1095 or O1 for a bushcraft blade?

L

lambertiana

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If you were to choose between 1095 and O1 for a general purpose outdoors blade, about 4.5" or so, which of those steels would you choose and why? This knife would not really be used for chopping, but for general cutting chores and perhaps some baton work.
 
I would go with the good old 1095 high carbon for this one. o1 is a tool steel and even though it can be hardened at relatively low temperatures it would not be my choice for a knife that would be used for chopping or batoning.

Bill
 
Do you do it yourself?

If yes, take the one that is the easier to heat treat. I think 1095 will be harder on this one.
 
I understand O-1 is a tool steel and that it is very hard, but that's all I know of it. I own two knives in 1095 and I like it alot. It's tough and it sharpens very easily...for me anyway. I don;t know how well O-1 holds up against rust and corrosion, but I would assume it's comparable in that area to 1095.
 
O1, it was made to cut stuff. I think the only way you could hurt it with what you plan to use it for would be if you thinned the edge down real low.
 
O1 must posess some good qualties for it to be the choice of a lot of the competition guys. I assume they keep their edges at low angels to acheive the cuts and chops they make . i would love to give 01 a try if i could afford it in a big chopper.
 
I would need more specifics on the heat treat and edge geometry before I could answer this. Either steel could be fantastic or terrible, depending upon how it was treated.
 
I don't know about the heat treat (yet) but I would want it with a fairly thin edge. I just can't live with the low cutting capability of thick edges that are found on many of the large blades today.
 
A2 is a better choice than either.
O1 is used instead of A2 on bushcraft blades when the user wants to be able to use the blade to make sparks with a firesteel. O1 works well for this. I use O1 when I want to harden stuff myself.
1095 is an excellent steel simple carbon steel while A2 is a tool steel which is the best type of steel to make knife blades from.
 
lambertiana said:
If you were to choose between 1095 and O1 for a general purpose outdoors blade, about 4.5" or so, which of those steels would you choose and why? This knife would not really be used for chopping, but for general cutting chores and perhaps some baton work.
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I think either would be fine as long as the knife is well-made.
 
lambertiana said:
If you were to choose between 1095 and O1 for a general purpose outdoors blade, about 4.5" or so, which of those steels would you choose and why? This knife would not really be used for chopping, but for general cutting chores and perhaps some baton work.
Click to expand...

Both. Either steel would do well for a bushcraft knife. However it really depends on the what and the where. Bushcraft can mean a lot of different thing to many different people. Bushcraft in the Amazon is a much different animal. A machete in any steel would be better than a bushcraft knife in carbon steel.

Unsub said:
A2 is a better choice than either.
O1 is used instead of A2 on bushcraft blades when the user wants to be able to use the blade to make sparks with a firesteel. O1 works well for this. I use O1 when I want to harden stuff myself.
1095 is an excellent steel simple carbon steel while A2 is a tool steel which is the best type of steel to make knife blades from.
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The above statement is a bit misleading. ANY knife/steel object with a sharp spine will create sparks from a FIRESTEEL. Now obtaining sparks from a flint is a different matter.

I can weld with sparks from my firesteel and my Fallkniven F1, which is VG-10 stainless.
 
I wanted a Millermatic 250 mig for my birthday (if I couldn;t get that BRKT mini-Northstar in linen). I guess now I want an F-1




((( :D )))
 
StretchNM said:
I wanted a Millermatic 250 mig for my birthday (if I couldn;t get that BRKT mini-Northstar in linen). I guess now I want an F-1



((( :D )))
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Answer to that ??? is YES. Barkies are great knives. I have owned and used the following:

Gameskeeper
Woodland
Highland Special
Canadian special

All have been great knives. The Fallkniven F1 is (IMNSHO) in a class by itself. Without going into a three page review....... BUY ONE.
 
I was thinking maybe I could stab stuff, cut stuff, start some fires, and weld some steel with that F1 :D (besides, it's cheaper than a Millermatic)
 
lambertiana said:
If you were to choose between 1095 and O1 for a general purpose outdoors blade, about 4.5" or so, which of those steels would you choose and why? This knife would not really be used for chopping, but for general cutting chores and perhaps some baton work.
...
No, I am not doing it myself. This would be from a well-known maker.
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Since you say you won't be chopping, which is a reasonable decision for a 4.5" blade, I think I would choose whichever one the knifemaker felt more comfortable using. I think that for what you want to use the knife for, the inherent properties of the two steels are close enough that the maker's heat treat will be the deciding issue as to which turns out better.
 
knarfeng said:
Since you say you won't be chopping, which is a reasonable decision for a 4.5" blade, I think I would choose whichever one the knifemaker felt more comfortable using. I think that for what you want to use the knife for, the inherent properties of the two steels are close enough that the maker's heat treat will be the deciding issue as to which turns out better.
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Here Here! Truer words have yet to be uttered. You won;t know the difference (unless of course you buy one of each....and even then.........).
 
davmgt said:
I think either would be fine as long as the knife is well-made.
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Dav is correct. More telling than the steel would be the maker's ability to heat treat the steel. Either steel is fine, but I would choose the one that the maker does better - ask him, he'll tell you. If he's a good craftsman, you can trust him to know what he does best. Once in the woods, you won't be able to tell the difference.
 
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