Good steel for beginner knife maker??

D

darrylburke

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I've played about with the wood, with good enough results. and want to try it on steel.. Whats a good "beginner" steel.. one that not to hard but will keep a good edge for use??


440c ??

Darryl Burke
 
I'm going to be grinding. (I have a basic belt grinder and tools..)

When you say I can heat treat it at home.. I assume you mean with a small over for heat treating?? (which I don't have) or is there a "secret" to using household items for heat treating??





Originally posted by Mike Hull
440C would be fine if you are planning to send your blades out for heat treat. If you want to do your own, regular carbon steel would probably be better. O1, 1095, 5160, are all reliable steels, that are not to hard to treat at home.O1 can be purchased at any machine shop supply place. The others? I will give you some links.
http://www.admiralsteel.com/

http://www.lowcostmetals.com/

http://www.nolansupply.com/

http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?id=61&step=2
Click to expand...
 
Hi this is DaQo'tah

I wish I had tons of good advice for you, but Im about as new to this sport as you are.

although I did make a few knives and large weapons out of "Mild Steel" that I got from a welding shop in town, my first real knife was out of a leaf spring steel ( they call it 5160)

now this is a type of steel that us new guys can play with, its a good starter steel, and yet , lots of very good knife makers also work with this steel too.

I will post a website so you can see my rough forge set up, , My forge is just a printer stand, a metal drawer,,,and a blow dryer.

I heat the steel untill its red hot, that bang it around a bit to show it whos the boss, then I let it sit in the forge to cool down all day,,,I do this about 3 or more times,,,,this gets the steel soft to use the grinder on, (so they tell me)

later I just do a thing where I use a torch to heat the finished blade red hot, then quench just this hot blade in oil.

I do that 3 times, then place in a kitchen oven at around 400 for 2 hours, let cool,,,,then do the same 2 more times,

you will end up with a strong blade that dont want to bend, it will take a good edge,,,,but the blade is also soft enough to bend without snapping also very important.

http://eastof29.tripod.com/
 
O1. You will be happy with O1 as a beginning steel and you will go back to it occassionaly after going on to other steels (if you'll try it).

Roger
 
If you don't have the facilities to do any heat treating at your home or shop and need to send it out for heat treat I would not hesitate to recommend 440C if you want to work with "stainless". ATS34 (or 154CM, essentially the same steel as ATS34) is a good choice as well. A few places that will do heat treating for "stainless steel" are Paul Bos, K&G and Texas Knifemakers. A number of makers that don't do their own heat treating use Mr. Bos. As far as commercial heat treating is concerned, he is unsurpassed.

One problem with starting out using carbon steels is getting it heat treated if you can't do it yourself but there are three fellas I know of that will. One is Lee Oates in Pasadena, Texas and the others are Howard Clark in Runnells, Iowa and Gerome Weinard. You can go here for contact information. Click on the "heat treat" target.

A good simple carbon steel is 1084. 5160 as DaQuo'tah mentioned is a good steel as well. Remember, these steels are not "stainless" and will need a little more care than the 440C or 154CM mentioned above. All steel will rust, some just more readily than others.

You can order 1084 or 5160 from Uncle Al. His prices are fair and you don't pay an arm and a leg for shipping.

C Wilkins
 
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