416 steel

[Halbrust]

Is 416 a decent blade steel?
I won't be heat treating myself.

I'll be doing stock removal.
How does it compare to O1 and 1095?

 

[Busto]

Not good for a blade it excels at pins and bolsters and other accessories, but not enough good alloy for a blade.

 

[Halbrust]

Thanks Busto, price seemed too good to be true.

 

[Matt Rochester]

You can use 440C instead. Its cheap and performs well. I just bought 3' of 1/8''x1 1/2'' for $30 plus shipping for 6 oyster knives.

 

[stezann]

416 is not enough hardenable for a blade, 440 is, but still a stainless steel, way more demanding in terms of ht than the carbon steels you wanted to compare.
Affordable and good for starting to heat treat are steels like 1070 and 1084, way to go.

 

[jdm61]

416 is go to stuff for guards, bolsters, buttcaps, etc because it is free machining compared to its brother 410 and takes a really nice finish.

 

[elementfe]

Halbrust, care to share where you saw it "priced too good to be true?"
I use kind of a lot of it, and choke on what it costs

 

[Halbrust]

Tru grit has 416 way cheaper than any other steel.