What steel to use for rough use knife

S

Sean_mohsen

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Aug 20, 2010
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Hi my name is Sean
I'm new to building knives curently im building a few knives and using 1095 right now haven't heat treated anything yet still trying to figure out where to send them for best results
Also looking to build a large 1/4" thick hard use knife that will stay razor sharp what steels would you guys use I'm looking for something 16" overall like my busse but I'm aware infi is amazing but I've read good things about 0-1 and a-2 also cpm154
Any help will be great
Thanks sean
 
Ok a few questions first.

What type of "hard use" are you talking about? (Batoning, underwater..etc.)

What grind are you putting on it?

What surface finish are you looking to achieve?

How are you sharpening it?

Razor sharp is a term used way to often, and mostly the wrong way...As Butch will testify. As Darrin said, 5160 is a great hard use steel...as is 52100, L6 and O1. 1095 is a good steel, has a very intolerant heat treat procedure, but makes a great knife. I would stay away from the CPM stuff as a beginner due to the high costs.
Just my 2 cents.
Good luck!
Mike
 
The hard use I ment would be mostly chopping and batoning large pieces of wood wilderness survival
Im planing on doing a sabre grind on the knife
For the surface finish just 400g sandpaper so I can duracoat the blade
I'm going to use my 4x36 belt sander then move to hand file with a jig to finish the edge I will convex it
 
L6 or 3V. both are tremendously tough and will take what you dish out and ask for more, assuming they have a good heat treat.
 
Where is a good place to get some L-6 or cpm3v
I've looked at alpha knife, and jantz ,texas knife , USA knife maker , Admiral Any other places or Better that I haven't found
 
1095 is good tough steel and it is cheap. You can heat treat it with a torch easily. I have made a lot of knives with 1095 and my only problem heat treating the blades was it was hard to keep them from warping for pocketknives. I have had no problems with 1095 on fixed blade knives. It is easy to get them hard and they don't break very easy. I use D-2 now for folding knives and really like it but you can't heat treat it with a torch.
Just another opinion,
Gene
 
most of my knives are 1095 and i love them they are not large knives the chopper/bush knife i want to make is going to be 14-16" long how will 1095 with a good heat treatment hold up. The only large blade i have is a busse bm i want something to really use without fear of breaking or chipping the blade. i know esee makes fantastic knives from 1095 (my opinion) but i managed to put a small chip in the blade while batoning. i have read good things about 5160 and its cheap but dont know about edge holding and toughness
 
5160 is very tough steel, but you can get benefits if you go to a more expensive steel. however, it will require a professional heat treat to bring it to full potential.
 
yes im planing on sending my blanks to texas knife supply or peters heat treat to get heat treated unless you guys know a better place to send blanks ive heard good things from both companys so im not too worried about the heat treatment process for spectialty steels
 
5160 is an excellent steel when it comes to rough use, especially if you heat treat it well and put a convex grind on it,
it's cheap too
 
Aldo has 3v, L6 and 5160. Any of these will sustain a lot of abuse, 3v will probably hold an edge the best under hard use but will also be harder to sharpen unless you use diamond stones, which make this much less of an issue. It is also the most expensive, and the same abrasion resistance that makes it hold an edge so wonderfully also means that it is a real bitch to grind and sand after HT.
Expect to lay out 40-50$ or more for enough 3v to make a big chopper. You can buy enough 5160 to make at least 4 for the same amount.
 
get a hunk of S7 and send it to Petes after your done gridning it

put a good edge on it and just goto town with it...tuff stuff

or a nice 5160 camp cutter would work just fine if properly kept up
 
what is the best way to see what aldo has in stock also to contact him
s7 huh havent dont much research on that steel ..yet
hey del what size is the one made from L-6 also how does it hold up
 
I'd suggest 5160. Very tough and not too expensive.
 
5160 has a good combination of toughness and edge retention. It is also relatively inexpensive and straight forward to heat treat.

One of the blades used in this years world championship cutting competition was 5160.
 
S7 is a shock steel. 90% of our compaction tooling is made of S7-ESR. The ESR (Electro Slag Remelt) means S7 was run thru the furnace one more time to further remove impurities from the steel to create S7-ESR. I have not made a knife out of S7 but I can say it would hold up to abuse, and you could polish the blade to a mirror shine if you wanted to. I do not know how the edge would hold up though. With that said I agree with what many have said above. For the price of 5160 and the abililty to heat treat at home if you have the means 5160 would be my choice for the knife you want to make.
 
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