one knife steel to do ya forever

I'm not that I'm reading the question right, but most seem to be answering "If you could only have one steel to work with after the apocalypse, what would it be?" I read it as a fantasy driven final knife constructed before the apocalypse that has to last you for the rest of your life. I'm thinking stainless would be a must. After all, zombie blood is very corrosive! PRobably some sort of san-mai involving L6 and S35VN.
 
Ha! Thanks gents... I didn't expect such a brilliant set of quick responses. I had geared my question more toward the "you still have all the time you need to HT.. professionally if required" before the knife had to be ready, so you do have time for the 3V if it helps. I'm not concerned about stainless... pretty won't matter in the apocalypse. I would assume I'd be picking Elmax/Vanax for my stainless if i had to take to the high seas and was worried about rust, but since i'd head for the woods I'm not too concerned. Knowing you had the time, would that sway your vote away from the basic carbon? I had it in my head that i would go for 3v or L6, but was wondering what you guys had in mind. That being the case... how come nobody uses L6 considering the toughness and great edge it takes?

P.S. I guess since we're on it: Blonde/Brunette/Red head... irrelevant, as rules don't exist, i'd take whatever one i wanted till I was done with her... 6 days without power and they'd be begging for protection :D also a Simple AR-10 (with real 30rd mags and decent glass) and a .357 snub nose back up, and I'll get food on the fly.
 
Reading rustyrazor's second response changes my original answer. Originally I thought we had to make the knife after, so I was going to choose O1 or 1084 since that is what I have experience with.
Since we still have time to do our fancy heat treats I would hands down choose 3V. Now in a few weeks after I get to put my PD 1 knife I am working on through some use I will probably alter my decision again. I am not that concerned with stainless since I have had good luck with O1 not rusting away on me, and 3V has just the right amount of stain resistance.
 
Until the rule book is published I'm gonna assume that I might not have access to either my 2x72 or my diamond stones, so rather than run around the woods with a dull D2 blade, I'm sticking with any of the common carbon steels cru-v if I can get it.
Blonde or brunette? My gal has black hair and she took down a very large mentally ill teenager who was attacking her with a chain saw when she was nineteen, had her foot on his throat before either of them knew what happened. In fact, I might hide behind her, with a .45 in my fist. :)
You don't mess with Chippewa women and walk away.
 
I'm going to take this a different way. I want a stainless steel that tempers at very high temperatures so I can worry free heat it in a wood fire to sterilize it without having to find a pot to boil water in. Especially if I need it for emergency field surgery. Don't want to hack a dead toe off with a germy rusted knife nor hobble to go find and boil a pot of water to clean the thing with afterward. If I can use the same knife to cauterize, all the better. I can find something else to hack trees down with.. like an axe.
 
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What I took from the OP question was this scenario:
The apocalypse comes....no power, no knife suppliers, coal/charcoal forges, hand powered tools. What single steel would get you through the hard times ahead? .....1084 ( or any simple steel from 1070 to 1095/W2) would be what I wanted a BIG pile of in the back of the forge. It will make any tool, weapon, crossbow, hunting device, bear trap, etc......you will need. It would also be readily available and affordable in large supply.

All stainless steels would be useless. ( and just for the record, mankind did very well with nothing but carbon steel for about 3000 years)
Most high allow steels would be useless or difficult to work and HT.
If I was going to stock up with something I could work into knives and tools, it would be 1084.

A single super steel knife made before the apocalypse may soon be worn out, broken, or lost/stolen.........what would you do then? What if the Zombie slayer you made does not cut firewood very well...or screw in screws...or spear a pig....or slice up the pig....etc.?
 
I agree stacy but the way I look at the question as, you just got a heads up on the apocalypse coming and you got a week to make your end all knife. What steel would you use? This includes design also.
 
Yeah, I re-read the OP, and see he was talking about making one knife. That would be a lot more than just the steel choice, as you said. I suppose I would use something very tough like CPM-3V. I could HT it quickly. With only one week, you may not have time to send out a high alloy stainless steel for HT.

Then, if it really is the apocalypse, and you are going to be left behind, maybe Hitachi white paper steel would be good....it makes a great hari-kari blade :)
 
I've read some documents that railroad rail has to meet a federal specification and that it's 1080

Barring a reliable source of good steel, a mail service to get it to me, no trains running on it and no cops to catch me.

I think I'd drag some rail home and see how it works.
 
stainless is a must. All of your carbon will rust and turn to dust with out constant care and I am pretty sure in this appending doom scenario much more important things to do rather than worrying if you wiped your blade free of finger marks or if it is protected from moisture and salt.
 
rmbonham said:
stainless is a must. All of your carbon will rust and turn to dust with out constant care and I am pretty sure in this appending doom scenario much more important things to do rather than worrying if you wiped your blade free of finger marks or if it is protected from moisture and salt.
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I've got other carbon steel knives older than I am and they have not yet crumbled into dust without constant care.
 
rmbonham said:
All of your carbon will rust and turn to dust with out constant care...
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That's nonsense. And I'm mostly a stainless/tool steel guy... I love me some chromium, and I use a lot of CPM-154 and Elmax. But that's simply not true.
 
Karl B. Andersen said:
Ya get three guesses on what Don would use.
(The first two don't count.) ;)
Truth be told, I would grab either W2 or CruV and be happy with either one.
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Wow, Karl, that's twice in one thread where we're in complete agreement! ; )

...three times if you count my guess on Don's choice of steel.

heheh
 
rmbonham said:
stainless is a must. All of your carbon will rust and turn to dust with out constant care and I am pretty sure in this appending doom scenario much more important things to do rather than worrying if you wiped your blade free of finger marks or if it is protected from moisture and salt.
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Very wrong! It just doesn't get any more wrong than that! Yes, you are wrong! :)
 
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