Beginner steel

I found 15n20 to be the easiest for simple heat treatment and its great to work with. It also rust lest than 1084.
 
As another new maker I like 15n20, 1084, and 80crv2 all pretty easy to work with all mostly in stock at Alpha Knife supply
 
If you're going to be doing stock removal, practice on cheap mild steel from Home Depot or the scrap yard. It's best to practice on cheap stuff before you grind away at the good stuff.
 
Chad Culverhouse said:
On Alpha Knife Supply's site, they list some steel as HRPA. Hot Rolled Pickled Annealed? And is there a disadvantage to HRPA versus the more expensive flat ground?
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They remove the mill scale decarb layer and its nice and flat so it saves work for attaching knife scales and hardness testing.
I wouldn't worry about that right now. Just get the cheaper non flat ground version for now.
 
Flat ground generally means ground to some level of precision flatness. Virtually all the bars of steel you'll buy from Alpha Knife Supply and similar vendors will be more than flat enough for making knives. Flat ground steel is usually geared more towards precision applications, but it can save you a bit of time and headache if you're trying to simply how many steps you take as much as possible. Personally, I wouldn't bother.

1075, 1084, 80CRV2, 15N20, 8670, and 5160 would be my recommendations for starting out, and I'd go with whichever is cheapest at the time. I'd recommend staying away from 1095, O1, and 52100 until you have a bit of experience getting a piece evenly heated, judging color (or better, using a thermocouple), and getting the quench just right (moving from heat -> quench quickly, and agitating the piece while in the quenchant without warping it).

If you decide to try forging, the plain carbon steels (10XX series) tend to move under the hammer the easiest, while 52100 can be a bit of a bear. Others mentioned fall somewhere in between.
 
I say 8670. It has the widest heat treat range of any simple or low alloy steel I have tested. There is a 100f window from 1475f to 1575f where you will be within two Rc points for max harness, which is Rc65. 1075/1080/1084 are forgiving as well, and 80crv2 is pretty forgiving. 15n20 really responds exceptionally to dialed heat treat, but is forgiving.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/8670-heat-treat-coupon-results.1559745/
 
It’s amazing how tough 80CrV2 is. In doing my testing with it before processing the batch of hatchets I beat the crap out of it. I had a test strip around 1” wide and .264 thick. After the quench I clamped it in the vise and had 4 or so inches sticking out. I had to go up to the 4lb mini sledgehammer and beat the crap out of it over and over till it broke. Surface ground and tested at an as quenched hardness of 65-66rc.
 
I'm going to start was 8670 but will definitely try 15n20 and 80CrV2. The high nickel in 15n20 has me curious as to how well it will polish.
 
As noted multiple times, stick to steels that are close to the eutectoid point around 0.8% carbon: 1075/1080/1084, 80CrV2, 15N20, 8670. The hypereutectoid steels (more than about 0.8% carbon like 1095, 52100, etcetera) will need longer soak and better temperature control which are difficult to do in a simple coffee can forge; if you don't soak (hold at temperature) long enough, you won't get everything into solution, but the longer you try to soak, the more likely you'll overheat the steel and cause grain growth which would then be detrimental to making a good knife.

Chad Culverhouse said:
I'm going to start was 8670 but will definitely try 15n20 and 80CrV2. The high nickel in 15n20 has me curious as to how well it will polish.
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It will polish up as high as you're willing to sand up to, shouldn't have any problems except getting tired of hand sanding...
 
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