Value of fixed camp/woods knife in O1

Looks good to me based on my own sense of value. I know 01 is an "old steel", but it is still often used by the custom/handmade guys. It works.
 
That’s the issue. I haven’t handled his knives. He’s about 4 hours away from me and there is a 6 month wait. I think I’m going to go forward with it. We talked and he will send me the blade to cerakote, then I’ll send it back to him for the scales and liners. The cerakote should prevent corrosion. Oh, he says the HT is 58-60 HRC
 
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Oh, he does tapered tangs on his knives. Below is a picture of the tapered tang and his carbon fiber. My plan is to cerakote the blade black, have carbon fiber scales, and red liners.
 

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O1 is a very clean old style carbon steel, with a good amount of carbon (near 0.9%). My only gripe with it, is the Vanadium content. Often listed as 0.3% max V (wiki page says 0.2%), sometimes it's not listed at all in O1. If I had my choice, it would be nice to have a 0.5% minimum or something like that. That's just because I've been reading too much about V helping to reduce grain size. Uddeholm calls their O1 steel 'Arne' and it's listed as 0.1% V (so at least it's not zero, which could happen in some manufacturer's O1)

It's also much much nicer to deal with heat treatment wise than D2. It's relatively difficult to screw up O1 HT compared to many other steels, so you're much more likely to get a really useful long lasting & tough blade. Bonus point since this is camp/woods use: the toughness should be much much better (5x) than D2. See here https://www.uddeholm.com/canada/en-ca/products/uddeholm-arne/
 
N10siveRN said:
Forgive me for my dumb question. There is a small time custom knife maker that is kind of local to me that makes nice looking knives, but he only makes them in O1 steel. I know this is a common steel and nothing special. Just curious if his prices are in line with the value. It’d be a 5-6” blade, carbon fiber scales, matching fire starter, and a leather sheath. If the fit and finish was great, what would this commonly go for?
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A lot still depends on factors like quality of the leather sheath, whether it's made by forging or stock removal, the maker's reputation, and so on. I'd say a 5-6 inch blade knife like that could easily be priced at $250-$300. But it could also be as low as $100-150. It's whatever price point the maker can ask for and buyers will pay for. You have to figure a production knife like that with a leather sheath by a factory would run at least $100-$150, if not more. So a custom maker would charge at least that, if not more.
 
Looks perfectly acceptable for the price point. Tempted myself now lol, did like that example photo you posted :).
 
Hand-forged car and truck spring steel. Edge hardened (see the "Hamon" line?) $4- $5. these days.

Machetes.jpg
 
That's a really nice looking knife. Sure, I'd rather have a better steel, but that will do nicely. Did some quick research on his knives, they ALL look great. I'd get it.
 
O-1 is a "super steel" to me. Super easy to sharpen, will take a super sharp edge, and is super inexpensive comparatively.

I like to support local makers as well. Wish Phil Boguszewski was still up in Tacoma.

"Value" is on you, brother. If you think it is worth the cash, then get it.
 
I own three Wayne Walker knives. He does excellent work. His knives are well worth what he asks for them.
 
Telling by the pictures only and materials... Knife looks good but I don't like that sheath as much. Single row of ample stitching, not so well burnished edges, is not wet molded and I don't see any dangler attachment to it, so if you just run your belt through it, the handle will rub your ribs and pulling it out will require some funny contorsionism...

Just my opinion, of course.
 
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