Need advice on choice of steel

[smcfalls13]

One of my employees asked if I could sharpen of the tools they use in the bakery. It's essentially an industrialized Ulu knife. Straight edge, small, use for chopping and scraping.

Problem is, it's made of aluminum, so it won't hold anything close to an edge.

My question is if I were to try and make a replacement blade for it, what would be the preferred steel to use? The blade itself is going to be fairly thin(1/8" now), and the edge sharpened for primarily chopping.

It needs to be stainless since it's going to be for food prep, and I'd prefer something relatively inexpensive(I'm doing this for fun).

Are there any stainless steels that will be able to hold up to the chopping. Ideally I need a tough steel that will hold up to impact, with edge retention second. The blade only cuts dough, so it doesn't need to shave hair, but it does need to withstand the impact of hitting the table.

Any advice on steel?

 

[jaegar]

ATS-34 or 440C are the only stainless that come to mind for your application.

If you weren't dealing with dough, I'd reccomend D2, but under those conditions it would rust.

If you have the money, go for ATS-34, but I think 440C is a little less expensive, and should still preform how you need it.

Have fun!

~Brian

 

[smcfalls13]

Thanks, those were the ones I was thinking would be most appropriate. Nice to have confirmation though.

Any particular hardness I should have them hardened too?

 

[mete]

You can buy them in a kitchen or restaurant supply .Mine is all stainless steel ,the handle made by just forming the steel into a tube. It's a martensitic stainless easily sharpened with a file . Maybe a 440A or one of the 420s ?? No need to use a fancy stainless steels and will last a lot longer than aluminum! Mine is a Chinese thing I think .The edge needed to be cleaned up a bit ,now it's got a very straight smooth edge [not very sharp] it doesn't take much to cut dough !!! Am I the only bread maker on the forum ?....such as www.fantes.com/spatulas.htm

 

[supersteelonline]

ATS-34 is recommended. It's tougher than 440C and the price is affordable. For chopping and scraping, an edge of HRC 59 is recommended. Have fun.

 

[smcfalls13]

You can buy them in a kitchen or restaurant supply .

True, but that's just no fun

It's more of a "I wonder if I can" kinda thing, than a necessity.

Thanks for the advice guys.