Molybdenum Vanadium Steel

[JohnD]

Just bought some chef's knives, they say "Molybdenum Vanadium Steel" "X45 CrMoV 15" which sounds like the sort of thing spanners might be made of!

Dos this mean they are going to be particularly hard or corrosion resistant or something? I presume the makers must have chosen it for some good reason (unless they found a few tons of it going cheap on fleabay )

BTW it sticks to a magnet, but not very hard.

Most kitchen stainless seems to be marked 18/8 (don't know what that means either)

 

[2scoops0406]

X45 mean contains 0.45% carbon CrMoV 15 means that the steel contains 15% of Chromium Molibdenum and Vanadium.

18-8 Stainless means that the steel contains 18% Chromium and 8% Nickel.

 

[JohnD]

? and is that good? Hard? Sharp? Corrosion resistant? Why do you suppose they chose it?

 

[2scoops0406]

X45 is a German grade stainless steel chosen for durability, resistence to corrosion, hardness in order to keep and edge, but also enough malleability to hone an edge.

 

[gcol]

Bit of info on here. http://www.justknives101.com/Global_Knife_Knives.aspx
"To be classified as stainless steel the material must contain iron and at least 10.5% chromium. Other alloys are added to increase corrosion resistance, hardness, high temperature performance, etc. "

I treated myself to a G2 Global knife and to be honest, I wouldn't buy anything else than Global now. Expensive but worth it. http://www.yoshikin.co.jp/w/index.html