Recommendation? Steel for Kitchen Knives and Easy to Heat Treat (Stock Removal)

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honingblades

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Oct 4, 2018
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Hello,

I'm looking at getting one of those new Atlas forges so I can do some of my own heat treating initially, but also so i can do some forging down the road if I want.

I'm not sure I want to put out the money right now for a Evenheat with the economy in free fall and I am not really in the mood to build one right now.

I'm mostly going to be making kitchen knives. Japanese profiles, but ill also dabble in some western profile blades as well.

So in short, I'm looking for some good recommendations for both carbon and stainless that are easy(er) to heat treat without PID controllers. For the carbon, I would prefer ones that are a bit more rust resistant - i'll be giving most of the knives away to people until I get better at making knives.

I have a set of knives in AEB-L that i'm sending out for heat treat soon so ill be ordering some new steel soon.
 
honingblades said:
Hello,

I'm looking at getting one of those new Atlas forges so I can do some of my own heat treating initially, but also so i can do some forging down the road if I want.

I'm not sure I want to put out the money right now for a Evenheat with the economy in free fall and I am not really in the mood to build one right now.

I'm mostly going to be making kitchen knives. Japanese profiles, but ill also dabble in some western profile blades as well.

So in short, I'm looking for some good recommendations for both carbon and stainless that are easy(er) to heat treat without PID controllers. For the carbon, I would prefer ones that are a bit more rust resistant - i'll be giving most of the knives away to people until I get better at making knives.

I have a set of knives in AEB-L that i'm sending out for heat treat soon so ill be ordering some new steel soon.
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Kind of in the same bit, I might just nuke it for a kiln and move to carbon for the ease. I’ve been thinking about using 26C3.
 
Carbon steel rusts. There are no "rust resistant" ones. Patina and proper care are how you prevent rust.
26C3 makes a great carbon steel kitchen knife.

Since stainless has to be sent out for HT without a HT oven and a low temperature bath, all of them are choices. AEB-L is good. My favorite is S-35VN.
 
For forge heat treating, stick to forgiving steels like 1084 or 15N20. Get a set of hardness files so you can get an idea of how your heat treating is going. Remember to grind off the decarb before testing. It's going to take some time and effort to get your process down. Even if you're giving your knives away you want them to function well.
When you get a heat treating oven that opens the door to the other more complex steels.
 
15n20 has a slight resistance to rust. 1084 did not work on our kitchen but my wife now likes the 15n20 blades though I still have to steel wool rust spots off every few weeks. I also found 15n20 to to be the most consistent to heat treat in my Atlas forge. It seems to come in a condition that is pretty easy to deal with unlike a lot of 80crv2 and sometimes 1084.
 
Robert Erickson said:
For forge heat treating, stick to forgiving steels like 1084 or 15N20. Get a set of hardness files so you can get an idea of how your heat treating is going. Remember to grind off the decarb before testing. It's going to take some time and effort to get your process down. Even if you're giving your knives away you want them to function well.
When you get a heat treating oven that opens the door to the other more complex steels.
Click to expand...
+1 on 15n20. I have one that was profiled and heat treated by Warren ( Willie71 Willie71 ) here. It's my go to kitchen knife. It has developed a beautiful patina. As long as it's cleaned and dry after use, rust is not an issue.
 
Kevin McGovern said:
+1 on 15n20. I have one that was profiled and heat treated by Warren ( Willie71 Willie71 ) here. It's my go to kitchen knife. It has developed a beautiful patina. As long as it's cleaned and dry after use, rust is not an issue.
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Willie71 Willie71 uses a oven and engineered quench oil so you aren't going to get the same performance by eye but most people have been pretty happy with the knives I have done in the forge.

I made a really pretty slicer with bone handles and only used it on meat and it got a a awesome blue patina.... then it got used for whatever else and left on the counter and now it has lots of spots. Lol
 
I used 1084 when I first started, and people just weren't happy with them at all. Even when you tell them, you need to dry them off and even better, wipe it with a little mineral oil. I practiced a lot with high carbon stuff, but if I'm making something for someone, I go AEB-L. It's not terrible price wise and not bad to send off to heat treat.
 
Maybe the, Combo – Atlas Forge & Thermocouple would be better for me - hmm. It's cheaper and would have the added advantage of having a thermocouple to have "some" idea of temp.
 
You'll want to look to carbon steels around the euctectoid point of about 0.8% carbon for HT in a forge because most of the carbon will go into solution easily by heating to about half a shade to shade hotter than non-magnetic. So some of your best choices include 1080, 1084, 80CrV2, and 15N20.

I made a 15N20 kitchen knife for friends of mine over 3 years ago and for some reason it's held up a lot better than I expected. I haven't sharpened it once since I gave it to them, but the last time I visited them a month or two ago it was still pretty sharp and working well in their kitchen. It was only forge heat treated, and I was a bit surprised with how well it held up for a few years without any sharpening.
 
I agree with the 15n20 recommendation, but 8670 works quite well at Rc62/63 in the kitchen too. It’s probably the most forgiving steel to heat treat in a forge too. You can’t go wrong with either. I have done well over 100 kitchen knives in 15n20, and not a single complaint. It has great fine edge stability too.
 
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