)
)
Steel
Steel is the foundation of every axe we make. Carefully selected and responsibly recycled for performance and durability.
Steel is an iron-based alloy whose properties can be precisely tailored through carefully selected composition and processing. Gränsfors Bruk exclusively uses a recycled, specially developed high-carbon steel (C55/C60) manufactured in Sweden. This ensures an optimal balance of hardness, toughness, and durability in every axe head, while also meeting our high performance standards and environmental ambitions.
Steel Tailored for Axe Production
The steel used by Gränsfors Bruk has been specially developed to create the optimal axe head. The steel must be neither too hard nor too soft and malleable. Gränsfors Bruk maintains an ongoing dialogue with its steel supplier to ensure a quality that is optimally suited for axe manufacturing.
The Nature of Iron and Steel
Iron is the fourth most common element in the Earth’s crust, but pure iron is relatively soft and flexible. Steel is an alloy of iron mixed with low levels of other elements, such as carbon, silicon and manganese. Steel alloys are formed when melted iron has metallic or non-metallic elements added to create a new material.
These alloys usually have new properties that differ from those of the constituent ingredients. A large number of different steels can be made using this process, depending on whether the steel needs to be hard, durable or pliable. Carbon acts as a binder, so the amount of carbon determines the properties of the steel.
Why recycled Steel?
Gränsfors Bruk uses a recycled, specially developed high-carbon steel manufactured in Sweden. The steel is produced entirely from recycled scrap metal, which is carefully sorted into different grades before being used as raw material in the steelmaking process.
Like all industrial activities, steel production has an environmental impact. For this reason, Gränsfors Bruk has chosen a steel that combines high performance with a strong focus on resource efficiency and reduced environmental impact. Through the continuous development of materials, manufacturing processes, and recycling practices, conditions are created to reduce the carbon footprint while ensuring the steel’s exceptional quality and long-term durability.
Our supplier’s product development efforts continue to result in new steel grades that offer greater wear resistance and longer service life. At the same time, ongoing process improvements steadily reduce the consumption of coal, oil, and other resources per tonne of steel produced. The recycling of scrap metal also plays an important role in efforts to protect the environment and conserve natural resources.
An element can neither be created nor destroyed, instead circulating around society and the ecosystem in an eternal lifecycle. Being based on iron, steel can essentially be recycled ad infinitum, which has resulted in the formation of many scrap-based steelworks that use scrap metal as a key ingredient in their production.
However, recycling is nothing new in the steel industry. Processes for smelting scrap metal and manufacturing new steel products have existed since the 19th century.
)
)