A01 question

Newbie here . I have some starrett steel that is A0 with some added vanadium .will this be good knife steel ? Actually already made a couple with it but one that I forged into shape and was trying to bend some (cold) broke so now I’m wondering? Appreciate any help

skd777 said:

Newbie here . I have some starrett steel that is A0 with some added vanadium .will this be good knife steel ? Actually already made a couple with it but one that I forged into shape and was trying to bend some (cold) broke so now I’m wondering? Appreciate any help

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Pic of my best one so far

AO???
Never heard of it. Couldn't find any on-line. Do you have a pic of the raw product? Packaging?
I have Starrett O1 in small sheet form and it makes great knives...for an outdated, non-boutique, vintage product.

Sorry typo meant 01.

No worries.
My experience with Starrett O1 is stock removal and heat treat with a temp controlled oven and Parks quenchant. My results so far have been quite good for what many consider a so-so steel these days. Smacking with a hammer/uncontrolled heat treat in a forge as a newb is an invitation for the gods to frown.

Puzzling how a steel that was once considered a good knife steel is now considered so-so. Personally, I think that something like 1075 is a perfectly good blade steel.

Doug

I think O1 makes a decent blade. Adding extra vanadium could vary the heat treat anywhere from not much at all, to quite a bit. Can you make a decent knife from it? Sure. You can probably make a decent blade just by getting it non magnetic for a bit then quenching it in canola oil. But you aren’t going to make anything better than your heat treat, and without knowing anything specific and knowing how to use that information, you aren’t going to make the “best” blade out of it. Sounds like it may not have been well annealed when you were bending it. Or it could have been perfect. A nice pearlite annealed structure is rather brittle too. I’d say give it a shot, can’t do anything wrong if you do nothing at all, right? Lol

With a decent heat treat O1 makes a great knife in my humble opinion . Are there better steels out there ? Sure why not , but does O1 do everything I need it to do absolutely . I don’t care to sharpen my knife after using it “hard”, and I don’t mind a little patina on a blade . I have found in this hobby steel preference is a lot like the old adage “beauty lays in the eye of the beholder”. Use what you have , heat treat it the best that you can and use it or give it to someone to use and learn from it ! I love what Edward said in the above post , can’t do anything wrong if you sit on your butt!!