Elmax Steel Knife Blade Blanks
Elmax is Uddeholm’s powder metallurgical stainless, and it solves a problem conventional steels struggle with: getting excellent edge retention and excellent corrosion resistance at the same time. In a cast steel, the chromium that resists rust forms coarse carbides that hurt the edge. Powder metallurgy makes those carbides small and evenly spread, so you get both.
We run Elmax at 60 to 61 HRC, with a cryogenic step during heat treatment. After quenching, the blades are cooled far below freezing before tempering to convert retained austenite, the soft, unstable phase that would otherwise degrade the edge over time.
Elmax at a glance
| Maker | Uddeholm (Voestalpine) |
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| Type | Powder metallurgy stainless |
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| Chemistry (average %) | C 1.70, Si 0.80, Mn 0.30, Cr 18.00, Mo 1.00, V 3.00 |
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| Our hardness | 60-61 HRC |
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Strengths: High edge retention with good corrosion resistance, easier to sharpen than M390.
What to build with it
A kitchen knife you want to sharpen rarely. A hunting knife that will see blood, moisture and long days. An EDC that lives in a pocket and gets used for everything. Elmax is the balanced choice among our powder steels, not the absolute hardest, not the most corrosion resistant, but strong on both counts.
Sharpening takes more effort than N690 and wants diamond or good ceramic abrasives. That is the cost of an edge that lasts.
How these blanks are made
After laser cutting, each profile is hand ground in our workshop, then vacuum heat treated with the cryogenic stage at Voestalpine, the mill that produced the steel. Ground through 40, 120 and 240 grit before heat treatment, shipped sharpened unless the order note asks otherwise, free laser engraving included.
Comparing the powder steels? Read powder metallurgy steels explained.
Elmax steel: properties, hardness and how it compares
Elmax steel is an Uddeholm powder metallurgy stainless that pairs high edge retention with good corrosion resistance, the balanced choice among our premium steels. We harden our Elmax blanks to 60-61 HRC at Voestalpine, with a cryogenic step.
Compared with M390, Elmax is easier to sharpen and gives up a little edge life. Compared with Vanax, it resists corrosion less but costs less.
| Steel | Our hardness | Edge retention | Corrosion resistance | Sharpening | Best for |
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| Elmax | 60-61 HRC | Very high | Good | Diamond or good ceramic | Hunting, EDC, kitchen |
| M390 | 60-61 HRC | Highest | Very good | Diamond or ceramic | Longest edge life |
| Vanax | 60 HRC | Excellent | Best in our range | Diamond or good ceramic | Salt water, wet work |
Related categories
Related reading: what HRC really means, choosing steel for a kitchen knife, and why we send blades back to the steel mill.