What carbon steel?

Ernie Swanson

Ernie Swanson

SASSY PINK LUUNCHBOX KNIFE MAKER
I am almost ready to start working on a knife for my brother and he wants it to be made from a high carbon steel and not stainless.

It will be a hunting/camp knife and I am thinking either 3/16'' or 1/4'' thick.

What would be the best steel to use? I am looking for strong, somewhat easy to sharpen, and hold an razor sharp edge the longest.

thanks for any help
 
You'll get as many answers as there are makers :D. I choose precision-ground Starrett O1, hands down. It has all the proerties you mention and is also a dream to work with.
 
Earnie,

Boy you will get a recommendation for probably every carbon steel there is, LOL

IMHO 5160 would be a good choice for a camp knife

Josh
 
Thanks so far guys, I know there will be a broad spectrum of answers. I am just trying to get a general consensus on the best steel to use.

What are the opinions on w2?
I just read the worlds best steel thread and got a lot of info, Just looking for a little more :)

I want this knife to be really good to make my bro happy :) it will be used for just about everything.
 
How big of a blade will it have? If you think it will be uzed alot for chopping, 5160 might be the best choice though 1095 and W-2 will both be great as well with a differential HT.
 
I figure quite a bit, he will be using it for camping, hiking, and hunting.
So Yeah it will be used to chop alot.
 
Any of the above steels will work well. 1095 is a good steel but O1 will hold an edge slightly better than 1095. Also I have had less problems with warpage in O1 than 1095. I love 1095 but it is a pretty "warpy" steel.

Personally I would pick O1 if your goal is edge retention and 5160 if the knife will see a lot of chopping/possible abuse. The added alloys help them perform better than straight carbon steels like the 10xx series....but the 10xx series will get better hamon lines (not sure if thats a possible concern).

With that said any of the steels mentioned so far will work fine and 99% of the population wouldn't even be able to tell the difference.
 
If he wants a cool lookin patine, I hear O1 turns a beautifull blue if you etch it with an onion.
 
I have used 52100, 1084, 15N20, W2 and O1. I must admit that O1 has given me the best edge and is the easiest to work with.

ernie
 
Ecos said:
With that said any of the steels mentioned so far will work fine and 99% of the population wouldn't even be able to tell the difference.
Click to expand...

That's really the best answer of all. All these steels polish up nicely, will take a nice patina, are tough, can take a very sharp edge and are easy to care for. You can easily draw back the temper on the spine/tang on any of them. In all honesty the only real difference is the shallow-hardening ones will take a hamon. That doesn't mean beans to me so assuming the HT is decent, I wouldn't turn my nose up at any of them.

I still like O1 the best though. :)
 
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Whatever steel you choose just remember a blade with a proper heat treatment will out perform a blade with a poor heat treatment. For a chopper, I would look at something with less than 75 points of carbon for aditional toughness but still proper heat treatment is more important than steel sellection.

Doug Lester
 
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