I have been told by a good friend who is Pretty wise in ways of steel and he tells me that 1095 which has been used a very long time for knives actually holds an edge better than ATS 34. That made me curious to say the least. So, here are a couple of questions. First, what are the heat treat methods for 1095 and what is the opinion of others about the steel? I have used A2 and D2 primarily.

Yes, 1095 will hold an edge longer than ATS34 if HT'd properly. It is not an easy steel to get it "just right", though, as it has an extremely short window from critical heating to getting the temp "below the nose of the pearlite curve" when quenching. In my opinion, I would learn on a lower carbon 10xx steel before I worked with 1095. 1075, 1080 are excellent steels, also. Not, of course, that I think there's anyhting at all wrong with ATS34. It's all a matter of choosing amongst desirable characteristics. No steel is "perfect". ;)

Hope that helps.

If you don't care about edge chipping or blade breaking you can make an edge that will cut darned near forever, out of just about any steel. (OK I'm exaggerating big time to reenforce Mike's point.)

S30V at HRC 63 would probably hold and edge for a long, long time. If you didn't chip it. Say I should try that!? I could use BTT - Barely Tempered Technology. Probably wouldn't be a good knife, but would scare the $(*& out of you to use it.

Steve

Oh, my, could you see sharpening that puppy, then, Steve?

1095 is sometime referred to as "Old File". Good quality files were made with high carbon steel (like 1095). Cheap files - pretty common these days - are made with lower carbon steels and then treated so that the surface is high carbon. So when you ask if 1095 would be good for a knife, the answer is yes - just look at how long a good file can be used.

I concur with Fitz's first post. 1095 is good, IF you nail the heat treat. The problem that most have is doing just that. I used 1095 in the past, but due to it being so unpredictable, it no longer has a place in my shop. The probelms are not on the makers' behalf, but rather the steel. 1095 has become so varied in elemental content these days, that unless you buy a LARGE quantity from the SAME BATCH, you will have to re-invent your heat treating methods each time you get more steel. I would recommend going with 1080. Of if it was still available, 1084. I was at Swain Spring this morning and Chris told me they had found a batch of 1084 and purchased it...........guess who is going to buy as much of that as he can!? :cool: