HRC's of some old carbon - forgies, dexter and some old cleavers...

[gic]

I am having the nice folks at Bloodroot rehandle and tune some of my ebay purchases and I asked them if they would mind Rockwell testing them while they were doing that. While I don't have pictures yet of the rehandled knives and cleavers as they haven't quite gotten to me, still I thought people might be interested - I was quite surprised by the results:

Forgecrafts:

Chef: 61.5-62 - this kind of blew mind, that's a pretty impressive number for a knife that cost me 30 bucks or so :- )
Butcher: 58.5
Boning: 59
Cleaver: 59
Slicer: 59

So my conclusion is, at least on these knives, the reputation of Forgies as being pretty amazing for what originally was a pretty cheap department store knife is well deserved!

Next was an LL Bean/Dexter Carbon Chef: 53 (I was kind of shocked at how soft this one was, what kind of carbon steel is this soft??)

Next a couple of old cleavers:

A Widdell cleaver: 57 near the edge, differentially hardened

1837 Buffalo NY cleaver (we can't see the rest of the maker's mark): 60 near the edge, most likely also differentially hardened.

I'll post pictures as soon as I get the knives back..

 

[Timthebeaver]

Next was an LL Bean/Dexter Carbon Chef: 53 (I was kind of shocked at how soft this one was, what kind of carbon steel is this soft??)

Old Sabatiers can be in this ballpark too.

 

[Geo87]

Woah forgies at 62! I wouldn't have expected that. I wonder if that's an anomaly

 

[lucabrasi]

So do these era knives cut well? I've really never tried any vintage carbons. Would they cut in a way that a person who has gotten engrossed with current high end Japanese knives might appreciate? I guess I mean the forgecrafts since they are hardened to a similar level, and seem to have a similar profile.

 

[EdipisReks]

So do these era knives cut well? I've really never tried any vintage carbons. Would they cut in a way that a person who has gotten engrossed with current high end Japanese knives might appreciate? I guess I mean the forgecrafts since they are hardened to a similar level, and seem to have a similar profile.

They typically need to be thinned considerably.

 

[gic]

+1

My experience is that they sharpen very easily, take a screamingly sharp edge, but to actually be super usable they need some thinning. After that though they are clearly the best bang for the buck by a few hundred bucks!

 

[Geo87]

The two forgies I have both needed considerable thinning behind the edge. other than that the grind is very impressive with damn good food release as well as a sweet profile!
Did I mention they are tough as nails. These knives can take a serious beating. Their reputation is well deserved.
Edge retention is better than any other vintage I've tried but a far cry from modern japanese knives which is understandable.

 

[lucabrasi]

Thanks for the answers. That would have been my guess, but better to get it from those in the know. Though guesswork is fun.