Newbie question on annealed steel

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russellfish

Joined
Apr 17, 2007
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I have never made a knife before so this is my first. Ive done some reading on the internet and was going to buy some steel. I see that I can get it non annealed which if I understand correctly should make the steel easier to work. Im going to be using hand tools to make the blade, would I be better off buying it in the un annealed stock or is difference negligable? :confused: I was thinking of using 1095 stock for my first knife, any suggestions on either aspect would be appreciated.
 
Annealed would be the easiest to work , that's one of the reasons for annealing steel !
1095 is not a good starter steel. Instead use a 1080 .It makes a good blade and is easy to heat treat.
 
Yeah steel is much easier to work when it's annealed and I would defiantly consider getting 1080 or 1084 instead of 1095. If 1095 is all that you can find available you can still use it, I would just recommend sending it out for heat treatment instead of doing it yourself.
 
Non-annealed is whatever the hardness was when it left the factory. It is fine for welding, but not so good for making knives.
Annealed is the softest state, and what you want. The steel will be designated either HRA - Hot Rolled and Annealed.
or CRA - Cold Rolled and Annealed. For most makers, the difference is negligible.
 
Remember this, if you use annealled stock to form your blade, it will have to be heat treated to get the best out of the finished product. In other words if you don't have simple heat treating equipment i.e. a high temperature heating source, quench tanks, and a toaster oven for tempering, you will have to send it out for heat treatment.

Typically stock removal knifemakers form (profile) the blade from annealed (soft) knife stock (high carbon content) which removes the unwanted steel quickly, heat treat it, than the final grinding/hand sanding is done in the hardened state.
 
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