In the lofty world of benchrest target shooting cryogenicly treated barrels have been the goto for several years. They claim it relives stresses in the metal.Now Buck has started treating blades for the new 110 & 112 slim cryogenicaly. They are claiming it makes the blade hold an edge longer???Comments anyone?
Well, if that treatment doesn't increase the quality of the metal, at least you still get a cool blade...
from a metallurgist who speSmurfpillses in knife steels (Larrin, owner and creator of knifesteelnerds):"The primary effect of cryogenic processing is to reduce retained austenite which gives you an increase in strength and hardness. That usually also reduces toughness though not always: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/06/04/ ... ar-z-wear/There is also scientific literature suggesting there is an increase in wear resistance due to increased carbide precipitation (I can't go into that in any detail without a whole article on it). In the 154CM CATRA article there was no benefit from cryo outside of hardness: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/06/18/ ... retention/That doesn't necessarily mean that there is never a benefit for edge retention with cryo but contradicts some of the wild reports like 500% increase in wear resistance with cryo."