01 Tool Steel Question

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Mar 29, 2017
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Hey my dudes super new to the whole world of knife making and just curious as to a few things. So after making a few practice blades from mild steel I'm finally confident in my ability to making my first blade from some higher quality steel. So I went to my normal steel supplier and picked up some 01 tool steel. (Might I add at a h*cking good price) Only thing is it's already hardened and I don't feel like annealing anything quite yet unless I have to. So my question is is this steel even workable in a hardened state? I don't believe it's tempered so I'll have to do that at the very least. Thank y'all for your time and answers ;)
 
If it is indeed hardened it has undoubtedly been tempered. It can be ground in a hardened state just need to make sure you don't overheat it and ruin the temper. Drilling pin holes may be problematic without a good rigid machine and carbide drill.


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I remember trying to drill hardened steel with my cordless hand drill. I had no carbide bits, so it was just regular HSS. Held the blade with one hand and the drill in the other, as I attempted to drill a hole in the tang. Not making any progress, I kept pressing harder and harder until the drill finally slipped and I drilled a hole through my finger.
 
Unless you have proper equipment, you won't be able to fully anneal it. You can still forge it as close to final shape as possible and then do minor work on it.
 
You are going to hate life trying to work that piece of hardened steel. If it's not already blade shaped you are going to have to go at a snails pace to shape it and not blow the temper even if you have top of the line equipment. Do you know how it was heat treated? What is the Rockwell hardness? Can you get your hands on some 1080 or 1084 that is annealed? It will be way easier to work and you can backyard heat treat it. Look in the "Stickies" section of Shop Talk.
 
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