Hardness of CS recon1 blade

**hatamoto** · 07-02-2011, 19:11

HI, Disassembled Recon 1 today to strip black coating of blade,reason being full of scratches from minor use and not being to handy on sharpmaker.with the blade free,i took it to heat treatment plant for hardness testing.to my surprise we could only get Rc54 on the first test and just overRc54 on second test.is't that a bit soft.the knife is a 2010 AUS8 model.your views please.

DS · 07-02-2011, 21:00

Mass production slip up or over stating specs?

Maybe one of the blademakers here can advice on proper heat treatment of Aus8

**ikor** · 07-02-2011, 21:41

Cold Steel is known to overstate their quality and hardness specs. They are more hype than quality delivery usually although the Rajah II and a couple other blades do deliver.

I would not be surprised to find that all or most of the Recons and some other blades were minimal in hardness. Given their prices in SA I'd definitely look elsewhere for high quality at decent prices...maybe Spyderco, or even CRKT although I am mostly not a fan of their folder designs.

**Pivo** · 07-02-2011, 22:04

I had a CS Recon Tanto. I gave it to my military friend.

Anyway, the blade was made in Japan and it held the edge well.

PS. [apologies] CS Recon Tanto is a different knife, but reportedly also made from AUS8A stainless steel.

**hatamoto** · 08-02-2011, 17:22

Recon 1-made in TAIWAN.

**marthinus** · 09-02-2011, 10:43

Interesting thread.

I think maybe the reason for this is because they want a knife that would be more flexible then brittle? Usually knife makers do this to fixed blades since fixed blades are subject to more stresses then a pocket knife. I know our local makers prefer to up the RC on folders and keep it lower on fixed blades....I know carbon fixed blades off more renowned makers such as ESEE is at 57. I would expect AUS 8A to be somewhere between 58-60 minimum.

I have seen 12c27 heat treated to an Rc of 62 with great performance and usually the RC runs between 58 and 59 with most users being happy with those Rc numbers. This steel is usually described as being a "lesser" steel then AUS 8A by some so I would expect AUS-8A to be in the same Rc areas in order to get the composition of the steel to make a difference. At 54 I dont know if composition would even be a factor.

**koganinja** · 03-04-2011, 14:34

I think my recon tanto is a good solid blade

CJ · 20-06-2011, 10:45

Did you ask the dealer about this? They don't give any specs on hardness in the catalog for stainless steel only on carbon steel (1055 and SK5) It would be interesting.