advise for making first survival knife

G

Greg.

Joined
May 29, 2012
Messages
13
hey everyone,

I was going to try to make a rat7 type outdoors/survival/bushcraft knife in 1095/1085 carbon steel. This is my first knife and I was wondering if someone could give me some advise, namely on the subjests of heat treatment, tempering and suppliers. I have looked around and I couldn't find anyone who carried 1095 steel in 1/4" x 2" besides admiralsteel, they have great prices but outrageous shipping($33 for six feet a the steel I wanted and another $30 in shipping) I t would be great if someone could point me at some dealer that sells 1-2 foot lengths for a fair price. I could get some leaf spring steel for nothing, but is that stuff any good?
Thanks for your time,
Greg.
 
I think leaf spring steel is usually 5160. Good stuff. Thats what the HI blades are made of, some more than 1/2" thick. Thats all the help i can give you, sorry. Not allowed to deal spot or price shop on here. There is a knife supply co, it sounds like pantz but starts with a J instead of a p.
 
TwinStick said:
I think leaf spring steel is usually 5160. Good stuff. Thats what the HI blades are made of, some more than 1/2" thick. Thats all the help i can give you, sorry. Not allowed to deal spot or price shop on here. There is a knife supply co, it sounds like pantz but starts with a J instead of a p.
Click to expand...

This question is really more suited to SHOP TALK

Leaf springs can be a rather large variety of steels, and some don't make all that great of a blade.

Aldo at njsteelbaron.com can hook you up with high quality annealed 1095 in the size you want.
 
Greg. said:
This is my first knife and I was wondering if someone could give me some advise...
Click to expand...

My advise is to not attempt a 1/4" thick blade the first time out. It's a heck of a lot of work.
 
yeah I figured that out pretty quick while making a knife blank out of a lawn mower accessory rack I don't know what kind of steel probably some kind of tool steel. anyway it's only 1/8" and it's a pain in the rear to shape with hand tools. i'm getting a belt sander today and will acquire a bench grinder soon. so it should be easier after that.
thanks for the tip i'm probably gonna make it in 3/16"
Thanks,
Greg
 
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