one knife steel to do ya forever

rustyrazor

rustyrazor

Joined
Oct 13, 2011
Messages
1,774
Hypothetically... lets say you know the apocalypse is near and you have to make one truly "hard use" knife to get you through anything. what are you going to pick as your steel of choice and why?
 
1084 here also (or 1075). I know I could forge it, weld it, repair it with primitive equipment if needed.
 
CPM-3V for certain, if I have time to HT it before the power goes out. 1084 if I don't.

1084 or similar is definitely the way to go in a world without electricity or power tools... which is a deeply frightening goshdang thought, but there it is. Pretty much the same alloy worked fairly well for many, many centuries before that guy with the kite came along and decided to go play outside during a thunderstorm... and for quite a while afterwards. In the grand scheme of things, everything else is a "new kid on the block".

Honestly it's kind of a silly question... if the thread stays open and active long enough, basically every well-known steel will get mentioned for various reasons. I suspect it will remain heavily skewed towards simple, high-toughness steels like those already mentioned, but some guys are going to want stainless, some guys simply love tool steels, etc.

Axe or saw? .45 or 9mm? Blonde or brunette? ;)
 
Last edited:
I'd make a 17" chopper from 5160 and dare anyone to mess with me. (I'd have my 12 gauge too).
 
I like James's answer, but I'd slip in W2 for the 1084 (same simple steel concept James pointed out, just with some increase in performance).

The other night after watching The Walking Dead, I had this weird vision pop into my head about people bringing me guard-rail steel and files to forge weld into swords. :eek: ;) (post apocalyptic zombie crazed times). Of course I made them get rid of the galvanized coating on the guard-rails. ;) :)
 
rustyrazor said:
Hypothetically... lets say you know the apocalypse is near and you have to make one truly "hard use" knife to get you through anything. what are you going to pick as your steel of choice and why?
Click to expand...

Truly "hard use" - then 5160 since I have it in stock in thicker cross sections than 1084 & 52100.
 
if i could get the power eto HT 3v wins for me simply cause i have nto got as much testing time on the new chopper i made out of carpenter PD1 (should work out better then 3v but im still testing )

less power and time it woudl be for me to beat 1084
 
in the event of an apocalypse I would want a knife that would need very little care to keep in tip top shape. That rules out all of your carbon blades which is unfortunate seeing that 1084 and 1095 are my fav steels. I would have to say that in that situation I would want s30v or s35vn, but be sure to have a set of diamond stones in your bug out bag or you will end up with a dull useless piece of steel.
 
I think I will go with Nick on this one and stick with W2. I like forging it and hamons never go out of style :D
 
Personally I would pick 1084. It makes a good knife but it's also easy enough to work that I could forge or file if there see no power or grinding belts available. Heat treatable with very basic gear, and easy to sharpen. My other choice would be 5160 for the same reasons. It wouldn't be quite as easy to heat treat but would still make a good tough serviceable blade with relatively basic heat treat.
 
Butch, are we talking a soy-lent style, or pedal fast style people power? Cause the first option would just be nasty. Lol!

In answer to James' questions I say yes. Why choose when you can have one of each?

As to the thread's question 1084, cause that's what I've got in the garage!
 
butcher_block said:
this thread makes me wander how much work it would take to make my kiln people powered
Click to expand...

I'm picturing a bunch of people running on a giant wheel, like hamsters in an exercise thingamabob, to keep a generator spinning :p

h20oni said:
In answer to James' questions I say yes. Why choose when you can have one of each?
Click to expand...

Stockpiling two different kinds of ammo gets expensive, and as for the feminine company... they tend to get unpleasant (or worse yet, gang up on you!) when kept in close quarters together. I'm with you on having an axe and a saw, though :thumbup:

NickWheeler said:
The other night after watching The Walking Dead, I had this weird vision pop into my head about people bringing me guard-rail steel and files to forge weld into swords. :eek: ;) (post apocalyptic zombie crazed times). Of course I made them get rid of the galvanized coating on the guard-rails. ;) :)
Click to expand...

I'm sure that would happen! Heck, it happens sometimes even now... On the other hand, the guy with a boat-load of 1084 or W2 or 5160 etc stashed away is going to have some serious bartering power... hammers and quench oil will be worth their weight in gold... panther pee and bacon grease goop will soon come back into fashion when the good stuff runs out...

Sorry for the silliness, gentlemen. Just having a little fun :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top