Bohler K390 Steel for Knife Blades

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Bohler K390 Cold Work Tool Steel

Manufacturer:Böhler

BÖHLER K390 MICROCLEAN is quite simply the powder metallurgical cold work tool steel with the best properties for cold work applications available from BÖHLER at the moment.

K390 MICROCLEAN was developed to meet the demanding wear resistance and compressive strength requirements of cutting, blanking and punching applications, for cold forming applications and for parts which are subjected to abrasive wear in plastics processing.

K390 steel is hard to grind, finish and sharpen. However, once it is sharp it will stay sharp for a very long time. Currently it is not used in many knives except possibly the odd Custom piece, but we might see it in a Spyderco Mule soon.

Bohler K390 Data Sheet PDF

Composition

C Co Cr Mn Mo Ni P Si S W V
2.45 2 4.15 - 3.75 - - 0.55 - 1 9
Values are shown in percentages.