Ghostdog.....
Your not being disagreeable at all. I understand what your asking, just having a tough time making the answer sound right in written form.
I too have worked as a guide and on the ranch, so I understand where your coming from.
concerning the relationship of the cryo to sharpening, I have found that a blade of 5160 or 52100 is no more difficult to sharpen than one without cryo. In fact most forged blades react in this manner. Where it really gets to be a bear is on the high chromium stainless steels. An example would be 440C. Nearly all of the 440C blades that I have worked with (that have been cryo'ed) are a son of a gun to sharpen! One of the hardest critters I've found on a knife is pronghorn. With the dense, hollow hair they have, it's like cutting fine wire. Just as an example, the knife I built for myself last season was on of my mosaic damascus pieces, that I did cryo. It went through two elk, four mulies, and one pronghorn before it gave out on me.
As for costs, there are a few outfits that cryo commercially, but they tend to be spendy in small quantities. I opted to purchase an old "dewer" tank and do it myself. One of the local welding stores has a liquid nitrogen set up, and with the insulated box I built to contain the tank, I can get about 6 months on a single fill. The tank I have hold 56 lbs of liquid nitrogen, and costs about $80 to fill. I've not checked on the commercial prices lately, so I can't say if they are up or down from what they used to be.
Any knife you have cryo'ed will have to be broken down to just the blade. I goofed around a couple of times with some old knives to see what would happen when you cryo'ed a completed knife......not good. The handles split, and on one the edges literally chipped out during the warming process after the cryo. I think it's something that is best included in the overall process, and integrated into the overall building of a knife.
Don't worry about disagreeing with me.....I certainly don't know everything, and am always willing to listen to reasonable alternatives!
I'll probably get enough flak about the 440C comment!
