Yes I know.
But some information about INFI must be public knowledge right?
It is made from 1080 High Carbon tool steel,then heat treated for 48 hours to change the molecular structure of the metal into INFI.
You know a story like that. Is there ANY hint at all as to the base metal that INFI is made from?
If not then this is easily the best kept secret in the knife industry. Jerry is buying tons of steel from someone,somewhere. Then he magically turns their steel into INFI.
Come on. Is there really a hint in print as to what INFI started its life as?
Just my curiosity getting the best of me. I read about my friends ALL having a piece of INFI. You know who you are! STOP SMILING!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
I own just under a hundred blades.Tactical,folders,fixed,switchblades,out the fronts,neckers,choppers, and art knives.

I do not own a single piece of INFI. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

It is getting to me. With the price of INFI being a consideration I will have to save money on the side to make it happen. My 50th birthday is in September and my loving bride of 27 years says I can have a nice blades for my celebration. Something special to mark the occasion.I have let her know that my goal is a SS-4 by of course Dan Busse. Yes, I know they were a one run item. Yes I know they are the perfect blade too. And I watch the secondary market like a hawk too. I know that they are there from time to time. Current prices are about $200.00 not bad considering all things.
So that is why my curiosity has got the best of me mates.
I need to start smacking my chops about getting my first and probably only piece of INFI. I ask that dumb question to help me understand the mystery,the legend,the joy of owning INFI.

Can anyone elaborate on INFI to satisfy my curiosity?

Thanks,
Peace.

I was reading a thread that metioned it was based off of chipper steels. Lots of questions, few answers. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I have a theory that INFI is a steel that is used in other industries and that Jerry bought the rights to be the sole knifemaker to use it. Fallkniven expiremented with it a while before Busse started to use it but they say they did not find it satisfactory. I believe it is the heat treating that makes INFI so special. My SS4 is frankly amazing. I have hammered it through dozens of pieces of hardwood and it was still razor sharp. I was putting a axe head on a handle and scraping some wood when I smashed the very sharp edge of the SS4 into the hawk head several times with no effect other than a chip in the hawk.

I love INFI especially when it has a very fine edge. Why use such a strong steel if you are not going to make the most out of it?

Interesting, bld522!
Keith Busse, President and CEO of Steel Dynamics Inc.

Hello Gents,

This is my first response to any topics, for I am new to SYKW's.

Peace,

I think what your after is the following web site. It's a good site, and will give you a idea of several of the high end, and common steel elemental makeups.

www.cutleryscience.com/reviews/blade_materials.html

Later,
Russ form Alaska

Welcome to the Yard RussMo! Hydrant's around back <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Welcome to the yard, Russ. I am Horn Dog. I do not understand metalurgy or the occult. I just take knives out back and beat the hell out of them. Then I drink beer and post pictures of my "work".

Infi is it's own metal composition. It includes a small amount of nitrogen as well, which is unique.

Other than that, the real secret lies in the heat treatment. I have been reading a lot of old posts and the most Jerry has said is that they have developed a dry air cooling system to gradually lower the temperature of Infi over 10 hours to an extremely low temperature. Doing it gradually is less stressful on the blade.


Infi is its own thing and has quite a mystique about it!

I used to care about the metallurgy but now I realize that the chemical composition of the metal is just the tip of the iceberg. It's a "necessary" but not "sufficient" ingredient of a good knife.

I'm now of the opinion that heat treatment is a far more critical component in the blades performance, to the point that a less expensive, "low quality" steel can outperform a more expensive steel if someone has really paid attention to developing a high quality heat treatment process.

I have/had excellent blades in 5160, 1095, O-1, A-2, SR-77, INFI, SR101, AUS-6A, AUS-8, etc. There seems to be a fashion element in every new steel that each knifemaker wants to capitalize on with new marketing buzzwords. Indeed, if you look closely at the chemical composition you find that many of the "new" steels look a lot like the "old" steels chemically, they just have slight differences and new names. What many knife makers will claim but rarely substantiate is whether or not the slight chemical differences really have a significant difference on real world performance. Note that INFI, with the nitrogen substitution, is very unlike many other commercial knife steels.

I eventually came to conclude that rather than try to play amateur chemist/metallurgist (I hated chemistry btw) I'd rather listen to folks like Horn Dog who beat the crap out of the knives on a comparative basis and express their satisfaction/dissatisfaction. And I try to chip in by drinking a beer while reading their posts <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I try to follow a lot of the metalurgy discussion, and understand a lot of it. But in the end, this is all that matters to me.