Does anyone sell H1 barstock?

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Danjmath

Joined
Sep 20, 2017
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Have a good friend that has done me a lot of favors in the past, and since he is a diver I'd like to make a dive knife for him.

H1 seems to be perfect for a dive knife, but I can not find anyone that sells it. Anyone know if there is a place where it can be bought, or if not what a good substitute is? (I have thought of a Ti knife, but I have never worked with it, so am a little hesitant.)
 
Danjmath said:
Have a good friend that has done me a lot of favors in the past, and since he is a diver I'd like to make a dive knife for him.

H1 seems to be perfect for a dive knife, but I can not find anyone that sells it. Anyone know if there is a place where it can be bought, or if not what a good substitute is? (I have thought of a Ti knife, but I have never worked with it, so am a little hesitant.)
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If you have to substitute, 420hc is easy to find and is very corrosion resistant.
 
Danjmath said:
Have a good friend that has done me a lot of favors in the past, and since he is a diver I'd like to make a dive knife for him.

H1 seems to be perfect for a dive knife, but I can not find anyone that sells it. Anyone know if there is a place where it can be bought, or if not what a good substitute is? (I have thought of a Ti knife, but I have never worked with it, so am a little hesitant.)
Click to expand...

AKS sells beta-c titanium. They also sell Vanax and Z-fiNit, nitrogen steels. Those will be the most stainless options you can get. Chuck told me about a heat treat that can potentially get to Rc60 with the ti. I am grinding out a ti knife in my spare time and will report on the hardness once I follow that recipe. The nitrogen steels are the most stain resistant steels available.

If you are not experienced with grinding difficult materials, stay away from the ti. It is a pain to grind. Imagine the worst properties of 304 and aluminum combined. I have figured some strategies to use it, so if you go that route, contact me and I’ll let you know what is working for me.
 
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If you are able to heat treat stainless or send it away for heat treating LC200N is going to be your best bet. LC200N is not nearly as expensive as Vanax and is completely rust proof. I do not believe H1 is available to makers. If you can not heat treat yourself or can not send away titanium will suffice. I made my dive knife out of titanium with a cheap 1x30 grinder, and it is very difficult to grind. Everyone says you should buy a cheap knife you do not mind losing, but I keep mine zipped in my BC, so not worried about losing it.
 
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Thanks everyone! Looks like LC200n is a winner. I'll have to send it to be treated, but it shouldn't be a problem.
 
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