Dexter-Russell Knives: The DexSteel Advantage
Whether you're looking for a flexible boning knife, a strong cleaver, or an all-purpose chef's knife, it is important for your kitchen knives to be sharp, durable, and corrosion resistant. There are quite a few options available, but some brands have a positive reputation for a reason. One of those is Dexter-Russell, a company that has been making cutlery since 1818.
Dexter-Russell uses a proprietary steel alloy called DexSteel™ in all its domestic-made knives. This alloy is specially engineered for knives, with properties that enhance the reliability of the blades. DexSteel delivers improved hardness, strength, toughness, corrosion resistance, and fine grain structure to Dexter-Russell knives for the optimum reliability customers expect.
What is DexSteel?
DexSteel is a high-alloy steel, made of a variety of elements in addition to steel. These elements lend their properties to the steel to increase strength, hardness, and the fine grain structure of the steel. DexSteel combines the properties of two materials commonly used in commercial knives: carbon steel and stainless steel.
Carbon steel is an iron-carbon alloy that also often contains other elements. This type of metal is usually easy to shape and sharpen and maintains a sharp edge. However, carbon steel knives require more maintenance than some may want to deal with in a commercial kitchen; they will also oxidize over time. While some people like the patina this oxidization causes, others dislike the additional staining that can occur if the metal is not maintained properly.
Stainless steel is made of iron, chromium, nickel, and molybdenum. Stainless steel also contains some carbon, though a far less amount than carbon steel. Stainless steel doesn't sharpen and hold an edge like carbon steel, but is highly resistant to corrosion and staining.
DexSteel combines the best properties of each of the above options as a high-carbon stainless steel. While DexSteel's formula is proprietary, many high-carbon stainless steels include molybdenum and cobalt for added strength and the ability to hold a sharp edge.
Benefits of DexSteel
DexSteel enhances several properties of the metal to improve the reliability of commercial knives. Some of those properties include:
- Hardness: DexSteel makes Dexter cutlery harder than average steel, which allows it to be sharpened to a sharper edge and hold that edge longer.
- Tensile strength: In addition to hardness, tensile strength protects the edge from being too brittle. This resistance to stress helps prevent chipping and edge rolling.
- Toughness: Thanks to the carbon and various other elements in the alloy, DexSteel's toughness helps the knife hold its edge longer.
- Corrosion Resistance: Because DexSteel is a type of stainless steel, it does not require the extra maintenance that carbon steel does. The blade will not oxidize or stain.
- Fine grain structure: When a knife blade has a finer grain structure, it can maintain a sharper edge, and won't lose bulk as quickly when it is sharpened or honed.
In addition to the composition of the steel, Dexter-Russell also employs a heat treatment, which further enhances the blade's strength, resistance to wear, flexibility, and corrosion resistance. The blades are carefully heated and cooled to specific temperatures, which reduces the grain size of the blade. These smaller grains help knives hold a sharp edge longer.