stainless steel for bowies

[seventrees]

in the movie,the iron mistress,james bowie tells the blacksmith james black that the main thing is that the knife shouldn't snap.he goes on to say..i've seen knives fail and i've seen swords fail;iwant you to make me a knife that will never fail.question? what would the best metal be for a classic 10inch blade bowie be given the above parameters of not breaking? can stainless be used? thanks,seventrees

 

[Paracelsus]

Probably the best steel for such a knife would be differentially heat-treated carbon steels. Making the blade with a soft back with a hard edge produces a very tough blade which will also hold an edge. Check out the requirements for the Journeyman and Mastersmith ratings for the American Bladesmith Society (ABS site).

That said, I'm fairly certain that properly heat treat stainless (high chromium) steels could be heat-treated in such a way that they could pass these tests also.

Most 'stainless' steels are Not differentially heat treated. Blades are usually of a uniform hardness (a so-called 'all-hard' blade). For knives smaller than about 5 inches, the advantages of differential heat treatment are probably small. But in much larger knives, the advatanges of sophisticated heat-treatments are apparent.

Of course, if you don't care about edge holding, any soft tempered spring steel will pass your 'unbreakable' standard.

Paracelsus