Hi,

I have a co-worker that wants me to make him a hunter/camp knife. A rather large one, about 10"-12" blade. Now he wants a knife that can be used and abused, cutting wood stacks, splitting a pelvis of a deer, ECT. And he wants to keep the price low ($150).

I normally like working in stainless but between the price ceiling and the use I don't think stainless is going to work. I know that 440C if processed correctly is good steel and it only gets better with ATS-34, but I think this is going beyond reasonable expectation for these steels. I not familiar with carbon steels so I was looking for some recommendations for this project.

It will be 10-12" bowie-like with bolsters convex grind (if I can figure out how), full tang.

Thanks,
Jim

O-1

You can get it in all kinds of thicknesses flat ground, it is very forgiving in the Heat Treat and is, to quote Mr. Goddard, "nearly stainless".

Just my 2 cents, and its about all the sense I have.

IMHO 0-1 is one of the best steels available for blades, I love it!!

O1 would make a great blade for your purposes. However it is not even close to "nearly stainless" it rusts as easily as other high Carbon steels.

A2 would be another good choice and it is a little more resistant to rusting, but still needs care. Anything nearly stainless or stainless will probably be too brittle for your purposes.

Any good high Carbon steel will work for you, but they will all require that your customer take care of the blades.

O-1 it is :D ! The co-worker will take care of the knife. I'm going to run 3/16" for some solid wieght on it.

Another question is should I differetally quench for this application or should a full hardening work?

Thanks,
Jim

For heavy work like that I'd reccomend a differential something, whether you choose diff-hardening or diff-temper is personal preference.

Bolsters seem to take up a lot of time. Skip them and use macarta for the handle to keep the cost low. May turn out to be the big boy in your "Econo-line" For a rough use knife pre- patena with vinagar and add a warm coat of Ren. wax.

Actually there's been a change in the design; the co-worker wants a brass oval guard. He has a cheap (tin?) knife that he got years ago that he wants me to duplicate in good steel. I'm getting a little edgy (no pun) about this. I'm not one for custom orders as I prefer to make them first and then sell them, but I committed myself before when he just wanted a user, now it's a reproduction :rolleyes: .

Thanks,
Jim

For the oval guard I would use Terry Primos's method. They look sharp when you fit them together.