Bar stock question.

[slip23us]

I haven’t been making knives for about 5 years. What bar stock metals are good to use? I use to use cpm 154 to name one of them.

 

[Ken H>]

Depends on if you desire carbon steel or SS. Also perhaps the type of knife you plan. A big camp chopper? OR, a fine cutting kitchen knife?

 

[CDHumiston]

AEB-L stainless has become quite popular. It's not too expensive, pretty easy to sharpen and holds a nice edge. I use it a lot for kitchen knives and also for some small hunters.

It is also easy to heat treat if you have a kiln IMHO. I get 61 HRC after tempering almost every time and I don't do any cryo at all.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

26C3 for carbon and Magnacut for stainless.

 

[TheEdge01]

My go to carbon steels are 52100 and 8670. As far as stainless steels, I have only used AEBL, and other than warping issues, I am very pleased with it.

 

[slip23us]

Mostly small hunting knives.