Ready for a new steel, and need help

smitty0331

smitty0331

Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
892
Lei me start off by thanking everyone for all the good advice I've gotten over the past year or so that I've been making knives. To date, I've been using 0-1 for all of my blades so far (12 or so). I don't have any complaints at all about 0-1, but I think it's time to broaden my horizons and try a new steel. I was thinking of giving A-2 a shot since I would like a little more rust resistance. Does anyone have any advice, or suggestions that might help me make my decision? I do my own heat treating, and my forge will sustain temps. of 2000f. and above. I'm making all my knives via stock removal. If possible, heat treat info. would help. Thanks everyone.
 
A-2 is an excellent steel and should be used more often.However it needs precise time and temperature control. That means a thermostatically controlled electric furnace , do you have one ?
 
Have you made checks on the temperature variations in the forge ? Maybe others would comment here.
 
The short answer is yes you can.It really needs to be done as Mete said in precise time and temperature control. I have a friend who heat treats O-1 and A-2 with a torch. I don't agree with this but it works for his purposes, and he only makes knives for himself. I personaly would not stake my reputation on these practices, it might be practical to send it out until you can get an oven. I would be willing to heat treat some of your blades to help you out.
 
You could also install a PID control for your forge. Stacy has written a good
deal about making one on this forum. As far as I know, gas vs. electric doesn't
matter but the precise temperature control does.

Caveat: I do have a digitally controlled oven and use it for my heat treating.
One advantage is that ramp times and multi-step sequences can be programmed into it.
With a PID controlled forge you'll have to do this by hand, which isn't too bad for
heat treating but won't work well for spheroidal annealing.
 
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My suggestion is stock remove your A2 and then send it out for heat treating. For the minimal cost, why do anything else until you have the means to heat treat it in an oven? If you're willing to send out for heat treating, this will open up many new steels for you.
 
A-2 is an excellent steel; but like Mete said, you really do need to have tight temperature control. It's hard to beat the air-hardening tool steels, A-2 and D-2, if you hit it right.
You might want to try 1084 and 5160.
 
1084 and 5160 are very simple. but require diffrent oils, the 10 series requires oils like Parks 50, McMaster Carr 11 second. 5160 can be quenched in Parks AAA, McMaster Carr 28 second, Food or Vet Grade Mineral oil...(basically the same oils you presently quench your O1 in.
 
How about that 1086V (aka Cruforge V) that Crucible mixed up? I'm working on a stock removal blade of it right now. It heat treats fairly similar to O-1 except with a slightly shorter soak needed (heat to 1500-1550, equalize...maybe 10 minutes or so, and quench in oil). And it's made to quench well in just about any oil.

It's suppose to be along the line of the cat's meow for forging.

--nathan
 
Smitty,
I have been following this thread and you have received many great suggestions. I have one question though. Why change steels? Have you done testing and using of the O-1 to make sure you have achieved it's fullest potential? I bring this up because many of us have done the "Steel of The Month" route and wind up back with our first steel. Don't get me wrong I am all for trying new steel but I would rather see someone get very comfortable with one particular steel and make the best possible bade. I have a pile of materials that I will probably leave to my Kids or sell off since I normally only use 2 or 3 types of steel now. O-1 is on my list also. Just some food for thought. The main thing is have fun and learn all you can.

Good Luck
 
A.C., I guess I'm just trying to build a better mouse trap, so to speak. The only tests I've really done are the brass rod test, and skinned a couple deer. These are really the only tests I know to do. Any suggestions would be helpful. I am very satisfied with the performance of o-1 so far ( Not that I know what it SHOULD be ). The only thing even remotely resembling a complaint ( and it's really not ) is that it is a little prone to rust / corrosion. Any suggestions on improving the performance of o-1 would be appreciated as well. Even though it does well on the brass rod test, it still seems very soft, in that it seems to sharpen extremely easily when sharpened. Is this normal? It still seems to hold an edge well though. I guess I just don't understand it.
 
Well I think you answered your/my question. 0-1 is probably one of the best performing knife steels out there. There will be other opinions on this but it will perform at or better than most any steel out there. If you are not getting what you expect then you need to work on your HT. 90% of the performance of a knife is obtained in the HT. If you feel the knife is too soft then it sounds like you are either not getting the heat right too low too high, not soaking long enough (0-1 requires a good soak at temp), quench oil too slow (not likely), or tempering too high. How do YOU like the performance. If you really like it then do some cutting tests and use the knife, then try something different, longer soak, lower tempering heat etc, and see if improves your results. If you jump from steel to steel and never get the most out of one then you are cheating yourself out of the journey. You will not get any better and will probably chase your tail like many of us did. Like many have said here in previous posts, it would be better to obtain the best performance possible out of 1050 than get mediocre performance out of several different steels.
 
Rust and corrosion is just a part of the game with carbon steels. Until you reach the 12-13% range it IMHO does not get much better. I had a box full of rusted ATS 34 blades I never finished. If you take care of your blades they may patina and get a little surface rust but it can be removed if caught early. I normally just clean dry and oil my blades when done with them. Put it in a zipper case for storage and take it out again next time I want to use it. If you really do not want to take care of a knife them go with SS. I am not the one to talk about these steels as I do not use them anymore.
 
I'm not real sure why anyone would use A2 when you could just have them pull D2 off the shelf right next to it, but that's just how I roll. ;)
 
A.C., I guess you're right. Can't argue with that kind of logic. I guess I'll play around with the HT a little. I can't say I'm not satisfied with the performance, it just SEEMS too soft when sharpening. I think it holds an pretty well though. Very well actually. Thanks for the good advice.
 
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