metal for knives

2

22wmr

Joined
Mar 5, 2007
Messages
24
what kind of metal do you all use for your knives? and where do you get it at? I read 1095 metal but what does the numbers mean? thanks
 
I use 1095. It's from the group of 10xx steels. (1084, 1050, etc) The 95 was either some percentage of carbon it contains, or some carbon weight thing, I forget. 1084 has more carbon than 1050, 1095 more than 1084... 1050 seems to be used for a wide range of uses, from knives to swords, depending on the heat treatment... While 1095 is more just for knives. You can look around here to find out how to heat treat it, I'm not qualified to give instructions I don't believe :o

It's a plain high carbon steel (It will rust, but hold an edge well and be strong)

If I was off there, a more senior forum member correct me please :)
 
The last two numbers in a 10XX series steel refer to the percentage of carbon present in the steel, in 100ths of a percent. Thus 1095 means a plain, high carbon, steel containing 0.95% carbon (can't recall if that's by weight, or volume... I'm thinking volume?). In reality, the numbers usually vary plus or minus a few 100ths of a percent, due to the difficulty in mass producing tons of steel with the exact amount of carbon mixed throughout. "Plain carbon" simply means a steel that has such low amounts of of alloying elements ( such as manganese, chromium, molybdenum etc..) that it doesn't qualify as being an "alloy steel". 1095 should make an excellent knife.
 
Hi,
I use A-2 and O-1 mostly.
A- Stands for Air cooling,
O- Stands for Oil Quenching.
Both are great knife steels but will be more expensive than plain high carbon steels.
They are availble on the internet.
Bye the way it is allways helpfull if you tell more about your self in the Profile page to let us know something about you and your skills:) .
 
I use W1 - W2 from old Nicholson files, and works like a charm, or C70 (Euro rough equivalent of your 1075), bought from a mill, another really good steel.
I'm trying to put my little greedy hands on some 5160, and I have some mason's chisels I bought to make hardy tools and such, but I could try forging a knife out of them, if I knew what kind of steel they are. Only thing I know ius that the good ones are pretty high in carbon content.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top