Steel Selection for Beginning Knifemakers - My Thoughts

[Dan Pierson]

O1 - comes precision ground generally and is a good overall steel - much more complicated heat treat - needs special oil

...

Steels like O1 may need a slower quench oil, I don't really consider O1 a beginner steel because of this.

I have to disagree with you here. O1 does require proper temperature control (to about the same degree
as 5160) but slower oils are comparatively easy to find. The problem is finding fast oils for steels like
1095 -- that's what all the Parks 50 discussion is about. Most any oil that isn't super fast should be OK
for O1. Of course proper quench oils are a good idea for any steel.

For the record, O1 is the first steel I used in my own shop and some of the knives I still use regularly in my house
are O1. I later switched to A2 because air hardening steel with plate quenching is a lot less hassle.

 

[jdm61]

Don't be fooled into thinking that you can get maximum performance out of CruForgeV using a BBQ grill and some olive oil. Yes, it was designed to be forgiving, but to really get the most out of it, I say that it needs a nice soak kind of like O1 and a real quenchant like AAA. Unlike 1084, it does have some chrome and over three times as much vanadium as W2, so you have the potential to actually form vanadium carbides. When done properly at hardnesses over 60, Cru Forge is a blue bitch to hand sand as far as carbon steels go.