L-6 or 1095 makes a tougher knife

P

Philip Lee

Joined
Aug 27, 2003
Messages
5
Hi All,

Greetings from Fiji.

This is my first post with this forum, i am a part time knife enthusiast from the Fiji Islands. I am the only knife maker on this Island of 800,000 inhabitants.

We do not have access to good steel here, i make my knives from 5160 leaf springs and old circular saw blades L -6 and when i get desperate i buy brand new Nicholson files 1095 steel and grind them into knives. I do all my own heat treating etc.

My question is assuming i made two identical knives , both heated treated as per the instructions. The steel are L- 6 and 1095 , which knife would have better edge holding capabilities. From my own assesment i feel the 1095 is better.

What do your guys have to say.

Thanks in advance.

Philip Lee
 
Depends on the heat treatment. From my experience, L6 would make a tougher blade, but 1095 would make a sharper one.

Tough = almost indestructible
 
I think 1095 is a air quench steel. I haven't payed enough attention to L6 yet to know what to say of it. I believe both are popular steels for making damascus of, but not necessarily together. From what little I have been told of L6 I would suspect (no advise to you because I don't really know) 1095 would be best by itself. We have a fellow maker here who goes by the handle of 'L6' and I am sure he would set me straight if he reads this :eek:. And, of course, the significance of toughness can vary when considering a blade's various intended usages. An axe should be very tough. A razor blade does not have to be. Well done they both hold there edge for what they were designed to do. RL
 
In my experience, L6 is one of the toughest knife steels in existence. In fact, I would be happy only to use L6 if that is all I had. I can't say the same with 1095.

1095 might give you a sharper edge....but L6 will be tougher.
 
I agree with Greg. L6 is one of the toughest out there, and it also holds a great edge. 1095 may be a bit easier to heat treat, however. It sounds like you are doing stock removal work. I would get a copy of David Boye's book. It is old but available, and Boye made nearly all his knives out of old saw blades, L6 or something near it.

Good luck,

John
 
Below are the basic makeup of the L6, 1095 steels:

L6 - Carbon .6-.75, Chromium .6-1.2, Manganese .25-.8, Moly .5, Nickel,1.25-2.0, Silicon .5, Vanadium .2-.3

1095 - Carbon .9-.1.03, Manganese .3-.5, Phosphorus .04, Sulhper .05


In my opinion the L6 will be the superior steel. It has pleanty of carbon to get proper hardness, it has a small amount of chrome which should respond to a sub zero quench, manganese to aid in deep hardeneing, nickel to add toughness and the vanadium should allow the formation of vanadium carbides which are the hardest carbides of all.

The 1095 has more carbon but more carbon in simple steels does not equate to a harder blade, the manganese aids in deep hardening. This is a considered a water hardening steel and can be tricky to heat treat. You have to quench quickly because you have (if I recall correctly) about 3/4 of a second to get the steel below the nose of the curve to obtain proper hardness.
 
I stand rightly corrected about 1095 being a water quenched steel rather than as I had stated 'air quenched'. A hasty and bad rememberence on my part and I was grossly wrong.

RL
 
This may be an urban knife myth, but didn't Harley cut down a parking meter with an L-6 blade?

Mark
 
In my opinion, if corrosion resistance is not an issue, L6 is as good of a steel as anybody needs, when properly heat treated. Edgeholding and edgetakeability(hey, did I just make up a new word?) are very good, while at the same time, being almost indestructable. Ask Kevin Cashen and Larry Harley(just to name a few) what they think of L6.

1095, while being a very good steel, is trickier to heat treat properly. It needs a super fast quench to obtain optimum hardness. Not as much room for error, as you have less than a second to get the blade quenched.

I love L6! :)
 
Can L6 be heat treated in a forge or must you use a oven in order to get the proper temps for the proper amount of times etc?
 
L6 can be heat treated in a forge, and many people get great results, but I believe L6 is optimized by marquenching in salt. Hopefully, somebody more knowledgeable(like Mr. Cashen) will chime in here with their opinions.
 
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