Easiest steel to heat treat?

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3wolves

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Im about to buy a whole bunch of steel and am dazed by all the different kinds, so I decided to go with the kind of steel that is easiest to H.T and work with. Does anyone know which is the best for this?
Thanks.
 
5160, 1080, 01 are all pretty easy. good heat to get to 1500, a magnet to check, some ATF to quench and an oven to temper. Maybe not the perfect harden and temper but, you can do a good job.
 
I have always heard that 5160 is idiot proof, but whatever is deemed idiot proof just hasnt found the right idiot! :)
 
Most folks consider the plain carbon steels easiest to heat treat. Others recommend low alloy steels like O-1 or 5160. To get the most from the low alloy steels, a soak is needed but without is good results can happen. The plain carbon doesn't need the same soak.

ron
 
Something in the eutectic range of carbon or simple alloy steels. 1060-1086 or 5160. 1095 is a simple carbon steel with a simple heat treat but is tricky due to the lack of time you have to get it into the quench medium.
 
Sorry, should have been more specific, which one from these?

1095 High Carbon Steel
CPM3V
A2
D2
O1
S30V
CPM 154CM
154CM
ATS34
440C
 
Self HT without a HT oven 1095, O1. The remainder really need very precise control in hardening and tempering. I have seen some do them in a forge but the control is not there.
 
3wolves, thinking aobut your question an interesting thing occured to me. Trade offs, trade offs there are always trade offs, mother nature will just not permit a free lunch or that perpertual motion thing:( Anyhow what ocurred to me was that ther are two ways to look at "easy". There is nailing the heat and soak, and then there is nailing the quench. Now for the trade off- if one really looks at it the eaiser it is to austenitize (heat and soak) the more difficult it will be to get it hard in a quench, or the faster you will have to cool it. On the other hand the easier it is to get it hard from cooling the more attention has to be paid to the heat and soak.

From this I would ask if you have more faith it your heating and soaking abilities and equipment or in your quenching techniques and mediums? If it is the first then go with the alloy steels (CPM3V, A2, D2, O1, S30V, CPM 154CM,
154CM, ATS34 440C). If you have a simple heat source but a fantastic quench oil then go with the 1095, or 1084, 1075, 1080 if you wish to add them to your list. Of course the slower cooling alloys will be less anxiety from warping and distortion.

Also, if you have the heat source to handle the alloys then annealing will be less of a problem for you as well, if you don't then the 10XX series stuff will be much less of a headache to soften for machining.
 
Kevin R. Cashen said:
If you have a simple heat source but a fantastic quench oil then go with the 1095, or 1084, 1075, 1080 if you wish to add them to your list.
Click to expand...

What exactly is a fantastic oil quench? I was planning on motor oil but I never knew one was better than another? Is motor oil any good? My flame will be simple, either an extremely hot fire or a propane torch.
 
From that description I would strongly encourage the simplest steels you can obtain. By far the most critical factor in optimizing the steel is the heating more than the cooling. As for the oil you use, well that would be up to you, you will get multitudes of opinions mine would just be one more to deal with. A hot fire or a torch would eliminate most of the steels on your list for any of the rational thinking knifemakers I know.

The steel will only be a material for you to work and cannot make the knife, knowledge and lots of research into what you plan to do, how and why, would be your best investment. Buying the best paints in the world will not produce a masterpeice until you learn the brush strokes. I am not trying to be preachy or patronizing with that at all, it truly is the best advice I have.
 
I always thought that if you have a controlled furnace that an air hardening grade is easier to heat treat than a simple carbon steel.
 
3wolves

Consider outsourcing your heat treat. It's not expensive - you will know what the results are - and it could save you hours of finishing work if it's well done. Start doing it yourself when you've acquired more appropriate equipment.

That way, you could choose any steel on your list based on the characteristics you want.

Rob!
 
yup you can easily send it to rob and have it done,

I have never asked but rob do you do heat treat in batch orders?
I cant do stainless myself yet
 
3wolves,
It appears from the questions that you haven't done much background research on knife making or HT. The steels you listed are the list from a catalog, I assume. They are all different. All but 1095 and O-1 will require a HT oven and controlled HT ( you could easily send these out for HT, as many makers do). 1095 and O-1 will work with a home HT setup. The questions seem to imply you are not sure what to do in HT. I would suggest you read the stickies at the top of this forum and read some HT tutorials. Also, get a good book on knife making and read it cover to cover. Knife making is fun, but requires understanding what you are doing to get any good results.
Stacy
 
It is such a loaded question :)

Assuming you don't have any HT equipment at all and just want to try some knifemaking, then you need to decide on steel based on other merit: stainless vs non-stainless. You can always have your blade sent out for professional HT.

Now, if you know the bug has bitten you real bad and is there to stay and the money is tight, you can always build your own HT oven for may be $200 in total cost (search in this forum for more on DYI ovens).

And of course there are HT setups as simple as one-brick forge :) (see Goddard's books on near-tribal-knifemaking), but be prepared for hit'n'miss in the beginning
 
bryce said:
I have never asked but rob do you do heat treat in batch orders?
I cant do stainless myself yet
Click to expand...

I do anything from one to six in a batch. The Evenheat will hold way more than that, but I like to get them between the plates relatively quickly - and six is about the limit of my comfort range for that.

When I say 'batch' each one is individually double wrapped.

It's a rare day when I do more than two 'batches', so if you have a hundred blades, there are probably more efficient places to send them.

I had one guy send me 6 identical blades. He wanted two at RHC58-59 and the other four at RHC60-61. No problem - just did them in two batches.

Rob!
 
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