I've found some 1084.. problem is

anvilring

anvilring

Joined
Nov 29, 2000
Messages
2,869
it's in smaller sizes. Since the stuff is so hard to come by, should I buy it from them anyway?? He has only 3/4X3/16, 1X3/16, and 1 1/4 X1/8. Still for small damascus... Also of course the new run of 1080 is available but only in 3x16 inch thicknesses. I'm buying this by the pound, it's cheap but you have to pay to cut it in thirds as UPS won't take anything over 8 feet and of course shipping....

regards, mitch
 
I don't know about how hard it is to get, but leaving out pattern welded steel, the 3/16X3/4" could be used for guards, fittings, or slim knives. You can make knives from the 1", and the 1 1/4X1/8" will make good knives too.

Most of my hunters etc., are made with 1/8". No need for any thicker.
 
I didn't know it was so hard to get. Why don't you take some W1 or 1095 then?
 
and you can ask Bruce or other full timers, there is no more 1084 or 1095 to be had. They no longer make the 1084 for sure, now it's 1080 and a new steel (mill) run at that. Lots of people are left out in the cold over this. John Fitch and lots of other smiths prefer 1084 over just about anything else they can get for just terrific blade steel and the 1084 has the added advantage of being super easy and reliably super steel for making damascus that custs like the devil....
 
Interesting. Well, I know for a fact that Howard Clark once got a full smelt of custom steel, his 1086M, which is basically 1084 with a bit more C and some Vanadium. Of course, this was a huge financial burden for him alone.

This being said, it would not be that difficult to organize a custom smelt of a high-purity 1084, or something similar (maybe 1086M would be the absolute best). Someone could choose to organize this and presell the steel, only actually placing the order once enough of steel is presold.

Some knife supply shop or a well established maker, with a long standing reputation among peers, would be best for that.

Personally, I would buy $200 to $300 worth of 1086M round stock if it was available, maybe more.
 
damn...I was just thinking of geting some 1084.....Why dont they make it and is 1080 just as good?
 
they said they would only need about $40,000.00 to do a mill run of either 1084 or 1085M for us! So.... you guys start sending me your money and in about 10 to 15 years or so we'll have enough to do a batch :)

regards, mitch
 
Admiral still shows 1084 available on their page.
http://www.admiralsteel.com/products/blades.html

$40,000 is a lot of money, but you would only need 160 bladesmiths / makers buying $250 each. Like any commercial venture, there's risk but it doesn't look too bad.

What I could see as a problem is drafting the right alloy. Some people would want hyper-eutectoid, others just eutectoid, others hypo, some would want vanadium in it, others would want something else, etc. But in my opinion, some good market intelligence could get you there.
 
I buy all my steel including 1084 from Kelly Cupples. He is a fellow knifemaker and his prices are hard to beat. If you buy 25.00 dollars worth, his price includes shipping. I just bought a load from him two weeks ago. His telephone number is. 509-728-0057
 
Anthony Chaney said:
I buy all my steel including 1084 from Kelly Cupples. He is a fellow knifemaker and his prices are hard to beat. If you buy 25.00 dollars worth, his price includes shipping. I just bought a load from him two weeks ago. His telephone number is. 509-728-0057
Click to expand...


I agree about Kelly. I've heard nothing but good about his service, and prices.

He goes by Octihunter here at BFC.
 
I just bought a small amount of steel from Kelly and found him like talking to an old school friend. He didn't know me from the man in the moon but that didn't matter he took the order and shipped it with an invoice. A pleasure to do business with the man.
Pete
 
I use very little 1084, but if that's your main forging steel, there is one posible aternative.

Road Grader blades. They are about 3/8" thick, and acourding to a friend that sent a piece off for testing it is 1084.

If you get an old grader blade and it doesn't cost too much for spec. analisis there's a lot of steel in a grader blade. It would realy only be suitible if you have a press or power hammer, and then it wouldn't be practicle for most damasucs, but for straight forged blades it would probably work great, not to mention all the blades from one grader blade would be from the same steel, same heat treat.

I've got a small grader blade and thinking about it I may have to run a piece through the hammer and see what happens ;)
 
I know where there's at least four of'em, small ones, on an old oil field tank battery burm! Never thought they were temperable steel... I'm going to pick one up this morning on my way into town!


regards, mitch
 
Don Fogg has made knives out of bulldozer blades. I guess they must be similar.
 
Smallest stock I've forged to date was some 1/8"x3/4" 52100, and I forged it out into a 12" fillet knife (I'm a glutton for punishment sometimes). To me these sizes sound reasonable for small blades, and the 1/8"x1 1/4" would be about right to me for damascus work. 3/16"x1" would make a nice hunter.... It takes some adjustment to go from forging thick to thin stock, most of it in the way the preform is set up to account for the curve you get when the bevels are formed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top