Easy to work with, quality stainless steel for first chefs knife?

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syvmn

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Apr 5, 2009
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Hey everyone. I've made a few knives here and there for friends and for practical use at work and I've been contemplating creating a chefs knife for myself. So far I've only used 1080 steel due to it's ease of use. I was wondering if there are any very high quality stainless steels out there that also have relatively easy heat treating processes. I've looked at CPM-154 but it seems very complicated. Should I give up and just use 1095 or is there something else out there.

PS. I'm also thinking of making a few as gifts for friends. My concern for using 1095 is that they will have a hard time keeping it rust free.

Thanks for any and all help!
 
If I correctly guess what you mean by "relatively easy heat treating", there are no stainless steels that
qualify. Essentially, they all require holding at accurately controlled temperatures in the 1850-2050F
range. Exact times and temps vary with the steel and desired results of course. They all are subject
to significant retained austenite and thus benefit from cryogenic treatment as well.

The good news is that there are some professional heat treating outfits that are expert and helpful
for knife makers. Peters Heat Treat is one of them (the one I'll be sending some blades to even
though I do have an Evenheat oven that could do the basic heating adaquately).
 
Sandvik 12C27 or 13C26 maybe? Mora knives are relatively low-cost, so I'm guessing heat treatment can't be that complicated or expensive. I wasn't particularly impressed with it(12C27) in a large Chef's Knife, but I was much happier with it in their smaller knives.

I heard N680 is easy to heat treat as well, and with nitrogen in the steel, it should have better corrosion resistance.
 
Dan Pierson said:
HT for 13C26 (a.k.a. AEB-L) is right along the lines I described. I'm using a bunch of it at the moment.

Info from Alpha Knife Supply
Click to expand...
Interesting, especially that little bit about Sandvik copying the steel. Though I suppose blatant copying is how the industry works(Coke and Pepsi, M390 and 20CV, SanRenMu 710 and Sebenza).

I find it even more interesting that these steels seem to be lacking in availability given their useful properties. I have a Kershaw RAM in 13C26. Haven't seen much of AEB-L outside of those $300-ish Devin Thomas knives, which are all sold out. Though I hear those were very popular and highly rated.

Still, seems disappointing we don't see more of them in a more affordable price range from maybe $150-$200. Though admittedly, a custom-made blade with the hardness pushed hard would be the most desirable.
 
After more searching I've found a lot more knives in 13C26 used by Kershaw and Buck, although almost none of AEB-L from U.S. makers, and certainly none in a production level.

But what really gets me is the lack of it in kitchen knives.
 
syvmn, I've made a few kitchen knives most in 1095 and the rust/patina is definitely an issue with users. My next few I'm going to go air-hardened steel and outsource the heat treat to either Peter's or Texas Knifemaker's supply. The current front runners in this project are CPM154 and D2 mainly for availability. If I could get a hold of some of Kershaw's 14c26n in 1/8" I'd be all over it.

Back to 1095 I ferric chloride etch the blades I make and even properly cleaned and dried they take a patina NOW that is disturbing to most end users. Most are cool with it after I explain what the patina is and everybody loves the very sharp edge that seams to stay that way forever. If it takes a trip through the dishwasher or sits in the sink over night? Game Over!

Noctis3880 most people don't care enough about high end stainless in kitchen knives to make it a viable market. VG10 and SG2 are the rare exceptions mainly from KAI/Shun. The GIN-1 that the Wasabi knives are made from isn't anything to sneer at either.
 
C-9 they are currently listed as Daido 1K6 but I have some older ones (like 5 or 6 years old) that I recall were GIN-1 or equivalent to GIN-1.
 
Do you have pictures of the markings on yours? I've never heard of these knives being GIN-1 so I am curious.
 
oldschool45 said:
The Yangiba is labeled 6621Y M.V. Stainless Steel the small Deba is labeled 6610D M.V. Stainless Steel but in talking with the people from Kershaw I think it was Thomas was kind enough to take a Rockwell Tester to one came out at 56 not super hard but better than most. Here is the thread http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...aw-wasabi-1K6-steel-question?highlight=wasabi
Click to expand...
Now I find this interesting as I've always thought that the Sankvik 12C27 in Mora Knives were a bit soft even at Rc 57-58. But then I hear about those German Chef's knives run in at around Rc 55-56. Which begs the question of "better than most what?"

I'm not sure where those cheap Made in China knives are at on the Rockwell scale, but harder than those perhaps? That would certainly make it harder than most knives you'd find in a kitchen:D. Though the last Made in China paring knife I had felt pretty hard as it wouldn't flex given how thin it was, but was incredibly brittle. But in the kitchen of a knife nut, I would think Rc 56 would be average.
 
Noctis3880, 56c may not be very hard compared to 1095 run about 60 or some other well into the 60's but relative to the butter knife hardness & edge retention I'd seen with my Henkels & Wustof & Chicago Cutlery it was an eye opening experience for a maturing knife nut:p
vinox did a quick search on 13/0 stainless and most hits were its use in flatware & bowls;) Man Gus got him before I could tease him:D
 
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