Datasheet

KERSHAW BLADE STEELS

COMPOSITE BLADE TECHNOLOGY

GET TWO STEELS IN ONE BLADE

Kershaw’s revolutionary Composite Blade technology enables us to design a blade with no

compromises. We can use premium steel designed for wicked edge retention on the blade’s cutting

edge and steel designed for superior strength along the spine. And since the premium edge steels

we’re using tend to be rather expensive, making the entire blade from such “exotic” steels could make

them cost prohibitive for many knife enthusiasts. Our patent-pending Composite Blade technology

makes it affordable for most everyone to own a truly amazing knife.

To make a Composite Blade, Kershaw laser-cuts two interlocking blade components, one from each of the two types of steel that will

eventually form the blade. The shapes can be simple or very complex. Then the two blade components are permanently joined through

a metallurgical technique called brazing. The narrow copper line you see between the two blade components is the braze-welded joint.

Is copper strong enough to permanently join steel to steel? In a word, yes. In fact, a braze-welded joint can be as strong or stronger

than the metals it is joining. By annealing the blade to homogenize the grain structure and composition of the copper with that of the

two steels being joined, Kershaw is able to produce extremely high-strength brazed joints in our Composite Blade knives.

STEEL CHART

STEEL CARBON CHROMIUM COBALT COPPER MANGANESE MOLYBDENUM NICKEL NITROGEN PHOSPHORUS SILICON SULPHUR TUNGSTEN VANADIUM HRC

D-2 1.40-1.60 11.00-13.00 - - 0.60 0.70-1.20 0.30 - - 0.60 - - 1.10 57-61

420 0.15 12.00-14.00 - - 1.00 - - - 0.04 1.00 0.03 - - 52-56

420 MODIFIED 0.40-0.50 12.00-14.00 - - 0.80 0.60 - - 0.05 1.00 0.02 - 0.18 54-56

AUS6A 0.55-0.65 13.00-14.50 - - 1.00 - 0.49 - 0.04 1.00 0.03 - 0.10-0.25 57-58

AUS8A 0.70-0.75 13.00-14.50 - - 0.50 0.10-0.30 0.49 - 0.04 1.00 0.03 - 0.10-0.26 58-59

8CR13MOV 0.80 13.00 - - 0.40 0.15 0.20 - 0.02 0.50 0.01 - 0.10 58-60

CPM S30V 1.45 14.00 - - - 2.00 - 0.20 - - - - 4.00 57-59

14C28N 0.62 14.00 - - - 0.55 - 0.08 0.030 0.25 0.015 - - 58-60

1.4116 0.50 14.50 - - 1.00 0.65 - - - 1.00 - - 0.15 55-57

65 Mn 0.57-0.70 - - - 0.60-0.90 - - - 0.040 - 0.050 - - 52-55

Kershaw 2013 Catalog.indd 61 2/6/13 10:08 AM