O1 tool steel axe/hatchet ?

blzwow · Mar 8, 2018

I recently know a Finland guy on IN, His forged axe looks really great, and I want to buy one or two.He said that his axe was made of 9KHVG steel which The ratio of alloy to O1 is basically the same.
In my mind, O1 is a good steel for making knives, usually people use lower Carbon steel like L6 to make an axe.
Anyone give me some advice about O1 tool steel axe? Is it suitable for an heavy duty axe?

Ernest DuBois · Mar 8, 2018

It should be a composite, preferably sandwich construction.

Square_peg · Mar 8, 2018

I've made cold chisels and slicks out of O1. Both have proved remarkably durable.

jake pogg · Mar 8, 2018

blzwow said:
Finland guy on IN

Blzwow,there must be some mistake here-the axes pictured are forged by Michail Artem'ev,in Karelia,RF.
They're forged out of russian analog for 52100,an alloy used in bearing races et c.
They're a solid,mono-steel forging,differentially heat-treated.

jake pogg · Mar 8, 2018

I've followed the work of this smith for well over 10 years,and have an unending respect for the man.If someone would like to look at his other work here's a good place for the photos,https://rusknife.com/topic/8769-михаил-артемьев/?page=9&tab=comments#comment-774018

Michail forges free-hand,under a primitive,old pneumatic hammer.He's extremely flexible and innovative with his designs.
The photos above are some his most recent variations on the timeless Hjartum pattern(suggested to/requested from him by Gera/Turbo4X4).

Here's the alloy that he uses,ХВГ (заменители(substitues): 9ХС, ХГ, 9ХВГ, ХВСГ, ШХ15СГ).
And it's composition:
C 0,9 - 1,05

Si 0,1 - 0,4
Mn 0,8 - 1,1
Ni до 0,35
S до 0,03
P до 0,03
Cr 0,9 - 1,2
Mo до 0,3
W 1,2 - 1,6
Cu до 0,3
Fe ~94

It's also a common alloy for drill bits and milling cutters.

But MOST importantly Michail works predominantly(if not exclusively)with this very alloy,and is an expert at HT-ing it.
Which is the crux of every one of these questions,as in:"Is this Unobtainium good for making an axe out of?"
The answer is simple:"ONLY if the maker can heat-treat it properly,to suit the given purpose".

Ernest DuBois · Mar 8, 2018

Irrespective if it's O1,A2, 1056, 52100, Arne, Blue Paper, White Paper, it should be composite built, preferably high carbon steel between softer iron.

But of course if you got your hands on some of that unobtanium, please by all means do as you please.
Someone else has sent me pictures of this (other)Russian's axes, in particular the variation on the Hjärtum. I was struck by the ethics this smid shows by making an otherwise superfluous dimple to distinguish his work from the original. It's an interesting alloy, as I see it. I'm going to remember this name Michail Artem'ev.

Kentucky · Mar 8, 2018

I've made a bunch of hatchets and hawks with welded in O1 bits. (There is few steels I haven't welded in axes over the years)They performed very well. It's all in the heat treat

blzwow · Mar 8, 2018

jake pogg said:
Blzwow,there must be some mistake here-the axes pictured are forged by Michail Artem'ev,in Karelia,RF.
They're forged out of russian analog for 52100,an alloy used in bearing races et c.
They're a solid,mono-steel forging,differentially heat-treated.

sorry, I made a mistake about his nationality.But he indeed tell me he was using 9KHVG steel. May he just use different steels on different models?

jake pogg · Mar 8, 2018

blzwow said:
But he indeed tell me he was using 9KHVG steel.

Entirely possible,especially of course if you're in communication with him.

What it looks like to me is that he,or someone,has transliterated the alloy name from cyrillic to latin.It looks like an alloy listed as one of the substitutes above, 9ХВГ,
but with an addition of an extra "K".Russian coding of alloys uses capital letters that are taken from the alloying elements themselves,K would be for Silica.

This makes it rather confusing.In communicating on the subject of steel alloys it's best to make an effort and find the closest analog .
Normally,analogs used in other countries are listed along somewhere on the data-sheet.

But,most importantly-why are we talking about O1 here?...Here's the composition of O1,and it's an ENTIRELY different critter....

COMPOSITION
C Mn Si Cr W
0.94 1.20 0.30 0.50 0.50

blzwow · Mar 8, 2018

jake pogg said:
Entirely possible,especially of course if you're in communication with him.

What it looks like to me is that he,or someone,has transliterated the alloy name from cyrillic to latin.It looks like an alloy listed as one of the substitutes above, 9ХВГ,
but with an addition of an extra "K".Russian coding of alloys uses capital letters that are taken from the alloying elements themselves,K would be for Silica.

This makes it rather confusing.In communicating on the subject of steel alloys it's best to make an effort and find the closest analog .
Normally,analogs used in other countries are listed along somewhere on the data-sheet.

But,most importantly-why are we talking about O1 here?...Here's the composition of O1,and it's an ENTIRELY different critter....

COMPOSITION
C Mn Si Cr W
0.94 1.20 0.30 0.50 0.50

Thanks Jack, now I have no doubts. Do you know his IN user name? I found a IN user called ''artaxe674'' post some of his axe, but I don't know if he is Michail. I just want to make sure.

jake pogg · Mar 8, 2018

No,sir,i sure don't...I'm not familiar with the resource myself,but in searching you may want to try some other variants of his name as well,i may've misspelled them in English,for example Mikhail Artemyev,and the like.Or by his Russian name,Михаил Артемьев.
M.A. does have somewhat of a reputation as a recluse,and i'm aware that in the past some folks have made an indirect contact with him by contacting Turbo4X4,a moderator of Rusknife(the site that i posted a link to above).
He's actually present here under that same name,but i'm not aware of how often he checks his mssgs on here.
That's the best i can do,sorry.

blzwow · Mar 8, 2018

jake pogg said:
No,sir,i sure don't...I'm not familiar with the resource myself,but in searching you may want to try some other variants of his name as well,i may've misspelled them in English,for example Mikhail Artemyev,and the like.Or by his Russian name,Михаил Артемьев.
M.A. does have somewhat of a reputation as a recluse,and i'm aware that in the past some folks have made an indirect contact with him by contacting Turbo4X4,a moderator of Rusknife(the site that i posted a link to above).
He's actually present here under that same name,but i'm not aware of how often he checks his mssgs on here.
That's the best i can do,sorry.

All right , Thank you Jack you are really kind!