O1 Tool steel?

B

bcknives

Joined
Jun 22, 2012
Messages
337
Hey guys,

To start out with I have been wanting to make my first knife for a LONG time! have been doing a lot of research on custom knife making, I think the steel I am going to try first is the O1 tool steel. I seems to look to best to start out with for heat treating purposes. If you know of any better steel to start with let me know!
Here is the question I need to ask. Where do you guys buy your steel, and if they have O1. Let me know! Hopefully in about 2 months I will have some pics to show you!

Thanks,

~Ben
 
Unless you have great equipment and a fair bit of skill, you're unlikely to get the most out of O1 by HT'ing yourself. 1084 is much easier to get a decent HT on than O1 with minimal gear and experience, and is also a good deal less expensive.

. All the information you need is in the stickies in ShopTalk, especially this one.
 
If you are starting out in knife making you might want to send your blades to someone else for heat treating.
 
james terrio said:
Unless you have great equipment and a fair bit of skill, you're unlikely to get the most out of O1 by HT'ing yourself. 1084 is much easier to get a decent HT on than O1 with minimal gear and experience, and is also a good deal less expensive.

. All the information you need is in the stickies in ShopTalk, especially this one.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advise, I'll check out the 1084. Where do I buy it?
 
Equipment isn't a problem either, I'm just worried about the HT. If you think 1084 is better, I check it out.
 
Last edited:
I would agree with the others that 1084 is one of the best steels to start with. It doesn't have to be held at temperature for very long before oil quenching.
 
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