Steel Thickness Question

C

claybuster5

Joined
Nov 18, 2012
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54
I just put in my order at NJ Steel Baron yesterday. I ordered .187 and also .09 and .058. I picked up the last two as they were cheap and I figured I can find some use to them. But do you think I can actually make a blade out of it? I know it wouldn't be ideal to do it but they would be for practice as I have yet to make my first one.
Thank you for your time,
Patrick
 
0.09" is really really thin. I'm not sure, but there might be some problems with heat treating that thin of a blade. What steel is it?
 
I use .090 and .063 for kitchen stuff.thin stuff like .048 makes really wicked paring knives.Good to start with something thin if your doing it by hand with files.If you have a grinder then just profile,drill your holes and H/T.Then grind.
Stan
 
Thanks for the advice! That's exactly what I am going to do! I think I might make a slicer with the .09.
 
Make a slicer out of the .058,the thinner the better for slicing.Use the .090 for small to medium chefs,boners,and utilities.
Stan
 
Thin is in, Thin to win. I like thin knives as they cut much easier once inside the medium being cut. Thin is tougher to grind as you don't have as much material to correct mistakes, but you should not have a problem hand working them.
 
But definitely heat treat before grind.

And grind slow and dip in water every pass - you don't want to screw up the temper.

I've been very happy with some .070 for paring knives.
 
Thin is in and light is right to quote another knifemaker.

.09 is my favorite thickness for smaller knives like bushcrafters, kitchen knives, etc. I just ordered 3 more bars of .09 1095 from Aldo because I'm out. The .09, you can start your grinds and do ~70% of your grinding before HT if you're careful to end up with even bevels.

The .058 I have HT'ed before grinding the bevels. It's kind of a pain, they heat up so fast because they are thin but they slice like crazy. .058 makes great paring knives btw.
 
OzarkMatt said:
Thin is in and light is right to quote another knifemaker.
Click to expand...

Smart dude :p

I agree with the other fellows. Grind any mill scale off, profile, drill and grind the .058 (carefully) after HT. Those will make great cutters. :)
 
I wish I could go back and split all my first 100 knives in half. That way I would have made 200 good thin knives instead of 100 thick, poor cutters.

I rarely use any steel above .120 anymore, except for forging stock. Kitchen knives are .09 and .06 stock.

My tip to new makers is buy twice as much sandpaper/belts as you think you need, and steel half as thick as you think it should be. 1/8" steel makes a great first blade.
 
bladsmth said:
My tip to new makers is buy twice as much sandpaper/belts as you think you need, and steel half as thick as you think it should be. 1/8" steel makes a great first blade.
Click to expand...

Quoted because it bears repeating. In fact, that should be in all the stickies. :thumbup:
 
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