Steel recommendation for a hunter

mccandmatt

mccandmatt

Joined
Oct 29, 2013
Messages
358
Well my friend of whom I lent a test hunter too gave me feedback on the design and for the most part he loves it, only thing he asked was that I get rid of the lanyard hole, which I agree with I did not like it after I put it in. And I will be doing a FFG.

So I plan on starting with it here shortly and I will be sending it out to Darrin to do the HT right, and since he does only oil quench steels what would be the best for me to use?

Currently I have worked with 1080, 1084, and 1095. Since I plan on sending out for the HT I figured I could use a steel better suited for it.

As always thanks in advance!

Would like to thank Stacy, and the others that gave me great advice on the knife design!

Here is a pic of the test knife
148zpna.jpg
 
A2 is air hardening and it is a good steel, but I am limited to oil hardening. Kind of leaning to O1
 
Nothing wrong with the steels you have been working with. Me I would probably use 52100 or 80crv2 or W1/W2 or ...... all make great blades. Im a carbon steel junky though. there are a ton of stainless steels if your sending it out for HT.
 
Don't forget the 15n20. There are a lot of good options. Depending on the usual game, you can prioritize edge holding, toughness, grain refinement etc.
 
Still love the design. I'm a 1095 junkie but think its cause I have a reliable HT process with it. Is there any reason to stray from the original steel? Did the edge fail, or corrosion issues?

Just want to get a feel for exactly what you are addressing. If the only thing a trusted user wants ditched is the lanyard hole, I'd find no reason to question your HT.
 
LucyCustomKnives said:
Still love the design. I'm a 1095 junkie but think its cause I have a reliable HT process with it. Is there any reason to stray from the original steel? Did the edge fail, or corrosion issues?

Just want to get a feel for exactly what you are addressing. If the only thing a trusted user wants ditched is the lanyard hole, I'd find no reason to question your HT.
Click to expand...

It is mostly cause I just HT in a little brick forge and dunk in quenchant, and since I am giving this to someone other than myself I want it to perform to it's fullest, hence why I plan to send it to someone who can do it right and I can trust it more so than my HT and guessed HRC. So I figured I would ask if there was a oil hardened steel that would perform better then the 1080 I made it from, and the 1084 and 1095 I've used in the past. I do not yet want to mess with stainless, not sure I will for quite some time. I plan to send it out to Darrin as I am only sending a single blade.

I am perfectly fine with using 1084 for the blade, just wanting to do it right, as my friend can be future asset for me when I am ready to start selling as he is Minneapolis SWAT and could possibly use him and his friends for some testing, and or selling too. But that is quite a ways down the road
 
Ah. Gotcha. If its for a cop, whatever the steel choice... just overbuild the crap out of it.... :)

We tend to look at everything as a potential hammer....
 
Consider 52100 as well. All the steels listed above make excellent knives. I would ask Darrin what he's most comfortable with and go with that. Design the geometry to suit your friend's needs and abilities... serious tactical knives generally make lousy hunters, and light keen hunters are usually not very good at tactical stuff.
 
My hunter friends all rave about the 52100 and 15N20 knives I make. All of the current knife steels make excellent knives. For thin I like the 15N20- the nickel makes it way tougher than the thin blade looks. When they want a bit more edge holding I go with 52100. I have a few blanks cut out of 80CRV2 and it looks like a good compromise in chemistry but I don't have any knives tested yet with that steel.
 
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