.3395. It reaches a working hardness of max.67hrc. Compared to the 1.3253, it has a slightly lower wear resistance, but offers better toughness. This also makes it interesting for blades that have been ground a little more finely, or for blades that, despite their high hardness and high wear resistance, should have certain power reserves with regard to the cutting edge stability. However, this steel shows its true strength in strong workhorse geometries, especially in kitchen knives. Provided that the angle of the primary bevel is appropriately blunt, the edge can definitely be ground to 0.1mm without an excessive risk of breakouts being expected. For knives for hunting or hardwood processing, the edge should not be thinner than 0.15mm. The total sharpening angle of the edge should be between 36 and 40 degrees.

The steel can be forged between 1150 and 900 degrees when fully heated. Under no circumstances should the steel be cooled in oil. Just cooling the blank on the cold anvil can lead to cracking. However, the steel must be annealed at high temperatures and with a long holding time. The blanks must therefore be protected from oxidation and decarburization, e.g. with hardening foil or the use of a protective gas oven. In addition, the forged blanks should always be made with sufficient oversize to be able to grind decarburized areas after soft annealing.

Hardening is time-consuming and requires high hardening and tempering temperatures, controlled quenching conditions, protection against oxidation and decarburization and exact adherence to warm-up and holding times. If you do not have the necessary infrastructure and experience to harden PM steels, I recommend using the services of a hardening shop.

I myself do not offer a hardening service for the steels I sell. However, I can unreservedly recommend the hardening service of my colleague Jürgen Schanz. He works with a very experienced hardening shop that also carries out demanding heat treatments exactly according to customer requirements. If necessary, contact Jürgen Schanz directly via his contact form.