What steel would you prefer on large 10+ inch blade Bowie knives?

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Seriousbladeno1

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Sep 11, 2014
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Hi Guys

What steel do you think is most suitable and what steel do you prefer for large 10+ inch/blade choppers or heavy Bowie knives?

Would you give preference to carbon or stainless steels and why?
 
Carbon with would handles. Why? Because when I die and my grandchildren get it they will know it's old and good. If it's stainless and micarta or g10 then it could be 50 years or 3 no one would know. When you know it's old example carbon steel patina then it means more.

Plus a slow formed patina on carbon looks better for a user.


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3v and made by a quality company or maker. Nathan Carothers would be at the top of the list right now.
 
I would look for O-1 carbon. 1095 is just fine if O-1 is not available in a preferred knife.
 
Sharp Knives said:
1095 is best .
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I would genuinely love to hear why this 3 word sentence makes any sense... I know he asked what you prefer but when you say something is best, you really should back that up with a fact or 3. the way I see it, 1095 is a fine steel and more than adequate, but best? please quantify your reasons if you would.
 
If it's a gift, I want the biggest, widest S125V blade I can get. You can cut it up later & make several super expensive partial tang or folder blades out of it & buy several great bowies with the profits.

For a user there are just too many great options. Gimme INFI or 3V for a high end custom Bowie, but a properly heat treated blade out of almost any carbon steel from 1055 on up will work just fine for a chopper. Just keep away from stainless or semi-stainless alloys & you should be fine.
 
rustyrazor said:
I would genuinely love to hear why this 3 word sentence makes any sense... I know he asked what you prefer but when you say something is best, you really should back that up with a fact or 3. the way I see it, 1095 is a fine steel and more than adequate, but best? please quantify your reasons if you would.
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Maybe if he argued at price per square inch, 1095 is possibly the best steel you can get per the dollar.
 
Carbon all the way . Depends on the maker really 1095 is no slouch , I like 52100 personally I've had good luck with it . Also like 3v ,cpm m4 etc. It's the heat treat that matters IMHO. Heat treat first and foremost followed by the blade grinds and edge geometry. Nail those and IMHO what steel you use becomes less important as long as it's a quality steel .
 
Devil's advocate here, but correct me if I'm wrong in the following thought train... there are some stainless steels that are as tough or tougher than some of the carbon steels mentioned in this tread... or at minimum very comparable. that being the case, if you get the HT right I can't imagine why they would be a lesser knife than a similar carbon blade at the same length if they do everything else the same other than being rust resistant. What am I missing in this equation that the blanket statement that results in the kind of opinion that no stainless is good enough? I personally have beaten a few stainless knives pretty hard over the years and have been fairly surprised at their ability to take significant abuse that I wouldn't ever feel like I was lacking in the toughness department, so am I completely wrong here or am I just not beating them hard enough for the carbon knives to shine?
 
:thumbup:

Aeb-l, 13c26, etc (fine grain & carbide & low carbide volume) with good ht can be excellent for long blades too. Example of a aebl chopping blade

rustyrazor said:
Devil's advocate here, but correct me if I'm wrong in the following thought train... there are some stainless steels that are as tough or tougher than some of the carbon steels mentioned in this tread... or at minimum very comparable. that being the case, if you get the HT right I can't imagine why they would be a lesser knife than a similar carbon blade at the same length if they do everything else the same other than being rust resistant. What am I missing in this equation that the blanket statement that results in the kind of opinion that no stainless is good enough? I personally have beaten a few stainless knives pretty hard over the years and have been fairly surprised at their ability to take significant abuse that I wouldn't ever feel like I was lacking in the toughness department, so am I completely wrong here or am I just not beating them hard enough for the carbon knives to shine?
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1095 everything else is just too much to take care of on a blade that large. I know I don't want to sharpen 10+ inches of tool steel out in the wilderness.
 
I personally like 1095 or 1084, but I have heard that 5160 is a good steel that is tough (that is a relative term to each user) that will take a good edge, and will roll rather than chip out, and easier to sharpen. It all depends on HT first.
 
bluntcut said:
:thumbup:

Aeb-l, 13c26, etc (fine grain & carbide & low carbide volume) with good ht can be excellent for long blades too. Example of a aebl chopping blade
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that's exactly what I was getting at... almost at least, I was thinking 12c27 but very similar. I just wanted to see if I could drag anyone else out of the shadows who had a little faith in a rust resistant steel.

not to call anyone out.. and I'm not looking for a fight at all so this is purely for the benefit of at least opening up a discussion about facts and fantasy since we are all on here to learn I would assume, but it's been posted on this thread more than once and on these forums more times than I could possibly care to count that stainless is no good for a knife like this and is inferior to carbon bar-none. I would really actually like to hear why guys who say steels like 1095 and 52100 are among their favorite steels for 10 inch blades when in my use and studying have found that something along the lines of the aforementioned 12c27 can be as near as makes no difference on par with 1095 for performance and have the added benefit of holding up better to the elements. I'm not saying 1095 isn't a really well suited steel for these uses... it obviously is and is used by a LOT of makers and companies, but if I'm not giving up anything by using a stainless that gives me similar performance, what makes stainless a bad choice?
 
rustyrazor said:
that's exactly what I was getting at... almost at least, I was thinking 12c27 but very similar. I just wanted to see if I could drag anyone else out of the shadows who had a little faith in a rust resistant steel.

not to call anyone out.. and I'm not looking for a fight at all so this is purely for the benefit of at least opening up a discussion about facts and fantasy since we are all on here to learn I would assume, but it's been posted on this thread more than once and on these forums more times than I could possibly care to count that stainless is no good for a knife like this and is inferior to carbon bar-none. I would really actually like to hear why guys who say steels like 1095 and 52100 are among their favorite steels for 10 inch blades when in my use and studying have found that something along the lines of the aforementioned 12c27 can be as near as makes no difference on par with 1095 for performance and have the added benefit of holding up better to the elements. I'm not saying 1095 isn't a really well suited steel for these uses... it obviously is and is used by a LOT of makers and companies, but if I'm not giving up anything by using a stainless that gives me similar performance, what makes stainless a bad choice?
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Elmax is a good stainless steel as well. Heard a lot of praise for cts-xhp as well. Personally I wouldn't mind having like a mule knife with the tougher stainless steels vs the old stand by carbons and just see how they perform together or against each other all things being equal
 
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