What is Cold Steel 1055 Carbon Steel Blade Construction?

1055 Carbon steel is right on the border between a medium and a high carbon steel , with a carbon content between 0.50%-0.60% and with manganese between 0.60%-0.90% as the only other component. The carbon content and lean alloy make this a shallow hardening steel with a quenched Rockwell hardness between Rc 60-64 depending on exact carbon content. These combination of factors make this one of the toughest steels available because , when quenched , it produces a near saturated lathe martensite with no excess carbides , avoiding the brittleness of higher carbon materials. This steel is particularly suited to applications where strength and impact resistance is valued above all other considerations and will produce blades of almost legendary toughness.