Knife Steel
 

What are your favorite custom knife steels? Mine are 440C, ATS34, BG42, VG-10, 154CM, and AUS-10 There are more, but I forget them. There is a powdered steel that is supposed to be the best; do you folks have any information on it? Thanks

All those are fine and dandy, but it's really hard to beat high carbon steel, the others may shine pretty but I can get High Carbon so hard it will cut those other knives..Remember that is what files are are made from, and they are made to cut steel.

Maybe one of these days I will buy a file knife. Thanks for the info.

Files make great knives and so do leaf springs.

All have pros/cons.

The powdered steel you're referring to, do you mean 3G?

Yes sir you are correct. Hard you can get it but dont count on it being in one piece after accidentally dropping it. coming from a knife maker and son of a knife maker many years in the buisness i will say you are correct about high carbon. as far as holding and edge and ease of sharpening 1095c is great. In fact high carbon steels can be hardened to 62c and a file will not scratch them. But if you drop a file it will break. New files are made of cast pot metal and are cheap ****, old files are not cast. Honestly our favorite steel for a good dependable durable long lasting knife is L6. Old sawblades from mills are IMO one of the best. Tool steels are tougher to work with and for some reason dont like to treat at the right rc. A2, D2, M2, O2, ATS34, they are good tool steels but for a good knife blade an ol mill sawblade is the best. You can get it to a hardness strong enough to cut the competition and hold the edge, but forgiving enough to not break when splitting a pelvic bone on a whitetail.

visit our website at http://www.the2jakescustomknives.com/

Knives are made for cutting, not splitting bones... :)

Generally speaking I agree and for hunting practices yes.. But some Militaries may want their soldiers equipped with a steel blade that will slice off a persons arm, head, leg.. These all entail going through bone and the blade of the knife not break.Just putting it out there.

Made for cutting yes. but i don't recall carrying a saw to cut the bone. id rather have a knife that can do it. 2 small taps on the back of the blade with a rock the bone is split. you can stick with your extra hard cutter but If your steel is too brittle it will break if you make the wrong move. Also I'm somewhat clumsy and Ive dropped just about all my knives once or twice. Nobody want a knife they have to pamper and worry about it breaking. At least i don't. My hunting knife is one that if i accidentally drop it on a rock it doesn't give me a heart attack.

I typically bone out my deer so I don't have to contend with bones, if I do want to remove the hams, I simply dislocate the ball and socket joing...I quit sawing through the pelvis years ago...

52100 ball bearing steel makes a great knife and no worries about breaking it or chipping..

For strictly wear resistance nothing beats stellite. Not real tough, but will outwear any ferrous alloy.

Bought me an early Father's Day present this week...

Ordered an Anza 4 inch knife and two Bear folding knives... :)

AP HD_Jake:

L-6

A high carbon, band saw steel that is very tough and holds an edge well, but rusts easily. It is, like O-1, forgiving steel for the forger. If you're willing to put up with the maintenance, this may be one of the very best steels available for cutlery, especially where toughness is desired. Typically used in swords.Carbon-0.65-0.75%, Manganese-0.25-0.80%, Chromium-0.60-1.20%,Nickel-1.25-2.00%, Vanadium-0.20-0.30%, Molybdenum-0.50%

I am going to try and purchace a knife made of L6. Do you folks have or make a Drop Point Hunter using L6? Thanks.

Your right handloader it does rust easily. But will not rust to a point of permanently pitting the steel if properly taken care of. Leaving an L-6 blade in the sheath for a long period of time without care will cause it to rust very easily. usually when we do a knife of L6 we buff the s*** out of it to a beautiful mirror shine. It takes a while to get a blade that way but when it is almost perfectly smooth you have virtually no pores for moisture to hold up in. we all know what moisture does to steel. And tell me what you like as far as handles and blade length i can make anything, when i finish ill post it on the website i listed. if you didnt see that post its www.the2jakescustomknives.com If you go to the future shows page you can see if there is a show coming your way you can drop by there. My dad runs all the shows out of state, i only do gun shows here in GA I have kids so i cant travel. His name is Jake though if you go to a show.

BTW my knives arent posted on his website yet. My fathers knives are much more time consuming. He makes and uses damascus, does inlays on the handles custom filing and blade designs, and they are very useable but people look at them as art pieces. We use our knives in the woods, the kitchen and wherever a good knife is needed. The knives he sells are a little to pricy and i guess you could say 'fancy' for gun shows. The style of knives i make are much more appealing to the outdoors. I wont say they are lower end knives they just arent art work. I use stag, wood (only certain kinds NOT cheap-o wood), bone, horn (like bulls horn, ibex,etc.), i even use turkey feet and deer legs with the hooves occasionally. Just tell me what you like. handles, blade length, blade style, anything else. Thanks, Jake

AP HD Jake:

I will contact you by phone, and talk about a knife. Thanks.

My brother in law is a machinist and he sharpens large circ. saw blades (18-24" & 1/8" thick) for mills in the area. the ones that cant be sharpend any more he throws them away or brings them to me. I have no idea what they'r made of but when i cut out a knife blank i can put it in a vice and it is all I can do to just barely bend it by hand & the steel will hold a beautiful edge. Once the steel is buffed (i dont like a polish blade) I coat it with teflon car wax and wipe it off. do that after every hunting season and never had any problems. ive made dozens of them and give them to family and friends with no complaints