O1 vs 80CRV2

Justin Presson

Well-Known Member
I need to order some steel and I have very limited experience so my first few knives have been made of 80CRV2 I thought I would try my own HT but since have decided to just send out. I was thinking of ordering some O1 and wanted to know the differences. Looks like 01 has tungsten in it. Any thoughts?
 
hi
have used both, like the results from both. the biggy for me is there are only two sources of 80CrV2 here in the states, Aldo and Alpha Knife Supply(they call theirs 1080+). you are limited in sizes available.
for O1, there are many sources and several formulas. you can find it with or with out vanadium. several places have old new stock from steel mills in sheffield england that have been closed for many years. I think i listed most sources in the O1 post. you can get O1 from 1/64" thick to 6" thick.
heat treat is the same except to let O1 soak a few minutes longer
 
I wouldn't suggest either of those for H/T with simple equipment. Those steels require soaking at a controlled temp. to get the most out of them. If you can't control your heat accurately you can't take advantage of the alloys so you may as well be using 1075, 1080, or 1084. If you can't accurately soak you can actually do more harm than good. I suggest any of the 10XX steels with 0.84% carbon or less. For example; 1050, 1065, 1075, 1080, or 1084. These steel don't have much extra alloy so they don't really require a soak. Just heat them to non-magnetic, go a few degrees hotter, and quench.
 
No Darrin I don't want to do my own HT I think you all miss understood my question. I want to know the advantages if any of one over the other and what the differences in make up are of the 2.

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That's not an easy question with these two steels. The 80CrV2 will probably be more of a tough hard work steel, while the O1 has better edge holding. both steels are super tough, tho. You couldn't go wrong with either steel for a given application. If I were making bushcraft knives....the 80crv2. If I were making planing blades and the like.....O1.
 
Sorry about the misunderstanding. Of these two steels for a hunting knife, I'd choose O1 @ HRC-61 and never look back. My buddy Shane Wink has a video posted on here somewhere showing him driving an O1 blade through Elk tine tips with no damage to the edge. By the way the edge was ground down to .006" before sharpening. In my opinion, that's plenty of toughness for a hunting knife and the edge holding is very good.
If you wanna see the video just do a search under Shane's profile.
 
Could not find the video but that is impressive. I will be ordering some 01 come pay day. Is the tungsten what makes it hold an edge a bit better. Just trying to get edumacated on steel
 
While 80CrV2 (1080+) is a great steel, for hunting knives I would prefer O1, agreeing with Darrin. O1 needs a good soak at your target temp, just remember that. The excess carbon (beyond .8%) gets tied up into tungsten carbides and vanadium carbides. But O1 still retains a nice fine grain, even with the carbides present, and is one of the most under-rated steels out there.
 
O1 is one of the original tool steels, first made in the 1930's. the combination of chrome, tungsten, vanadium, and high manganese(at least 1.25%) make a good steel with low hardening temperatures. the steel has it best toughness at Rc61-62, so it a good choice for blades. several wood plane makers are starting to offer O1 blades again. the only problem with the steel is in its name, Oil Hardening. all the machine shops in my area have quit using it because of all the mess involved with maintaining a quench tank filled with 55 gallons of oil.
 
You can brine quench O1 can't you?

The reason I would like to do my own heat treating is that over the years I have come to the conclusion that you are rolling the dice when you let any process out of your shop. If you can do something consistently it's better to do it your self. I'm sure the places skilled at HT do a great job. They are still one more variable in your chain of events to get the job done, though.....
 
i think brine would be just a touch severe. i have used canola oil for both O1 and 80CrV2 with good results. both of these steels heat treat at low (>1500F) temp. i have a used lab furnace and a used front door glass kiln that work well. my point about oil are the EPA and OHSA rules and regs about maintaining and cleaning the quench tank and disposing of used oil(read extra time and $$$). the two owner i spoke with said that have gone to A2 because of heat treat.
i agree about letting others do parts of your process. the other piece would be the 5 or more business days it would take to have it done. If I plug my kiln in now(7:30am), I can heat treat and be sharpening by noon.
 
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I have never used O1 but I hear good things. I've used and tested 80crv2 (often to extremes) and I can tell you that it is very tough and the edge holding is better than a lot of folks give it credit for. Especially the sharp working edge, after the shaving edge is gone, lasts a long, long, LONG time. Better than any steel I've used.

With proper heat treat and even relatively thin edge geometry, it will chop pine knots and antler all day long. And it will cut through brass and whittle curls off a nail easily with no damage.

It's very good steel.

Sorry not much help on the comparison between the two...............sounds like it's 6 of one half dozen of the other either way you go.
 
I'll second John's opinion on the 80CrV2 edge. I made my wife a santoku out of the stuff, and it holds an edge in the kitchen extremely well.
 
as i said earlier, one of the main reasons i use O1 instead of 80crv2 is availability and sizes avaliable. the paring/utility knives i have made of 80crv2 work very well.
 
Well, I don't want to compare the two. I am chiming in because I have been combining the two (with 15n20) in pattern welding. They weld together beautifully, and since they have a similar heat treatment, make a great combo. If you want more than just black-and-silver in Damascus, adding the 80crv2 is a good option. It is an in-between grey. I am doing this for swords and bowies. Big, tough things, but with good edge holding. So far, I have been twisting them, and welding both with and without flux. Without flux is better, if you can bring the whole area to be welded up to temp at once and set the whole weld at one pass. Otherwise, you have to flux beyond where the first weld will end.

I am not putting much 15n20 in the area near the blade's edge, and I quench in (editing typo - I said I quench in Parks, but I don't quench these in Parks, I use Canola oil). So I get full performance from the 15n20 in the thin areas. In the thicker spots, it may not fully-harden, but that isn't a big deal in the spine of a dao. Springy is best there, anyway. I guess I could bite the bullet and use L6, but I just don't want to complicate my life that much.

edited... ok, it is a couple of months later, and I have switched to L6. Still like tri-color Damascus from these steels, though.


Anyway, these two steels (o1 and 80crv2) make a heck of a combination for sword blades, and with judicious use of nickel-bearing steels, are quite attractive. I am thinking of making some sanmei camp knives out of them, too.
 
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