Custom blades - Michael West - DK

Michael West

Michael West - Denmark
is an artist in all aspect.

The blades:
All my blades are individual made and there are not two exactly similar.

Materials:
I make the knife blades from stainless high alloy steel such as the Sweedish powdersteel RWL-34 that features a very fine grain structure. It gets very sharp and holds the sharpness for a long time. It is somewhat comparable to ATS-34 in composition yet features added Vanadium. This gives it finer grainstructure and adds to the edgeholding.

Damasteel is laminated powdersteel that has been melted and sprayed out in vacuum. To turn it into a steelbar it´s put through a complicated process under very high heat and pressure. Powdersteel is stronger than other steels. The steel in Damasteel is RWL-34 and PMC-27. The later is similar to 12C27. It is beautiful and very strong.

The process:
The blades are all made "free hand style" then professional heat treated by Haustrup, Denmark. This is a company dealing only with heat treating. The blades gets hardened in a vacuum furnace and is cryogenicly stress relieved at -196 degrees C (-385 F). this gives more strenght, keener edge and better wear resistance,

Finally the blades are grind and polished to perfect shape and surface.

Enjoy your knifemaking - and spread the word

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