ATS-34 or 154CM?

RWL can be gotten from dealers in Damasteel

www.damasteel.se/links/links.htm
dealer links

That's true. I've had a hard time gettiing and odd-sized piece or two. Maybe that's what I recall that promped my comments above.

Thanks.

Steve: I don't generally have a warpage problem with BG42, but I do my own heat treatment and my quench method is set up to make warpage almost nil. Generally, the fancier the steel, the more warpage you can get. If it's hard to grind, and you don't use NEW belts and go easy, you're going to be adding a LOT of residual stress to the blade as you grind it. This stress all comes out during heat treatment. So, even though the blade was straight when ground, it really "wanted" to be warped, and, as soon as it got the opportunity to "relax", it did. I still laugh when guys say "Go ahead-get it dull red when you grind it-it can take it". Yeah, in theory it can, but, IMHO, that's not doing anything to give you a better blade.
Also, the difference in quenching from 1975 vs. 2170 is HUGE.
Once you're over 2000F, the ballgame gets a bit more complicated WRT soak times and other variables (like ambient shop temperature, how fast you open the furnace door, etc.)
Would like to try the RWL, although I'd think that it'd be hard to get a mirror finish much better than BG42.

RJ Martin

Thanks, R.J. Not haveing used BG much at all, I can't say much, b ut all of the information above certainly sounds good.

Just a correction: It's 2070F, not 2170F.

Thannks. That little correction is pretty important.