Quench Hardening Process

Another important aspect of forging our Alpeka Shears is the Quench Hardening process.  We forge all of our shears to be around 59-62 HRC.

- Why is quench hardening so important?

• Quench Hardening is the process of raising the temperature of steel above its recrystallization temperature and rapidly cooling it through the quenching process.  This changes the structure of the steel.  Quench hardening is particularly important when working with steel because steel is very sensitive to quenching.  If the stainless steel HRC rating is too high (caused during the quenching process), it can make the stainless steel very brittle and chip when sharpened.  If HRC is too low, the shear will have a softer blade which will need sharpening more often.  We have carefully dialed into the perfect HRC rating for all of our shears.

Essentially, we found a premium, well rounded stylist shears shares the characteristics of being forged with 440c Stainless Steel, Quench hardened to a rating of 59-62 HRC.