Anthony,
If you can do it, go for it. L-6 is still one of the toughest steels out there. If you want to have it made better, have it shipped off to Howard Clark to have it bainite tempered, so the entire blade will be spring tempered, with a flame hardened edge. His website is www.mvforge.com I've seen some absurdly thin L-6 kitchen knives he has made that could be bent around in a U shape without breaking.
One question, where did you find L-6 stock big enough for a stock removal bowie? I'd like to find some myself. Most everthing I've seen that is really L-6 is in band saw steel that is .10" thick or less. Heavier stock I've seen referred to as L-6 usually tends to be something else.
I bought some from Gene Martin that turned out to be Udderholm 15N20. Its 'close' to L-6, with similar properties, but needs a faster quench to harden properly.
I'm waiting to get back a 13" camp/bowie blade from heat treating for a customer that is made out of CPM3V. He wants me to beat it up a bit chopping things before I send it to him. Should be interesting.
madpoet
