I would trade any of the stickies with my name on them for one good one by anybody on this topic. In the line up of most asked question that could wear out the most determined veteran forumite this is very near the top. But as is so often the case, it is not the person asking the question that makes the topic difficult, it is all the confusing answers that keep resurfacing as if the question was never asked or discussed before. One thing that would help with this topic is to remember the question itself. We are not being asked what our favorite steel is, we are not being ask what the new steel in vogue this month is, and we are not being asked what’s the best super-duper indestructible forever cutting steel is. The question is what is a good steel for beginners to get started with, an easy steel for anybody to learn on without huge investment in tools or materials. If we are going to get down on free scrap steel we should probaly have an alterntive answer, and on that point I am tickled to death and almost giddy to be able to help out a new guy who is on a budget but still wants to know about a real steel and not how to make a knife out of mystery scrap they found. Jeff, I applaud your approach and would honor any request for information you may have based upon that position which allows us a good starting point from which to help you. :thumbup:
The easiest steel to get optimum results with little effort of equipment first and foremost must its self be simple! If you plan on doing shade tree mechanics work, a Ford or Chevy from the 60’s or the 70’s is going to be much more rewarding than a 2009 Ferrari or Formula 1 car, which you will probably just foul up without the proper experience and tools.
In steel there are two things at odds in easy heat treatment- how it has to be heated and how it has to be cooled. Since it appears that most bladesmiths have enormous difficulty wrapping their minds around effective quenching concepts, too many in the business have focused far too heavily on a steel that will “appear” to easily harden in any quenchant (I won’t even get into how this can immediately be solved by quenchant choices
).
Alloying is what makes the steel respond to a wider range of cooling in hardening. Two elements are most used on increasing hardenability- chromium and manganese. Of the two, chromium is the more powerful but it also forms carbides and makes the heating more critical. Manganese greatly increases hardenability but does not give the same issues in heating. So in the big picture the element that will allow you to harden in more quenchants and still allow a carefree heating is manganese. I could go into carbide formers and edge retention but we are talking about a
beginners steel choice, let’s go for skating that file and cutting a few things and worry about the ultimate super knife that can cut through granite and still shave for a few months later in our career.
The next thing we have to worry about is carbon content, too little and the beginner will have a bit of sorting to do to figure out why that file doesn’t skate. Too much and there can be some serious annealing issues and embrittlement problems along with a steel that is much less tolerant of overheating; a common thing for beginners. Less carbon will increase soak time requirements to put excess iron into play, more carbon will increase soak time to break the carbide groupings up and put them into play- particularly, once again, if there are any carbide forming alloy elements- like chromium. What we want is a Goldilocks zone for carbon, not too much, not too little, but just right. That Goldilocks zone for iron/carbon systems is around .80%, and is called the eutectoid. It takes the least heat and time to go happily into solution without any leftover material to cause you problems.
So let me see, alloys that are really simple and have around .80% carbon and manganese to help in hardening… perhaps 1070, 1075, 1080, 1084. Hmmm, yes they seem to fit the bill!
5160 is hypoeutectoid and relies on chromium just to be able to reach 62 HRC. It is hard to make a bad knife out of it but it is also hard to make a really great knife out of it without very specail attentions, indeed it excels in mediocrity in the hands of a beginner.
And then we have the old favorite on the list of beginners steels O-1. Why is it believed to be so good for beginners? Because you can quench it in anything cooler than an oven or forge and expect to seem some gains in hardness, but the soak time and precise temperature requirements in dealing with all the alloying present make it so the beginner is only getting a fraction of the steels potential at over 3 times the price!
With all of its proeutectoid carbon wandering around with no guidance to keep it out of mischief, and its significantly lower Mn content 1095 is not too much better than O-1 for a beginner. It will challenge your quench speed abilities as well as your heating skills.
Lowest price- 1070, 1075, 1080, 1084
Easiest accuracy and time requirements in heating- 1070, 1075, 1080, 1084
Hardenability in any decent quenchant matched to is cooling needs- 1070, 1075, 1080, 1084
Easy to temper for excellent edge holding or high toughness- 1070, 1075, 1080, 1084
Easy to anneal by simple heating and cooling or full lamellar via insulative methods- 1070, 1075, 1080, 1084
Easy to grind, file, drill or forge-1070, 1075, 1080, 1084
So what may be some of the best steels for a beginner to start with, hmm let’s see… perhaps 1070, 1075, 1080, 1084.
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. But not working with it makes my experience and knowledge of it limited and that is why this answer is so brief.