Erasteel ASP2080 Knife Steel
Composition Analysis Graph, Equivalents And Overview

ASP2080(Erasteel) - ASP2080 was designed for hobbing tools. Really brutal job for any cutting instrument and it needs a special alloy to cope with the challenges. ASP2080 is one of the few alloys that can do that. ASP2080 is loaded with alloying elements, all strong carbide formers, and also has well over 15% Cobalt. All that produces an alloy capable of very high working hardness, red hot hardness at that. As a knife user you won't be interested in the later, but the former is definitely interesting. Very difficult alloy to work with, and heat treatment is demanding as well. On top of that not a cheap alloy, nor easy to obtain. All that combined gives you can idea why it isn't used too often even in customs. Due to very high carbide volume ASP2080 needs an edge that is substantial enough to retain carbides during cutting, that would mean ~15° per side sharpening angle, and for the same reason(high carbide volume) ASP2080 is better off with coarse edge.

Manufacturing Technology - PM

Country - France(FR)