Are different irons made of different steel?

[clutchshot]

Question of the day: Are different brands of irons made from different materials? I stared golf with a set of acuity clubs. I then bought TM RBZ Irons which I love. They don't feel or sound anything alike. My GF has a set of MaxFli, they all say stainless steel on them. Can someone shed some light on this?

[WUTiger]

Steel companies have “recipes” for hundreds of types of steel, so golfdom has a lot to work with.

Here's details on a few companies:

• Ping uses a soft 8620 steel in its forged Anser irons, and 17-4 steel (probably the workhorse metal for modern irons) for its I and G-series irons; some models also have tungsten toe weights.

• Titleist uses 431 steel in the AP1 / mild carbon in AP2 / and mild forged carbon in the CB Forged and the MB Forged. The two AP variants also contain have tungsten for internal weighting of the heads. (CB and MB contain no internal tungsten weighting)

• The Mizuno 2013 Golf Collection catalog identifies 1025E Pure Select Mild Carbon Steel as the metal used in its iron heads, and gives an overview of its forging process.

Irons made of really hard steel tend to more difficult for clubsmiths to bend (you can break them) than those of softer steel.

(Note: Titleist and Ping websites both have excellent archives on past models of clubs).

[clutchshot]

Ah, so the difference I'm feeling is not only the quality of steel used, but the hardness of that particular steel. In addition, there is no universal steel everyone is using, they all have their own formulas? Makes sense.

[M2R]

Tom Wishon posted some great info on this general topic here . I thought the rest of the thread was worth reading too.

[clutchshot]

Very interesting indeed. I don't know why, but I have become sort of an equipment junkie. Every club is my bag is hand selected after months of research and trial. I always get excited when I see new innovations like the RAZR HAWK a couple years back or the Covert this year. You never know what is just a gimmick and what may be the next big thing like the titianiam head driver.

[GaijinGolfer]

Clubhead design plays a role too.  An iron with a deep cavity back vibrates differently than a blade does.