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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need. |
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#1
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Impatient newbie wants to order steel.
Ok. Was going to go the prefinished blade route and couldn't take the easy route. Just not in my nature. I want to order some flat bar, too many steels out there, and hate continous reading on computer. Wanting a hunter / skinner type knife. For a newbie, what steel would you suggest?
(It's like the Honda commercial with everyone saying, I wanna ride... Well, I wanna work at my bench! LOL.) |
#2
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Being a fellow beginner I wondered the same thing and found 1085 or 1080 to be the most user friendly so far. If you are going to be sending them out for heat treatment then 440c which is a stainless would be another quality one to check into. Just my two cents welcome to the hobby.
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#3
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You didn't say what your skill level was or what you will use to heat treat. Not all steels are equal. Some are hard to heat treat, others a newb (and experienced alike) should touch unless the blades are sent to a heat treater. Are you forging? Stock removal? All will have bearing on your steel choices.
Take your time, make your first shot count. |
#4
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I plan to try my own heat treating. And see how it goes...
Didn't know till yesterday u could send out for heat treating. Do u know what that costs? Trying to keep costs low. |
#5
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Get some 1084, it's a great newbie steel.
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#6
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Like has been said, 1084 is a relatively easy steel to deal with. If you are planning on doing large knives 5160 is a tougher steel and is also very forgiving in the heat treat.
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#7
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If you want to do your own heat treat then you need 1084 (or 1080 will substitute). You can probably find this in very small quantity from alphaknifesupply.com You can also look up the New Jersey Steel Baron or Kelly Cupples. One of them should have it.
1084 is a simple carbon steel, sending a newbie's first carbon blade out for HT isn't going to be a real efficient use of your money since paying for a few so-so blades would also pay for a forge so that you could do the HT yourself. You'll want to build a small forge to HT in or you might get by with an acetylene torch if you have one and really know how to use it. Obviously, building a forge will cost a few bucks so a cheaper alternative might be 440C stainless. You can get this steel at Jantz or most any other knife supply in 12 or 18" pieces. It is more expensive than 1084 but Texas Knifemakers will HT your 440C blade for $5 so that's a bargain. 1084 (or 1080) or 440C are really you best choices for your first blades if you plan to make it yourself. Don't - please don't - start asking about every piece of steel you found laying in the ditch near your house. At this point in your knife making career salvage steel is not a good idea, buying steel is actually cheaper in most cases. Either buy a blade as you originally planned, build a forge, or grind a blade from 440C and send it off - whichever you think is the best fit for your budget and personality. Anything else you do will increase your cost in the knife almost without any doubt at all.... Last edited by Ray Rogers; 01-04-2014 at 09:18 PM. |
#8
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I planned on using the propane torch in a cylinder or brick. I also planned on doing stock removal.
Skill level, newbie. KNife plan is approx. 3" blade with full tang that will be approx 4". A total length for knife between 7 to 8". |
#9
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With motor oil or olive oil tempering bath.
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#10
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I've been happily hacking away at a chunk of 1080 for my first knife, which is also planned to be a basic hunter/skinner type. I was instructed by the good folks here to use either 1080, 1084, or maybe 5160 since they're all forgiving to heat-treat with minimal technology and skill, but only time will tell how badly I can screw up I was initially hesitant to use a more basic steel because I wanted to maximize performance, but after doing some research I discovered that a decent 1080 blade will still vastly outperform any of the cheap storebought knives I'm used to so it's all good.
I really wanted to go with O1 or 440C, but both of these require more precision in HT than I'd be able to manage for now so they'll have to wait. I believe either of them would do the job well if they were professionally heat treated. |
#11
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Quote:
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#12
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Thanks for all f the input / help. And don't worry, I will not ask about all the ditch scrap. Just needed some direction on steel type for my newbie status. Have been reading a lot, but it seemd that each place I looked and read gave vastly differing opinions or some new steel I'd never heard of. Will start with 1084 probably, see how it does, or how I do, and go from there.
in answer to your question Kevster. Over the years i have tried many new things and most have turned out well. Sawing wood with my father in law on his woodmizer saw mill. Saw a piece with grain that looked like a bow, Asked for it, said I was going to make a bow. Never, made one before. Made an osage longbow for my first son, it has survived both sons, and several of my cousins kids. Went onto board bows, then a takedown recurve of Bubinga riser and Hard Rock Maple limbs. Took my first trad bow whitetail doe 10 days after finishing. Then had a good friend make me and my boys hunting knives with handle od whitetail horn that I had killed. Took one look at them, decided they could not be placed in a store bought sheath. So, I started leather working. Now I would like to try my hand in knife making... Not to say I am an expert in any of the above, and believe me I went through a lot of trial and error. But more often than not I have found that I have learned more from my failures that my successes. If that makes sense. Like the words of Tred Barta, I like doing things the hard way, the Barta way. I tend to get more out of it and as I said before, Murphy is always there to lend a hand. |
#13
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Wes, for what it's worth, Lee Oates of Bearclaw Knives has done O1 heat-treat for me in the past with good results, if you don't want to do the HT yourself. http://www.bearclawknives.com/
I think he charges $10 per blade... Like Ray said, Texas Knifemaker's Supply can harden the stainless steels for a very reasonable cost. |
#14
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I assume when you say tempering you mean quench. After the quench you will need to temper the blade, but you don't want to do that in oil. The temps are too high.
Use olive oil, not motor oil for the quench. If you are going to use 1080/1084, or 5160 olive oil heated to about 130 degrees will be fine. Last edited by Bob Hartman; 01-05-2014 at 11:24 AM. |
#15
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Ok thanks. Quench was what I meant.
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Tags |
1084, 440c, 5160, bearing, bee, blade, blades, easy, flat, forging, heat, heat treat, heat treatment, hobby, hunter, knife, knife making, knives, make, motor, newbie, skinner, stainless, steel, stock removal |
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