Why O1?

Y

YoungCurmudgeon

Joined
Oct 15, 2014
Messages
964
Quick question for everyone. I'm curious about why O1? What was it about O1 that that made it the go-to for JK Knives? Also, was Mr. K's use of O1 a factor in bringing you into the fold? Or was it just a happy discovery?
 
O1 is a high carbon tool steel that has been around for many years. Randall Knives used a version of it in the 1950s and to the best of my knowedge, still does. It is easy to work and no fancy equipment is needed. There is really nothing wrong with it except that it rusts easily like most plane carbon steels.
 
Other than the normal cons of a carbon steel it is a very tough fine grained steel that is fairly easy to work with. Very easy to sharpen with minimal effort or expensive stones and holds an edge a good bit longer than a stainless that is in the same category of sharpening ease.
 
I would say that a nicely HTd O1 compared to Becker 1095crovan would; take hold a thinner edge, take just as much (if not more) of a beating while being nearly as easy to touch up in the field.

Johns O1 is very stable at a higher hardness than the Beckers and who knows how the Scrapyard 1095 will react to real world usage at 59ish hrc. If I recall correctly, Johns O1 sits around 60ish, but please don't quote me on that.

It responds better to ceramic due to the fact that it doesn't form near the wire edge that 1095 crovan shows.
This affect has been noticed on two of Johns (JK) knives as well as the three GEC sod busters that I have owned and two additional ones I have sharpened versus my BK2, 4, 5 and 15 that each see a ceramic stone At Least once a week.

While it can patina and rust, it does so around the same rate of my Beckers, but not near as fast as my Mozolic custom in W1.
 
Others have hit all the high points. I experimented extensively with 1084, 1095, and O1. I made very rough blades, experimented with different heat treats on each, and then proceeded to beat the day lights out of each one until I destroyed them. This experimentation went on for over six months until I found what I feel is the best combination of steel and heat treat. It was given the name K Treet by mqqn, and its my little secret.
 
I think a lot of John's customers really like the way he heat treats 01, making for great performance and easy sharpening. He gets the most out of the steel.
 
It's just what John uses, and that is how I became familiar with the steel.

No complaints about the steel at all - it works well and JK knows how to heat treat it to make it great.

best

mqqn
 
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