Knife steels

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MoSmith

Joined
May 28, 2017
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I started blade making using O-1 and really like the stuff. It holds a good edge and is reasonably tough. I mostly make skinners and kitchen knives, no competition cutters, zombie killers or anything of that nature. Now I'm thinking of branching-out a bit and would like some suggestions for other steels. I'm not a fan of stainless, just don't care for the stuff. I'm looking to make usable knives at a reasonable price. Anyone have any good suggestions?
 
MoSmith said:
I started blade making using O-1 and really like the stuff. It holds a good edge and is reasonably tough. I mostly make skinners and kitchen knives, no competition cutters, zombie killers or anything of that nature. Now I'm thinking of branching-out a bit and would like some suggestions for other steels. I'm not a fan of stainless, just don't care for the stuff. I'm looking to make usable knives at a reasonable price. Anyone have any good suggestions?
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O-7 ;)
 
A.McPherson said:
What properties are you looking for? Tough? Sharp? Wear resistance?
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I'm mostly looking for something that holds a good edge. Kitchen knives and skinners need that. Hopefully people won't use them for pry-bars or throwing knives. *S*
 
MoSmith said:
Thanks. What's special about O-7? From the datasheets I'm looking at I see it has some Vanadium in it that O-1 lacks. Is that useful for carbide forming or does that have another purpose?
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You can search here for more data . Hitachi blue 2 , 1.2519 , O7 are similar steel . It has 2% tungsten ...
 
It's really hard to suggest a steel for varieties sake. What about O1 do you want to improve upon? Can you HT higher alloy steels, ie, you have a kiln and foil, quench plates, cryo? Do you want to? What does "holds a good edge" mean that O1 isn't doing for you? If you want more wear resistance what hardness are you running your O1 at? If you want thinner fine grained edges it's hard to beat W2 and if you're HTing O1 you can do W2 just by adding a faster quench oil.
 
kuraki said:
It's really hard to suggest a steel for varieties sake. What about O1 do you want to improve upon? Can you HT higher alloy steels, ie, you have a kiln and foil, quench plates, cryo? Do you want to? What does "holds a good edge" mean that O1 isn't doing for you? If you want more wear resistance what hardness are you running your O1 at? If you want thinner fine grained edges it's hard to beat W2 and if you're HTing O1 you can do W2 just by adding a faster quench oil.
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Thanks for this and yeah, the question was not as focused as it should have been. To answer your questions, no I don't have a kiln and certainly don't have cryo facilities. I'm running the O-1 at about 61 RC so that is adequate for what I'm usually doing. It was not so much for variety as to just improve/widen my skills. I'll give the W2 a try and see what that does. Thanks again.
 
kuraki kuraki , why should I push hardness on O1 steel to get little more wear resistance when O7 steel has the best wear resistance among the O series steels ? + O7 can take very,very thin edge on high hardness ?
 
Natlek said:
kuraki kuraki , why should I push hardness on O1 steel to get little more wear resistance when O7 steel has the best wear resistance among the O series steels ? + O7 can take very,very thin edge on high hardness ?
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That sounds excellent for the sort of thing I make and probably doesn't heat treat that differently from O-1. I'd have to look up the details of course. Thank you for this.
 
I would toss in 15n20 for your setup. It heat treats nice and does a great job in the kitchen. It is not stainless but is a huge improvement compared to most simple steels.
 
Did someone say O-7? :) The only problem with O-7 is getting it. The last time I looked, the few German vendors that I know of stock it in thicknesses too thick for my knives (5mm), and the only other alternative is to contact Achim. He carries 1.2519 and 1.2442 (both O7 class steels), as well as a few other tungsten alloyed steels. If I remember right, Bestar in Atlanta has 1.2519, but only in bulk sheets. So if you want to play around with it, you need to fork up some scarola. O7 is just a more wear resistant O1. A good steel, one of my favorites, especially Achim's 1.2442. You can get decent differential hardening lines with it.
 
Natlek said:
kuraki kuraki , why should I push hardness on O1 steel to get little more wear resistance when O7 steel has the best wear resistance among the O series steels ? + O7 can take very,very thin edge on high hardness ?
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I'm not saying you should. I'm saying it's hard to suggest something without more details.
 
skillgannon said:
I would toss in 15n20 for your setup. It heat treats nice and does a great job in the kitchen. It is not stainless but is a huge improvement compared to most simple steels.
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15n20 in same topic with O7 or 1.2519 ? No way ..............:)
 
You already use one of the best low alloy carbon steel. If you looking for variety this are some interesting list.

80CRV2
CruForgeV
W2
52100
Bohler's K510 aka Silversteel


Performance wise all of these are kinda close to O1. Some will be tougher, harder or slightly higher wear resistance. But marketing wise all of this does sound more exciting tho.
 
samuraistuart said:
Did someone say O-7? :) The only problem with O-7 is getting it. The last time I looked, the few German vendors that I know of stock it in thicknesses too thick for my knives (5mm), and the only other alternative is to contact Achim. He carries 1.2519 and 1.2442 (both O7 class steels), as well as a few other tungsten alloyed steels. If I remember right, Bestar in Atlanta has 1.2519, but only in bulk sheets. So if you want to play around with it, you need to fork up some scarola. O7 is just a more wear resistant O1. A good steel, one of my favorites, especially Achim's 1.2442. You can get decent differential hardening lines with it.
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Yowsa! I've seen some interesting steels but they seem to be available in sizes suitable for turbine shafts or dump-truck axles. *S* I can forge things down but there are limits. I really want a power hammer and if I ever get this hobby to pay for itself that's the first thing I'm going to get.
I've gotta say I've never seen O-7 in usable sizes. Until it was mentioned on this thread I'd never even heard of it. I'd like to get some differential hardening on this, just something I'd like to learn. Thanks for this.
 
skillgannon said:
I would toss in 15n20 for your setup. It heat treats nice and does a great job in the kitchen. It is not stainless but is a huge improvement compared to most simple steels.
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The 15n20 seems like a good steel and I'll try it. I guess the nickel helps with corrosion resistance. Thanks for this.
 
shqxk said:
You already use one of the best low alloy carbon steel. If you looking for variety this are some interesting list.

80CRV2
CruForgeV
W2
52100
Bohler's K510 aka Silversteel


Performance wise all of these are kinda close to O1. Some will be tougher, harder or slightly higher wear resistance. But marketing wise all of this does sound more exciting tho.
Click to expand...
Marketing knives is something I don't have a handle on yet and I've only sold a few. I'm mostly still at the stage of forcing relatives to accept them as Christmas presents. LOL The silver steel sounds interesting and I'd like to try it.
Thank you for this list, I'll keep it handy and gradually work my way through it.
 
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