Knife Engineering: Steel, Heat Treating, and Geometry

Unless you are already a PhD level metallurgist, Larrin Thomas can teach you more than you care to know about knife steels, heat treating, and sharpening angles. Larrin invented MagnaCut, one of the best all-around knife steels available today.

I have a hard time with what to do with the information in this book, and that's fantastic. If I can absorb and make use of even 10% of the information in this book it will make what I'm doing significantly better. Me and my wife have started making knifes as a hobby, we hope to sale them at some point when we get good enough. I knew, understanding the material would be important, this book goes so far down into the weeds that if you attempt to take a 50,000 foot view you'll never understand what the book is trying to say.This book won't tell you simply how to heat treat your steel or any steel it actually goes into why, shows test results on different steel types and explains at a very detailed level the results in data. Some people will hate that about this book, but those people I don't understand how they will be able to properly make a good premium knife. Understanding what this book says I am sure will take us from hobby, to effective to mastery. It's all here, it's just going to take a lot of reading, and maybe even some education along the way to understand more of the topics but I think this book will be a great guide in that process.I would not recommended this book for someone who just wants to be told what the average best is, this book is for someone who wants to know for themselves and have the knowledge to figure out what the best is for the knife your making and what the knifes goal and use is.

This is a good book, mainly focused on materials science. The author effectively summarizes the key concepts in each chapter. Highly recommended for knife enthusiasts.

I have a scientific background, but not in the areas of metallurgy. This book straddles the line for the hobbyist/professional that is not involved in research and engineering aspects of steel and blade making. The author clearly and effectively teaches how any why metals behave they way they do and this information has allowed me to have a deeper understanding of the processes that are involved in forging steel. This book may be too complicated for someone that doesn't have a background in physics, chemistry, or other scientific disciplines, and is looking for a more rudimentary explanation of steel.

This is the book I have been waiting for. It answers a lot of questions I've had in a way that is reader friendly.The author has the reader in mind as he writes. When he uses industry jargon he explains what he means. He is also repetitive for the reader's sake. A concept might be introduced in one part of the book and then come up again in relation to everything else. It is obvious this was done to help the reader and I appreciate that very much.The author said he designed the book to be read through. This is something I recommend doing -with a pen - even just once to get a feel for the book. I found it helpful to mark the information I was looking for, then go back to it, and trace through those topics. For me, it was better than having a ready index at first because it forced me into the book. This places the information I was looking for in it's context. In my opinion reading the book through gives a wider application and makes it easier to remember.For me a steel or topic index would have been been a distraction. I would have not placed the information in context and would have wasted time flipping around the book. Edit: This is true at the first reading, but now that I'm going back through it, an index would be helpful.Along the same lines, the author says one reason he put the information in a book (in print) was because it is easier for some people to learn from a book instead of from the computer. Personally, I don't like reading on a computer or being dependent on the internet so that was one of the main reasons I bought it - without needing any reviews. Another major reason was because I could already tell from his website that he communicates well - especially in writing - and this continues in his book.Also if I wanted to get into stainless and more complex steel the info is there to get started.The book is definitely user friendly. It takes work to get through some parts but definitely worth the time. I appreciate the author's effort to make the information attainable.The only problem I had is I thought I was buying the second edition but maybe not. Mine has typos and it doesn't say anywhere if it is a first or second edition. So, make sure you are getting the second edition.I am not spending any more money on knifemaking supplies for awhile. I made an exception with buying this book and I'm glad I did. It's both user friendly and affordable.

There’s a lot of helpful stuff in this book