Beginner Stainless?

A

AlaskanHunter

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Nov 23, 2013
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I've made a dozen or so knives, but all from high carbon steel-- 1084, 1095, 5160, and a few mystery steels. I would like to try forging some stainless, and my wife is asking for a set of kitchen knives. Would you recommend a stainless that is easy to work with for a relative beginner? Do I dare even consider heat treating them myself with limited equipment, or is sending them in for HT the only reasonable option? Should I be considering different steels for the different blade types in the set? My current plan is for steak, paring, chef knives, and perhaps a boning knife and a cleaver. Not sure I'm ready to try a fillet knife yet. Any advise that may help me succeed is appreciated.

Thanks,
AlaskanHunter
 
I wouldn't try to forge the stuff. Just buy some AEB-L for the kitchen knives, profile and drill the blanks, get them heat treated by someone like Peters and grind post heat treat.
 
AEB-L Or even 440C are great Culinary knife steels. Buy Bar stock for stock removal. Its already forged from the mill.

I've used Paul Bos at Buck Knives for most all of my HT of stainless for the past 20 years now.
 
No point in forging stainless unless your looking for an odd shape. Stainless is a PITA to forge, and does nothing for grain refinement, and has a very narrow forging window. For the few stainless I do I have tried 440C, ATS-34, CPM S30V and CPM 154. Of them CPM 154 is my favorite, for me it's got the best balance of edge holding, ease of sharpening, and toughness. That said it ain't cheap. For a good stainless that's reasonably priced and makes a decent blade with good heat treat and cryo try 440C. Send to Paul Bos, they'll do it rite. I wouldn't even attempt to heat treat stainless with out my oven, and even then it's a pain to get liquid nitrogen or scrounge up dry ice for the cryo.
 
Ok, thanks for the tips. Looks like I'll try AEB-L via stock removal. Aldo lists it in .070, .110, .130. I'm pretty sure .130 is overkill. That leaves the question of using .110 or .070. Are either of these thicknesses ideal for the entire set, or should I get a bit of both? Most chef, paring, and steak knives are rather thin IIRC- so I'm guessing it'll be the .070. Is a full or hidden tang preferable? I'm leaning towards full simply because its what I'm familiar with. Before I get too far into this, perhaps I should be asking, would I be better off using a high carbon steel in stead of chasing the convenience of a stainless blade?
 
I am using the .110 AEB-L but I taper the hell out of the blades anyway. There is some .098 stock out there that i may end up using in the future for gyutos, sujis and such. Knives like pettys, nakiris and parers would likely benefit from using the .070 stock.
 
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