A popular non-stainless steel with forgers. It is essentially simple spring steel with chromium added for hardenability. It has good edge holding, but is known especially for its outstanding toughness. It is capable of a relatively wide range of Rockwells. Often used for swords (hardened in the low 50s Rc) because of its toughness, and is also used for hard use knives hardened up near the 60s Rc for better edge retention.
Carbon-0.56-0.64%, Manganese-0.75-1.00%, Chromium-0.70-0.90%
