Recommendation for beginners knife steel.

S

skillgannon

Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
991
My Esteem grinder is finally on its way and I am getting set up to make some blades. I was going to buy a bunch of AEB-L because of the price and I have heard good things. I will send it out for heat treatment. If there is a better stainless for beginners please let me know.

I was going to get some 1084 from Aldo so I could play with heat treating my self and so I don't have to wait for the blades to get back. They seem to be out right now so if anyone has any other ideas for what to use and where to get it they would be much appreciated. FYI all I have for heat treatment is a small crappy forge that I made for quarter mokume.
 
LoL, I just bought 1084 and AEB-L for my first knives also from Aldo, looks like we researched the same places!!
 
Get some 1075 it has the basic same HT as 1084 and if you want to try your hand at a hamon you can get that from 1075.
 
JakeMakes said:
Can you not get a Hamon from 1080?
Click to expand...

You can, but you just get a line with a little activity. 1080/1084 has about 0.8% manganese, and the steels that do the best hamon have less than 0.4% manganese, and no other alloy such as chromium to make the steel deeper hardening.
 
The thinnest 1075 he has is .187. I might make a few camp knifes but that's pretty thick for most stock removal blades.

He is about 20 min from my house so it would be a great place to get steel. That said I'm sure I can get 20-30 lbs from wherever. Any place I should be looking?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top