Steel for large knife and tang question

[unky_gumbi]

So I am planning on making a large Bowie, 10" cutting edge 11" blade length 1 1/2" blade depth 1/4" thick spine. What would be the best steel to use? I know that most will say 5160 for big heavy use knives, and I have no problems with that but I am looking for other options as well so I can get the feel of what it will be like to work with other steels. So far I have worked with 5160, O1, and 1084. I real liked working with the O1, PG makes life easy.

Next thing is that I am still doing stock removal and will be till next spring thanks to the buggered elbow, so when it comes to the tang is it better to just cut the drop in the tang or cut it straight and use a little heat and bend it down to where I want it to be? I really wish I could to the HT myself but I don't feel I am up to it at this point so I will be sending it out for HT

This is a rough draft of what I am thinking of, I like the blade shape as it is and have no plans of changing that but the handle and guard are works in progress and will change right up to the point when it is finished.

Why do I want to make such a big knife? Because I want to and can no other reason. Oh and it will be used as a camp knife so it will see some hard use.

 

[Robert Mayo]

If you like O-1 go ahead and use it you will not be dissapointed in the performance of it in a big knife.

Bob

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

The steel choice is up to you. All the ones you mentioned will work fine. The drawing looks great.

There are some design thoughts with your knife that you may want to look at before starting.
First, the width to length ratio is very small. The knife will look quite narrow. That is OK if it is the look you want, but as drawn it may look more like a big fillet knife than a bowie. Make a full size mock-up in cardboard or wood and see if you might not be happier with a 1.75" or 2" wide blade.
Second, The blade drops from 1" at the ricasso to 1/2" at the tang. This is pretty small for such a long blade. The leverage of a blow might break the blade at the guard. Making the blade wider would allow a wider ricasso and thus a wider tang as it enters the guard. Whether you made a wider blade or not, once past the guard it can reduce in size as you wish with little problem, but at the ricasso-guard transition it needs to be sturdy on such a long and heavy blade. I would widen the tang at the bottom of the guard so it comes as close to the bottom as it does at the top of the guard. The wider tang only needs to project into the guard about 1/4" to make it a much stronger junction.