Wood carving knife

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Nathan Akins

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I know what shape I would like. I would like the shape of the handle to be like a dels stubbs sloyd handle. The blade shape to be like a long skinny tapering point similar to mora 106. But not as wide but just as long

The problem is I don't know what steel I want. I have come down knowing that I want a extremely pure fine grained/ carbide steel, like 13c26,51200,shirogami, and 01. Does any one know what steel would be the best at cutting through wood with ease. Don't care how hard it is to sharpen or anything. I just care if the steel is hard enough to hold the edge and get the sharpest edge.
 
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I've made a few custom carving knives and have always used O1. Haven't had a complaint yet.
 
Don't get hung up on steel choice. A simple steel with a good heat treat and proper geometry will outcut a super steel with poor heat treat or improper geometry. Having said that I would probably use A2 for this application. Geometry would depend on whether you just make push cuts or whether the blade is ever "torqued" or twisted out of the wood.
I can explain a whole lot much quicker with a short phone call if you care to do so. My number is listed below. Feel free to call any day between 9am & 9pm. If I happen to miss you just leave a message and I'll get back to you.
 
Also could you really tell the difference in any steel for push cutting wise if the grain is 9 or above? I don't think it's possible
 
Nathan Akins said:
Also could you really tell the difference in any steel for push cutting wise if the grain is 9 or above? I don't think it's possible
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If you made 2 knives from 2 different steels with the exact same geometry and sharpen them both the exact same way you couldn't tell the difference from push cutting alone. Edge holding is where you would notice the difference. With proper H/T, geometry, and sharpening you can get any decent knife steel sharp enough to slice phone book paper and that should be more than sufficient for carving wood.
Like I said the other wood carvers are happy with their O1 blades. Give me a call when you get a chance, I don't mind discussing it whether you order a knife or not.
 
Yeah I think once you get to a certain amount of sharpness I don't think you'll really notice it on carving an I know o1 gets to that point. Do you happen to know what o1 avg carbide size with optimal heat treat? I'm just curious
 
No, I really have no idea about that stuff, I just know what works. ;) You might wanna ask that over in the sharpening or testing and performance areas of the forum. Some of those guys are numbers guys and spit that stuff out like a computer. :D
 
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