What type of steel for a custom?

Shotgun said:
Your experience may differ and that's cool. I use my knives for food prep a lot so maybe that's why O1 hasn't performed that well for me. You can almost watch it rust in front of you.
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not to be rude or anything but 1095, 5160, and any carbon steel will do the same.
 
I have a semi-production coming from the Blindhorse September special and that will be my guage for the O1. I was looking for additional input and feedback before I use it. I just know I fall into the 95%+ category who have trouble sharpening. Hence the Worksharp. I'm fine with hitting a custom with the grinder. I know some people view them as Art and I agree the skill it takes to create a functional attractive knife is impressive. In no way do I want to diminish a makers efforts, that being said. I will treat it as a tool and just like my tools, treat it like a rented mule during use to save wear and tear on me, then baby it once I am finished with it. I am begining to believe the design and functionability is more important than the steel as any decently heat treated steel should keep up with my demands.
 
williamsld8 said:
I have read that L6 is a fantastic steel for custom fixed blade knives, and relatively cheap. $0.02.
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This. When I make blades I love to use L6, just because its easy to work with, and produces a great finished product, the only downside, L6 rusts pretty fast.
 
RWT said:
I just know I fall into the 95%+ category who have trouble sharpening. Hence the Worksharp. I'm fine with hitting a custom with the grinder.
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you're going to have a hard time field sharpening a knife without knowing how to hand sharpen.

how come you didn't get a sharpening system like the sharpmaker?
 
If you're going to subject the knife to substanmtial abuse, perhaps 3V would be an excellent choice.

My personal choice would be to respect the knife, maintain it well, and use CPM M-4. M-4 has reasonable toughness, excellent abrasion resistance, and reasonable ease of resharpening.
 
chad2 said:
just pointing out the obvious that a non stainless steel is going to rust and that was not the point that was being argued.
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The point being argued, at least by me, is the edge holding abilities of the steels I've had experience with in which O1 was on the low side. Seems your argument is that O1 is the greatest steel ever and my experience hasn't born that out.
 
Shotgun said:
The point being argued, at least by me, is the edge holding abilities of the steels I've had experience with in which O1 was on the low side. Seems your argument is that O1 is the greatest steel ever and my experience hasn't born that out.
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no way that O1 is the greatest steel ever because like i said it is still a step down from s30v and s30v is not the best steel ever but for edge holding abilities it is better then A2, 1095, 5160, i would say it even holds a better edge then cpm 154cm but O1 will chip easier. so yes it is a great steel and the only reason people over look it so much is because it does rust really easy and fast i consider O1 the nonstainless VG-10. just my opinion tho. :D
 
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