Steels!

Harden Knives

Harden Knives

Joined
Aug 7, 2013
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405
Hey guys im about to order some more steel here soon, and I want to try multiple steels but don't want to do a large batch of all the steels. To save a little money (im still in high school) id prefer to stick with steel that can be heat treated in the same batch, as I will be using peter's heat treat. Im thinking of using a tool steel like A2 or D2 or maybe a popular steel like AEB-L, and have tried oil quench steels like 1095 and 52100.

Any help, advice, or comments will help.

thanks in advance, Alex.
 
I think if you are sending the blade off for HT then it would make more sense to use the steel suited for the job IMHO. I would post up the type of blade and its intended use to get opinions on what everyone thinks would be a good steel to try for that blade. Or look up some of the threads on relating to similar questions. There are several relating to best steel for a particular knife.
 
" Try multiple steels " . That's not a good way to go ! Much better that you master a few steels than to dabble in many. You'll make better knives !
HT'ing different steels together. This actually is a serious question for making damascus.For example 1084 and 15N20 is a favorite for that because on their own they make good blades but have HT proceedures that are very close.
Start with carbon steels , 1075 to 1084 , 5160 ,15N20 --beginer's steels that make good blades.
Then to high carbon types like 52100, O1, A2
Then to stainless steels , this requires equipment to carefully control time and temp
Have fun !
 
Thanks guys, I guess I came across a little differently than I meant. I was just torn between a few steels and was tired of blade warping during heat treat.
 
Blade warping during heat treat is more likely to be an issue with geometry or heat-treating/quenching technique rather than steel.

Uneven heating, uneven quenching, stresses in the blade from grinding, overly thin hollow grinds before heat-treat... All these things will cause warp. The steel itself is unlikely to be responsible for warp as I understand it.
 
All of the steels you mentioned are good. If your sending knives out for heat treat, I don't see a problem with trying different steels.
 
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