Vanax
I went off and bought a piece of Vanax (nitride steel). for testing it will start in the kitchen as a a serrated paring knife. I haven't formed an opinion this quick on how it cuts, time will tell. bottom line up front, I did not have any problems working with this steel. it cut normal on my bandsaw; not any harder to cut than S3V. Profiling i did not notice it harder to shape; normal hi speed surface speed used. Drilling, it was as each to drill as S3V. Hollow grinding went off without any warpage or anything out of the ordinary. i single enveloped the blades for Heat Treat. I followed the directions ran it at 1975F for 30 minute soak. during quenching i did not have any extreme warpage issues. (i used quench plates)
As hardened my blades read 54 HRC
A liquid Nitrogen quench was performed, hardness went to 57 HRC
Tempered at 390 F for 1.5 hours, hardness was now 60 HRC.
I was really impressed with now nice a finish this steel took. I really think if i had wanted to put time and effort i could have got to a scratch free mirror. I got real close without even trying.
That's my take so far. I don't know that i will make any more knives out of it; it will really have to excel in edge retention for me to be heating my heat treat furnace up that high. hope this helps someone, thanks for reading, God Bless.
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