Elmax, 1095, or AUS 8

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doublepiedavid

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Jun 1, 2017
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I am working on designing a set of two custom knives for a combination of bushcraft, self defense, and around-the-house utility. The larger one is 8" long, 1" wide, and .25" thick with a 4" hidden tang and clip point and a false edge, while the backup one is 4" long, .75" wide and .2" thick with a 3" hidden tang and "clipped tanto" point that also has a false edge. Both are meant to be as strong as possible, however weight is a non-factor. My searching narrowed down to the three choices in the title, however if you have any other suggestions, let me know. (I have a minor case of dyslexia if this is hard to read)
 
How/who is going to be doing the heat treat? A big factor on what suggestions you'll get depend on what you have to heat treat with or are you sending it out for heat treatment to a reputable heat treater. If you are just doing a crude backyard heat treat you will get different answers if you have the capabilities to hold and maintain an exact temp.
 
I read it just fine, not sure I understand the question...

You are asking for ideas other than what you have come up with?
 
Those are 3 very different types of steel. Elmax and 1095 will make great knives. Of the three my least favorite would be AUS 8. It's roughly equivalent to 440B according to zknives.com.
I think the stock thickness (0.2-0.25") is a bit much for the width you're planning IMHO.
 
I'd drop down to 0.125-0.156" or so on stock thickness
5/32 already makes for a pretty chunky knife unless it's got a tapered tang and either a full flat, or high hollow grind.

As for steel choice, 154cm, A2, and S35vn would be my personal choices
I'm not sure how much strength testing experience you have with knives, but even a little bird and trout knife in A2 is virtually impossible to break apart.
 
What aspects of performance is the priority? Edge holding, toughness?

I agree with the other comments that the steel choice is too thick.

If I had to only use one steel ever again, that could be tweaked to any application, it'd be W2.

Another option that I'm very impressed with is z-wear/cru-wear. Unless you are set up for cryo, you'll be sending it out for heat treat though.
 
I'm with Willy. Except I'm happy with Z Wear performance sans cryo, though I'm sure based on his testing it can improve it.

I'm curious what research brought you to those three alloys. It's like saying you researched the 4th hole on a golf course and need to decide whether to putt with a driver, a 9 iron, or a putter.
 
Those sound some interesting knives. Of the steels you list, I would use 1095, but if I was doing it, I would use O1, but only because it is the easiest to get here. If I was in teh US, I would be looking at 1084 for home HT or A2 if I was sending it away.

Aus8 sharpens easy, but won't hold the edge if you start using the knives hard. I don't know Elmax, but what I have read shows it is expensive, harder to work than the other choices and harder to sharpen. I think ease of working and cost are important factors since I am sure that after using those knives for a while, you will be keen to make another set with different dimensions, it would be a shame if you sink too much time and money into this set when they are likely to be stepping stones on the way to more refined designs.
 
When I first started, I was also super focused on the "strength" aspect of the knife. I thought 1/4" stock was what I should use on all my knives. Luckily, I didn't end up using 1/4". Instead I got some .170 stock and soon found it is about as thick as ANY knife needs to be, in the sub-6" range. As far as steel goes, if I could take only one knife to Mars, it would be CPM3V heat treated by Brad at Peters.
 
I've personally found Elmax to be one of the nicest steels to grind even at 62. Very fine grain. It got a bad rap via overheated edges on some zero tolerance stuff but sharpened manually I liked it better than any stainless I've used to date. Much tougher too. Not a2 or 5160 tough but in my experience certainly tougher than 154cm and s30v and s35vn
 
I want to thank everybody here, I am finding a person to make the larger one (although .5" shorter & .05" thinner) out of 1095 steel. Welcome to suggestions, don't have the money yet, but expect it to cost $250-$350 (mats are less than $50).
 
My experiences with Elmax has been the same as the Tin.Man grfeat to work with and great when in use!
 
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