O2 Tool Steel

[Whit]

Can O2 tool steel be used for knives? I'd never heard of it, but just saw a huge lot of it on eBay. I looked up the composition, it's
.9% Carbon, 1.6%, and .25% Si. Can some smart person tell me how that's different than O1, and what effect it has on the steel? Thanks.

 

[Danbo]

O2 can and does make a great knife. It's basically O1 without the chrome. Damascus steel makers like to use O2(when they can find it), since the lack of chrome makes for a really dark etch of the O2 layers. Mix that O2 with some L6 and you have a super tough and great edgeholding blade that is truly high contrast with super dark layers and very shiney layers.

 

[LaMess]

O1 should alsao have some vanadium and tungsten.