just staring out need steel...

cantax

cantax

Active Member
Hi everyone,
I am just getting started on my first knife. I am looking for options on steel.
I need a steel that is easy to work with. I have seen places, such as Texas Knifemaker's supply. They sell the steel and offer HT processing.
The prices seem reasonalble, but I am open for any suggestion.

Thanks in advance for all your comments.

Alex
 
I've only made 9 knives so far, but my first two were from O1 that I got from fastenal. It wasn't cheap, but it was cheaper than spending almost $100 on steel that I wasn't sure I was interested in using.

Then I bought a bunch of 1084 from Admirals. All of the knives I've HT'd were with a torch, and they all skated a file before tempering. That's as hard as I know they are.
 
1084 if your gonna heat treat it yourself or use 440=C or ats 34 for a stainless steel and have Texas Knifemakers heat treat it for you.They do a good job.
Stan
 
If you're gonna send it off for heat treating, I'd recommend that you decide based on whether or not you want to use stainless or not. If you want to go the stainless route, ATS-34 is not too expensive in good sizes to work with and is a good, high quality stainless steel that you can get from most any supplier. For non-stainless, 1084 (or maybe 1075/80 from Admiral) is a really good simple steel that isn't difficult to work with and is very inexpensive. Either of those should give you a great starting place for your first knife.

Do you have a particular style in mind (skinner, camp knife, chopper, hunter, etc.)? Any handle material in mind?


Todd
 
Thanks, Tod.

Your advise is sound. I would like to start with a chopper, and probably go with SS.

Alex
 
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