What steel to use for rough use knife

Good question that has no definitive answer. Has anyone ever heard of a quality heat treated 01 blade failing or falling short of doing its intended function?
 
Thanks for all the advice everyone
I think I will go with 5160 due to it's cost and I can get it from jantz with a few other goodies
 
thanks for all the advise i think im going to go with 5160 for this knife and might use cpm3v on another knife
 
BMK said:
Good question that has no definitive answer. Has anyone ever heard of a quality heat treated 01 blade failing or falling short of doing its intended function?
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...Anyone?
 
BMK said:
Good question that has no definitive answer. Has anyone ever heard of a quality heat treated 01 blade failing or falling short of doing its intended function?
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Not me. To be honest, I've beaten a few O1 and 1084 blades awfully hard without failure or breakage. You could stick with O1 and good HT for every knife you make and never have a problem, if you don't mind sharpening and cleaning a little more frequently. But I still prefer CPM-3V.

Why? 'Cause I'm spoiled! (and I hate sharpening... after the 1000th time or so it begins to lose its charm :D ) Point is, we have lots of great reliable alloys from which to choose. O1, 5160, 1084, 3V, M4, L6, S7, CPM-154... all have different attributes, but all will probably outlive their owner, if they're built well and the geometry suits the task. I think Sean will do just fine choosing 5160 for his use, his budget and his HT plans.
 
Because your pretty new to it ,I'd stick to 1095 for a few blades(you might not want a 2 front battle on your hands at this point,heattreating and grinding)as far as the chipping you experienced on the 1095 ,that could have been caused by alot of different factors,and if your really concerned you can drop the rc on the 1095. I too am starting out and I went with 1095 and I'm glad I did I've scrapped a few or tried making other things with the scrap ones.
 
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thanks to everyone who posted i think i made up my mind for this project im going to try 5160 for the chopper and 52100 and cpm3v for some smaller ones
 
this hobby is so addicting i use a craftsman 4x36 belt sander and this week i swapped the motor it came with and put a baldor 1/2hp on it now its got some power i was playing with it yesterday and my grinding / shaping is really getting up to par
i use 100g norton zirconia alumina belts at the moment i was using standard 80g belts and they didnt last very long i also purchased a belt lift for the sander so now its more like a slack belt it works pretty well on 1095 so far
i have a question how do you guys remove the extra material around the blank for stock removal?
im currently using a drill press and punching 1/8" holes around the shape then using a hack saw or angle grinder to cut it out is there a better way without a bandsaw
 
What about S35VN ? I'm curious because I have a 16" piece 3/16 x2" i think and want to make a chopper one of these days . How does it hold up against 3V or 5160/1095 , I also have 18" of 3/32 CPM 154 that I don't know what to do with because of the thickness and lack of skills. Not trying to hijack your thread , thoughts on S35VN ?
 
I haven't used it yet myself, but based on the data sheets and what other makers are saying about it, S35VN should be a real workhorse. I don't know if it's as tough as CPM-3V but it should be tougher than CPM-154 (which is a lot tougher than people give it credit for in my opinion.)

With any of the steels we're talking about here, a 3/16" or thicker blade is going to be pretty resilient, assuming it's HT'ed properly.
 
One thing you also have to worry about is how you are going to heat treat the stuff. if you plan to send it out, then no problem. If you are going to try to do it yourself, then some steels like L6 can be a bit tricky. 1095 is not the easiest steel in the world to harden because it is shallow hardening. The general consensus around here is that 5160 and 1084, while not foolproof, are somewhat fool resistant.:D
 
Sean_mohsen said:
i have a question how do you guys remove the extra material around the blank for stock removal?
im currently using a drill press and punching 1/8" holes around the shape then using a hack saw or angle grinder to cut it out is there a better way without a bandsaw
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It's been a long time since I've done pure stock removal, but back in the day I used an 8in. bench grinder to hog away material and profile. It's not pretty, but it works better than a hacksaw.... expect a big pile of steel dust. An angle grinder works, too.
 
I've learned quickly that an angle grinder works alot better then a hacksaw. The only concern I have is heating the blade too quickly and hardening the blade I do quench the steel after each cut and for now it's working well but I'm using 1095 so it's pretty forgiving
 
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