good tool steel for rust resistance

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ghostguy6

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Aug 30, 2006
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Like the title says, what would be a good tool steel for making blades but also has some good rust resistance? Right now I am working with o-1 but im finding it does rust rather easily. I am hesitant to switch to a stainless steel because I have heard it is rather hard to heat treat and Im still new at this but trying to learn as fast as I can.
Thanks for any replies.
 
etched cpm3v seen to work well for me if that helps any
i made a bottle opener of a scrap i had and it has been to the hot tub with me all night drinking = no rust
butch
 
the higher the Cr the higher the rust resistance. d2 is "semi-stainless". maybe you could try something with 5-8%Cr or so and get better resistance than steels with lower Cr. however the carbon content is important too. i wouldnt know the names of any "fairly" stainresistant steels, but i bet some other guys here do
 
15-N-20 is a good rust resistant steel that heat treats very easily (like 1075 or 1086). I don't think it's considered "stainless steel", but in my experience it's more rust resistant than several of the high-flying stainless steels I've compared it with.

One drawback is I haven't been able to get it in stock thicker than approximately 1/16 inch. That's fine for pattern welding, but is kind of a pain if you want to use it for something else.
 
The higher the polish, the better the rust resistance.

When I'm rough sanding O-1 with water, the stuff will stain red within seconds. But as I move through very fine grits past 2000, I can hold it all afternoon in my sweaty hands (no AC in the shop, in summer heat) without any staining at all. A true mirror finish practically makes the stuff stainless.

That said, I don't know what kind of knife you're talking about, but are you avoiding the stainless steels because you want to heat treat it yourself, or because you need the toughness of tool steels? 5160 is tougher than O-1, and has better stain resistance due to the lower carbon and chromium content.
 
I'd say D2 or 154CM. D2 is considered semi-stainless and 154 is a stainless tool steel.
Scott
 
Thanks for the imput. I will try and get my hands on some D2 and give that a try. A few of the guys I work with were asking if I make hunting knives so I said I would give it a try but I dont want to make a knife that is going to rust in the field a week later.I was hoping to stay away from stainless because i have read that it is picky when it comes to heat treating, since i am using a camp fire and oven to do my heat treating Im not sure if I can have the accurate temp. control needed to treat the stainless steel. Also all the the knives I have used I find stainless doesnt hold an edge as well when compared to higher carbon steels. After all if Im going to put the time and effort into making and customizing a knife I want to make a quality knife.
 
ghostguy6 said:
I was hoping to stay away from stainless because i have read that it is picky when it comes to heat treating, since i am using a camp fire and oven to do my heat treating Im not sure if I can have the accurate temp. control needed to treat the stainless steel.
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High speed air hardening steels like D2 heat treat the same as stainless. Higher temp (around 1950° F) they also need to be sub zero quenched. If you can't heat treat stainless you can't heat treat D2.
 
Absolutely !!! ...You might try etching it with ferric chloride ,vinegar etc ,then keep it oiled.
 
Better than try to find a steel that won't rust is to find a way to make the steel you have not rust. Rust is its own enemy (weird as that sounds). The browned finish on antique firearms is just a built up and buffed layer of rust (more or less).Bluing is an oxidation of the surface.The deeper the blue the more rust resistance. Etching with vinegar, lemon juice, FC, and a dozen home brews will make the oxide layer of patina that keeps the rust away.
I would try a good bluing first.As possum said, the better the finish,the harder it is for the rust to get a foothold. Oiling and Renaissance wax are good protectors.too.
Stacy
 
ghostguy6 said:
Like the title says, what would be a good tool steel for making blades but also has some good rust resistance? Right now I am working with o-1 but im finding it does rust rather easily. I am hesitant to switch to a stainless steel because I have heard it is rather hard to heat treat and Im still new at this but trying to learn as fast as I can.
Thanks for any replies.
Click to expand...
Any tool steel exhibiting any stain resistance is going to be as difficult to heat treat as carbon steel. Of course, I am supposing that by "easy", you mean, "without a heat treating furnace". Anything is easy to heat treat with a heat treating furnace. I'd say either send off blades to a heat treater like Paul Bos, or get a heat treating furnace, after you've decided between those two, pick a stainless steel or D2.
 
D2 is the obvious choice. It does Harden a slightly lower temperatures than most stainless-1815°F to 1910°-per Uddeholm ad opposed to 1900° to 2000°+. In a dry climate it is essentially stainless, you really have to abuse it to get it to rust.

Even here O1 rusts if you even breathe on it. I find A2 to be quite a bit more resistant than O1 or the 10XXs and also thinks it is superior in edge holding and similar in strength/impact resistance. It hardens a hundred degrees or so below D2.
 
I agree that anything stainless or even stain resistant requires an oven to heat treat properly (or salts). Having said that, there is nothing wrong with a hunting knife made from good tool steel. The customer has to know to expect the same 'patina' as a good old saddle - and he has to know to treat it like his rifle - clean and oil it at the end of a tough hunt. If he's willing to do that, there are rewards for a tool steel blade.

Rob!
 
Just a general note to those who ask question or are in need of assistance. There are many knife makers who will gladly share their knowledge and invite you to come by their shops if they know that you are within driving distance. One of the draw backs of not listing where you are from, is that people like me have a tendency not to extend an invite to some one who doesn't feel confortable letting the rest of the forum know a little about themselves. Give a little take a little. That being said, under the outside chance you are within driving distance of Yorktown VA. I have a few old planer blades made of D2 which I would happily pass on to you to experiment on.

Jim Arbuckle
 
if you can get yourself a piece of stelite then you get the best in rust resistance and no need to heat treat . its a bit pricey but not so bad when you factor in the no need to heat treat part. Simply grind it then your done . Check out my post for pictures of my stelite dive knife.
 
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