Stainless for small fixed wharncliffe?

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KennyB

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Jan 19, 2010
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The first knife that I'm going to make is going to be a small fixed-blade wharncliffe. I'm thinking .125" should be fine, but I might shoot for .150-160" if I can find that. It's not going to be doing too much hard work as I would just like to EDC it, but I'm kind of wanting to make it as kind of a wharncliffe/neck knife like my Izula, so I'm probably going to keep it on kind of the soft side so that it's tougher, easier to sharpen, etc.

Honestly, I thought that 1095 would have been good, but I would just like it to be stainless since I won't be having a powder coat, and I just like the convenience of stainless. I kind of like 1095 at 57 HRC that's in the Izula. The edge retention is pretty good--could be a little higher, but I like how fast it is to sharpen it up when it's softer like that.

One thing I want to pay close attention to is just how easy it will be to machine. I'm fairly sure that there's a number of stainless steels that will fit my bill, but I'm wondering if any of them are particularly more easy to machine than the rest. I'm going to be working with hand files, so that would be more desirable to me than the particulars of the steel after the heat treat. I'm probably going to try a full flat grind, so I think it will pay for me to pick a steel that I'll be able to remove stock from the quickest.

Just off the cuff, I thought of maybe trying some Sanvik. I like the 14C28N they did for Kershaw, it sharpens up and holds and edge just the way I would like it to. I think they heat treat it to 59 HRC. What do you guys think about 12c27 or 13c26? I haven't actually tried either. I'll be sending it out to be heat treated too, is there any particular thing I should request or expect if I go with that? I've only found a couple of suppliers of it so far, but I think it would be a safe bet as it seems like a lot of custom makers use these.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Anything else I should have mentioned?
 
440C at the same hardness should give you comparable performance to your 1095. No problems with using stainless on this, or most other types of knife. As far as stainless that a "lot" of custom makers use, I think you'll find more in the 440C, ATS-34/154CM/CPM154CM, S30V etc crowd. Not to say your choices aren't used, but not nearly as prevalent in the custom world.
 
go mike said:
Chuck has a great selection of steels at good prices: http://www.alphaknifesupply.com/bladesteel.htm

I just bought some AEBL (or 13c26) steel from him. He says it's great stuff for small blades and kitchen knives, but I haven't been able to test that yet. He's also got other steels.
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Is it not common to find it in thicknesses over .110"? I'm not sure if .110" is going to be thick enough. Probably for the applications that I'll use it in normally, but I wanted it to be able to take a lot like my Izula--I pried my gas hatch open when it was frozen shut with that, just for example.

So far I think CPM 154 and AEB-L look the most attractive to me. Price is definitely a favorable factor for them as well.

I guess my only other two concerns between them is getting stock that's flat ( as I don't really have much to flatten it out ) and which one will be easier worked by hand tools. Did you have any issue with the flatness, go mike? I remember reading something about how people keep steels like this on big spools and it's hard to get a piece that's not bowed.

I might just try them both.
 
KennyB said:
I guess my only other two concerns between them is getting stock that's flat ( as I don't really have much to flatten it out ) and which one will be easier worked by hand tools. Did you have any issue with the flatness, go mike? I remember reading something about how people keep steels like this on big spools and it's hard to get a piece that's not bowed.
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All of the pieces I have are as perfectly flat as I can tell. Maybe .01 difference over an 11" piece. Nothing at all like what some people say they get.
 
go mike said:
All of the pieces I have are as perfectly flat as I can tell. Maybe .01 difference over an 11" piece. Nothing at all like what some people say they get.
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Sounds perfectly flat to me; especially once you consider all the sanding and finishing work.

Anyway, sweet... I still don't know if I want to go with .110" though. The stock thickness is one thing that I've been wrestling with. Just not sure how thick to make it. I'm not going to be batoning with it or really anything abusive, but as I'm kind of looking at my Izula toward the knife I'm trying to replicate, .110 seems a little thin.

Maybe it's kind of its own topic, but I don't know if it merits its own thread, and I think it kind of relates to picking a choice of stock if not picking the specific steel.

I think I want to get both AEB-L and CPM 154, see which one I like, but I'm not sure if I should try to find a thicker piece of AEB-L.
 
Give Chuck a call. He's been working to get some thicker AEBL stock. I don't know if he's managed to get any or not yet, but he may have a couple thicker pieces that you may find useful.
 
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