Vanax Steel Knife Blade Blanks
Vanax is Uddeholm’s nitrogen-alloyed powder steel and it has the best corrosion resistance of anything we offer, by a clear margin. Where most stainless knife steels rely on chromium and carbon, Vanax substitutes nitrogen — which frees the chromium to do its job of resisting corrosion instead of locking into carbides.
We run Vanax at 60 HRC, with a cryogenic step during heat treatment to convert retained austenite.
Where it earns its place
Salt water. This is a steel specified for marine and food processing applications, not just knives. A dive knife, a fishing knife, a kitchen knife in a humid climate, or any blade that will be wet more often than it is dry.
Edge retention is excellent alongside that corrosion resistance — you are not trading performance for rust protection the way you would with a softer stainless. Sharpening wants diamond or good ceramic, comparable to Elmax.
If your knife will live in a drawer and see only dry work, Vanax is more steel than you need and N690 will serve you well for less. If it will get wet and stay wet, nothing else here comes close.
How these blanks are made
Laser cut and hand ground in our own workshop, then vacuum heat treated with the cryogenic stage at Voestalpine — the mill that produced the steel. Ground through 40, 120 and 240 grit, shipped sharpened, free laser engraving included.
More on these steels in powder metallurgy steels explained.
Related categories
Related reading: what HRC really means, choosing steel for outdoor and EDC knives, and why we send blades back to the steel mill.