Recommendation? Advice on steel

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Ky_Dylan

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Jan 26, 2020
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I am a beginner knifemaker hoping to get some input/advice on steel. What should i start with? I beat on wrought iron and mystery steel all the time just for practice but I am ready to invest myself in to more serious build I just don't know where to start
 
JTknives said:
Go to alpha knife supply and get some 1084 or 1075. Something in the 1/4” range and 1-1/2” wide.
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I'm curious, does your suggestion change depending on what type of knives you're interested in making? I'm also going to be a beginner here in a couple months once I move into my new house and get all my equipment ordered.

My goal will be to make chef knives; Bunkas, Gyutos, , traditional western chef, etc. Those tend to have pretty slim spine thickness.

Is the 1/4" suggestion mostly due to initial over grinding for beginners?

Thanks
 
Listen to JT. These steels make adequate kitchen’s knives. Once you get a kiln for heat treat, or a temp controlled forge, you can use W2/26c3/or 1095. Walk before you run.

8670 is easy to forge as well, and is probably the most forgiving steel in heat treat. I have used it in kitchen knives.
 
steel choice is only relevant if you can heat treat it well. Some steels are forgiving. Some require precision.
 
honingblades said:
I'm curious, does your suggestion change depending on what type of knives you're interested in making? I'm also going to be a beginner here in a couple months once I move into my new house and get all my equipment ordered.

My goal will be to make chef knives; Bunkas, Gyutos, , traditional western chef, etc. Those tend to have pretty slim spine thickness.

Is the 1/4" suggestion mostly due to initial over grinding for beginners?

Thanks
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1/4" for forging, as the OP implied by saying "beat on..."
 
Yeah the 1/4” was for forging. 8670 is good stuff so is 80crv2. Back in the day 5160 was the recommended steel of choice but not as much anymore. It does like a short temp controlled soak. I still stick to my original recommendation. Don’t get caught up in one steel is better then another. Just start with a simple carbon steel and learn on it and once you get comfortable you can try another one.
 
Alpha Knife Supply is an incredible company to work with. I have ordered from them twice and have been very pleased both times. I’m a new knife maker myself, so I ordered 1075 and 8670 carbon steel the first time and they were both very easy to work with. I heat treat my own blades with wood and natural lump charcoal so I wanted to practice on something simple. The blades I made from 1075 and 8670 passed my file test and they didn’t appear to be overly brittle or soft after tempering, so I assume my heat treating process is pretty close. With that being said, 8670 and 1075 are indeed good starter steels. This time I ordered some 15n20 steel and another bar of 1075.
 
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ashwinearl said:
8670 is my favorite as a beginner carbon steel. This is after trying 1084, 80Crv2, 01, 52100, 1075, 15N20
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I would not put 80CrV2, O1 and 52100 into the beginner category. Those steels need higher temps than you can accurately gauge with a magnet and a controlled soak time.
 
JTknives said:
I would not put 80CrV2, O1 and 52100 into the beginner category. Those steels need higher temps than you can accurately gauge with a magnet and a controlled soak time.
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Would you consider 15N20 and 8670 as good beginner steels?
 
Yeah both those are good steels as well as 1075 and 1084. For the time being stay away from the 1074&1084 from NJSB and get all your steel from Alpha Knife Supply.
 
JTknives said:
Yeah both those are good steels as well as 1075 and 1084. For the time being stay away from the 1074&1084 from NJSB and get all your steel from Alpha Knife Supply.
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Awesome!!!! Yeah I read some negative feedback about NJSB recently.
 
8670 is probably the most forgiving steel in heat treat. There is a window of 100f Fahrenheit where you will pretty much get max hardness, and it doesn’t drop off too quickly either.
 
Looks like OP got some answers for beginner forging steels.

Rather than posting a new thread on steel advice ill ask this here.

I'll be starting with stock removal and I will also have a HT oven on day one. Knowing this, do you have some beginner steels or are the suggested steels above be good beginner steels as well?

I was looking at:

- .140 - .160, .180 @ 23" long and 2" wide from AKS
- AEB-L, 80CrV2, and 15N20

Thanks
 
Beginner steels are often recommended because most folks don’t start with a heat treat oven. Are you going to have a dewar as well? Liquid Nitrogen?
Also, what kind of heat treat oven will you start with as they’re not all able to get up to temperature. I started with a front loading kiln that could only get up to 1950 max according to the plate, but it didn’t have a digital temp control or thermocouple. It worked great for carbon steels but had to be dialed in. Starting out with a good evenheat or paragon MEANT for blades is different than a clay pottery kiln. You can absolutely heat treat blades with both, but with a pottery kiln it may take a lot of research and testing.

Good decision going with Alpha knife supply,
They’re a reputable company with consistently good steel.

honingblades said:
Looks like OP got some answers for beginner forging steels.

Rather than posting a new thread on steel advice ill ask this here.

I'll be starting with stock removal and I will also have a HT oven on day one. Knowing this, do you have some beginner steels or are the suggested steels above be good beginner steels as well?

I was looking at:

- .140 - .160, .180 @ 23" long and 2" wide from AKS
- AEB-L, 80CrV2, and 15N20

Thanks
Click to expand...
 
Josh Rider said:
Beginner steels are often recommended because most folks don’t start with a heat treat oven. Are you going to have a dewar as well? Liquid Nitrogen?
Also, what kind of heat treat oven will you start with as they’re not all able to get up to temperature. I started with a front loading kiln that could only get up to 1950 max according to the plate, but it didn’t have a digital temp control or thermocouple. It worked great for carbon steels but had to be dialed in. Starting out with a good evenheat or paragon MEANT for blades is different than a clay pottery kiln. You can absolutely heat treat blades with both, but with a pottery kiln it may take a lot of research and testing.

Good decision going with Alpha knife supply,
They’re a reputable company with consistently good steel.
Click to expand...

Hi Josh. I was going going to build one, or get an Evenheat KH 418. The reason I would build would be to get a few more inches to make some slicers down the road that exceed the 18". It doesn't seem too difficult and it's only about $300-$400 in parts. In either case, no less than an evenheat KH 418. If I get lazy then ill get a KO 22.5 for length and higher heat.

I was looking at dewars today actually. I was going to ask how long the liquid nitrogen stays in them (i read a week) because it's not like I will be pumping out 20 knives a week. Maybe 2-3 per week (if that). I've been reading steel nerds and saw that you can get pretty good results with dry ice and acceptable hardness in a freezer (better than nothing). It will prob be dry ice and/or a freezer to start.

I like the idea of plate quenching as well.

But yeah.... Hopefully that helps.
 
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Willie71 said:
My 20l dewar lasts 5 months between fills.
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Good dewars have a long hold time. Mine is .09L per day so at 20L it’s along time. This usaly means you will spend $600-$1200 minimum if you find it used or 2-5k if you buy new. My favorite company for dewars and other high quality lab grade stuff is VWR. I fill it about every 1-2 months but that’s besides the point.

On ovens if you have not worked with this type of thing or have a decently equipped shop I highly recommend just buying one. I would personally stay away from even heat as I don’t like there design and think it’s kinda Low quality. I have know a few people that have had nothing but problems with there even heats and one friend burned through 2 or 3 controllers and finally smashed the oven in his press. Paragon makes a MUCH better oven for the money.
 
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