I really didn’t expect that 8566 die steel could be used to make kitchen knives. When I saw the 15 kitchen knives the customer had sent back in the workshop, I was still a bit surprised. I truly didn’t expect this customer to use 8566 to make 15 kitchen knives all at once. I’d like to thank all 8566 users for helping me expand the range of applications.
This customer first contacted me in January 2026. He had purchased seven pieces of 8566 steel, and I never expected that six months later, he would bring back 15 kitchen knives at once for heat treatment.
Our kitchen knives are a type of tool; they require sharpness. To achieve sharpness, they need high hardness and high wear resistance, as well as high toughness—because when chopping bones, the blade edge can chip or curl.
Users of our kitchen knives want both high sharpness and high toughness—so that when chopping bones, the blade edge won’t chip or curl. In other words, they need high hardness and high resistance to chipping. That’s why our kitchen knives are generally made from tool steel.
Tool steel is a high-carbon, high-alloy material characterized by high hardness and high wear resistance, but poor resistance to chipping is a common drawback. There are roughly six types of steel commonly used for kitchen knives:
For example, railroad track steel—the kind used on train tracks—is a low-alloy steel known as No. 80 steel. It has a carbon (C) content of 0.8%, fairly high hardness, and good wear resistance. Many people use it to make kitchen knives, and it offers good sharpness.
Another option is GCr15 bearing steel, which has a carbon (C) content of 1.5% and a chromium (Cr) content of 1.5%. It is also a high-carbon tool steel and can be used to forge kitchen knives.
Some people also use 60Si2Mn spring steel to make kitchen knives. The railroad track steel, bearing steel, and spring steel mentioned above are all low-alloy tool steels that can achieve a hardness of 55–60 HRC; this high hardness ensures sharpness.
For lower-grade steels, some people use T8, T9, or T10 carbon steels to make kitchen knives; these non-alloy carbon steels have relatively poorer wear resistance.
With today’s improved standard of living, many people also use high-alloy tool steels such as Cr12MoV, D2, and DC53 to forge kitchen knives. These high-alloy tool steels offer significantly better wear resistance—and thus sharper edges—than the low-alloy or carbon steels mentioned earlier, though their resistance to chipping is still somewhat lacking.
Many users seeking exceptional performance want their kitchen knives to achieve a hardness of 58 HRC or higher while maintaining toughness, which is why many turn to 8566 chip-resistant steel.
The chipping resistance of 8566 is four times that of SKH-9 high-speed steel and twice that of D2, with a hardness of 58–60 HRC. It primarily addresses the chipping issues that high-hardness die steels such as D2, DC53, and SKH-9 cannot resolve. 8566 not only possesses the wear resistance of high-alloy tool steel—ensuring the knife’s sharpness—but also offers excellent chipping resistance, something that high-alloy tool steels cannot achieve.
We have a customer in Changsha, Hunan, who previously used DC53, CALDIE, 88, Cr12MoV for his bone-chopping knives. While these worked fine for softer pork bones, the blade edge was prone to chipping when cutting harder sheep or beef bones. However, after switching to 8566 die steel, he reported that when severing 8mm-diameter rebar, the 8566 chip-resistant steel neither chipped nor curled the blade edge. He noted that this material offers both high toughness and high hardness. Nowadays, many manufacturers of high-end kitchen knives turn to 8566 chip-resistant steel.
If you have particularly high demands for kitchen knives or cleavers, and standard die steel doesn’t meet your requirements for chip resistance, you can purchase some 8566 chip-resistant steel.
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Wu Dejian’s tool steel, the chief of staff of the user, bought everything he had used.