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After a lot of asking, this forum is here. I am looking forward to seeing the questions and answers that will be posted here.

I will start this off with a question of my own.

Has anyone used the 1075/1080 that Admiral steel is now selling in place of the 1084?

Is it heat treating well? Anyone had any problems with it yet?

Bob, I don't have any of admirals 1080, but I've been useing 1080 that I got from Kelly Cupples for well over a year now. I treat it just like I did 1084 and it makes a fantastic knife. I compare tested blades from 1084 and the 1080 and couldn't see any real difference, except the 1080 seemed to be a bit tougher. Hope this helps some.

Bill

www.geocities.com/buxtonknives

Bob,

I did buy some from Admiral recently. It came with an alloy analysis. Nice touch Admiral! It stated the carbon content around .7%. So, it's way below 1084. So far the steel is very clean.

I'm just testing some stuff with it now, but I don't have enough carbon steel experience to answer your question. But thought I'd share the part about the data sheets.

Steve

Bob,

Recently I got a 1/4 X 2 inch X 5 foot bar of 1075 from Admiral. I too got a chemical analysis with it. I asked Terry to get me the closest carbon content to 1080 he could. They do not stock 1080. Mine is 0.72% carbon. It is 1075. I prefered to get 1080 but have no regrets. I heat treated the camp knife I made of some of it to 59 - 59.5 HRc and it is very edge retentive both in cutting and chopping. The only complaint I might muster up is the 5 foot bar was not perfectly straight.

Roger (RL)

Update,

Just got my first differencial heat treat done with this admiral steel (has the same % as what Roger lists). The pearlite section etches to a woozy kinda grain pattern. The martensite part is pretty smooth (faint pattern).

Pretty cool lookin' blade if you ask me.

Steve

I have some of it but have not used it yet. Too busy with other things right now and have not made a knife in a while. Last weekend was spent with Geno making a video. Lots going on and not enough cash coming in from it all.

Thanks for the input, at least I feel like it is decent steel anyway.

Bob,

I've been using the 1070 with my 15N20 for almost a year now. Never had a complaint other than it seems to have a slight tendency to warp a bit more than the 1084 I was using before. Clean and consistent.

I looked up the standard compositional limits on some high-carbon steels:

1070 = .65-.75%C, .60-.90 Mn
1078 = .72-.85%C, .30-.60 Mn
1080 = .75-.88%C, .60-.90 Mn
1084 = .80-.93%C, .60-.90 Mn

Lots of overlap there and it is hard to know just what you got. :confused:

Quench,

That's one thing Admiral got right. They are including the analysis sheet with the knife maker orders. I'm pretty sure it's not bogus. I ordered 2 thickness and got 2 different sheets. OK ... that doesn't prove anything, but I'm gonna trust them on it.

Steve