What steels to start with?

peripatew

peripatew

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Jul 31, 2007
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I'm interested in learning more about the variety of steel types that are out there. I'm looking for some technical data, such as at what temps to heat treat etc...

I want to learn about all the available steels, but specifically I want to know what steels I can use to start my hobby with. I'm thinking of 1095, 5160, and O1?

Websites and documents are great, but is there a good knife making book that covers this information in depth?

THANKS!
 
The beginner steels are 5160 ,1070,1084. The are many tutorials on this forum and others and books and videos so information is easy to get !!
 
I started with mild steel from Home Depot to work on grinding but it cannot be heat threated. 1095 is easy to get and easy to heat treat (many will disagree) and is cheap. I did not want to send out one blade at a time for HT. It is tough to find places to heat treat oil quench steels so make sure to find somewhere first. O1 Requires a holding time at temp to heat treat so is a little tougher. I have not worked with 5160, 1070 and 1084 are lower carbon versions of 1095 and are good if you can find them, I could get 1095 locally so thats what I chose. McMaster Carr has 1095 in 12" x 12" sheets at a low price.
 
1080 is a very versatile steel that is cheap and easy to work and heat treat. It takes a very fine edge and holds it reasonably well, is tough enough to make a big chopper out of and shows off a nice hamon if that's what your after.

You can't go wrong with 5160 either. Great steel and very forgiving in heat treating.
A steel doesn't have to be difficult to work with to be great.

I recomend figuring out what kind of knives you want to make and picking a steel based on what you want it to do. pick one steel that best meets your needs then learn everything you can about that one and get familiar with it before moving on to another.
It is my opinion that it is better to be great at heat treating one steel than to be ok at heat treating 3 steels. Of course it is best to be awesome at using all of them:D
 
Check your local library, I checked out "step-by-step knifemaking" by David Boye, It was very informative.
 
My first choice for a beginner is 1084. Easy to heat treat, and inexpensive to buy. Makes a great blade, too.
 
if I had to do it all over again, I would start with 5160.

Inexpensive, easy to grind and heat-treat (has alloys to help resist cracking/warping)

Easy to forge.

Frankly, it's pretty hard to screw it up.


O1 is also very forgiving, but a little more expensive.



There are many charts to look at...too many to start listing here. I think there is a beginners thread somewhere...with lots of heat-treat info. Does Dan Gray's website have heat-treat info in it?

A good one to read is www.engnath.com


There's a free booklet on heat-treat data....someone's got it linked here in ShopTalk (can't remember where...anybody else know?)


You can also ready Wayne Goddard's book "$50 Knife Shop".

David Boye has Step-by-Step knifemaking (IIRC)


There are more.

Best bet would be to go to a large blade show - usually someone there will have literature to buy.

Check out the various suppliers too...


www.knifemaking.com
www.texasknife.com
www.knifesandgun.com

and so on...


Best of luck!
 
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