I need steel selection advice?

Hey guys,
I'm about out of steel and need to order more. My question is I want one carbon steel and one stainless to offer for sale. I have only sold knives the last 5 months or so and don't have alot out there to get as much feedback as I would like. I have only used 80CRV2 and 01 to this point.
I have been using a few I have kept but nothing for processing game yet (hope that changes soon) so I don't have alot to base my steels off yet so turning to the more experienced guys.
I plan on making and selling mostly all hunting knives maybe a few edc so my main focus is cleaning whitetails and the trapping guys so lots of skinning coons and such which you tend to contact bones alot skinning them out.

What is a good carbon steel to work with grinds easy ect..and performs well holds edge good and all that. I was thinking A2 giving it a shot and for stainless maybe cm154 or AEB-L but have not clue on the stainless as I have not used any yet.

Last not I will be sending out for heat treat.
Thanks in advance
Justin.

I'm still new at this (my opinion can be dismissed without hurting my feelings), but I too have been using O1 for a carbon steel. I kept my second knife for a testing knife and I've been cutting cardboard, bushcraft stuff, rope, etc. I tempered it a little on the hard side and the edge has been holding up great. It kind of surprised me sometimes at how sharp it is. I'd say stay with the O1, it's cheaper than A2 and seems easier to find. If I ever get to the point of selling my stuff to the general public, I'm thinking about sticking with the O!, I like it.

I'm just finishing my first stainless blade with 14c28n and I hope to use it on a large horned animal sometime in the near future. That's how I'm going to judge it's performance. I like your idea of focusing only on two steels, that's where I've been heading too.

Nothing wrong with O-1 tool steel. It's a great choice. If your wanting edge holding I would go with 52100 personally. It's holds the edge for a very long time. With the right heat treat it is hard to beat. It will outperform the O-1 for a skinning knife in my testing.

As far as stainless goes. I've used a few different types. The AEBL has a toothy edge comparable to carbon steel. The 154CM seems to have a finer edge, not suited for skinning as well.

Hope that helps. My opinion, based on my personal testing and use

Thanks guys keep it coming. The only reason for maybe getting away from 01 are two reasons one is the rust factor the other is the decarb after HT is a pain but soaking in vinegar has helped with that.

Any of the steels that have been named will make excellent blades with proper H/T & geometry. Performance wise, O1 & A2 are basically the same. It just depends on whether you want an oil hardening steel or air hardening. Myself, I prefer A2 because I prefer air hardening steels. As far as stainless, AEB-L & CPM-154 both make excellent blades. Personally, between the two, I always choose AEB-L for a couple of reasons, its about as cheap as stainless gets and it comes without scale for that bargain price. When you compare pricing between AEB-L & CPM-154 always be sure to add the price of having the scale ground off of the CPM-154.
All else being equal, the average hunter would have a hard time telling any of these steels from another in the field.

Hey Darrin, why the preference of the air hardening?

As a new maker I want to learn as much as I can about all the steels.....makes my head spin

Best place to get AEB-L and A2?

Taylormade- just curious have you used aebl and 154? I find the exact opposite and have made 20 different knives in aebl and 6-7 in cpm154. AEBL is the finest grained steel carbon or stainless I have used. It behaves EXACTLY like a good carbon that just happens to be stainless. If I could get it in thicker stock it would be all I would use.

Carbon, my favorite is A2, followed closely by 01 then 1084.

Stainless, AEBL, Elmax, and not stainless but D2 impressed me. Arguably the most toothy ive used.

Justin usaknifemaker and alpha knifesupply for aebl, tool steel is definitely easier to find. Flatground.com has been my favorite.

Air Hardening means you don't have to mess around with pots of hot oil, water etc. The steel is hardened by the temperatures that you take it to.
Hence, Air hardening.

My vote is for the CPM steels like CPM-154, CPM-S35VN and CPM-D2 for a semi-stainless steel. All of those make great Hunter and Culinary knives.

I would go with O1 for carbon/tool steel. It is easy to work with and performs very well. It is also one of the more economic steels to work with.

For stainless, I use AEB-L. You simply can't beat it in bang for your buck. If brought to an acute edge to take advantage of it's stability, it cuts like a laser and can be sharpened with ease. The ease of heat treating and grinding it also makes it a joy to work with.

I have not worked with 154, and may never take the time. I am currently testing out cts-xhp, but am no where close to completing my test on it. I like that it is easy to heat treat like aeb-l, and have been impressed so far with it's performance, but only time will tell.




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When I ventured into stainless, I wanted to try the AEB-L, but was very disappointed in the thicknesses available. If you're making very thin blades, you'll be fine, but if you want to make big camp knives or bowies, good luck.

That's when Ken steered me to the 14c28n, basically the same steel metallurgically, but it comes in thicker stock.

chevytrucking said:

When I ventured into stainless, I wanted to try the AEB-L, but was very disappointed in the thicknesses available. If you're making very thin blades, you'll be fine, but if you want to make big camp knives or bowies, good luck.

That's when Ken steered me to the 14c28n, basically the same steel metallurgically, but it comes in thicker stock.

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That's good to know. Right now everything I'm making is 1/8 or 3/32.

James Perrin said:

I would go with O1 for carbon/tool steel. It is easy to work with and performs very well. It is also one of the more economic steels to work with.

For stainless, I use AEB-L. You simply can't beat it in bang for your buck. If brought to an acute edge to take advantage of it's stability, it cuts like a laser and can be sharpened with ease. The ease of heat treating and grinding it also makes it a joy to work with.

I have not worked with 154, and may never take the time. I am currently testing out cts-xhp, but am no where close to completing my test on it. I like that it is easy to heat treat like aeb-l, and have been impressed so far with it's performance, but only time will tell.




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I do like the price of 01 and besides the decarb after HT it is easy to work with. Is there any big difference in corrosion of A2 and 01....the A2 has what about 4% more chromium than 01.

I new as well but I'm surprised that no one mentioned 440c stainless. Why would that be? I just sent 22 440c knives to be heat treated so I haven't finished one yet but I was very happy with cutting, drilling and grinding it. I'm curious about what the experts think of it. Thanks,

Wallace

Justin Presson said:

I do like the price of 01 and besides the decarb after HT it is easy to work with. Is there any big difference in corrosion of A2 and 01....the A2 has what about 4% more chromium than 01.

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What you are referring to with the O1 is just scale, soak in vinegar or a pickling solution removes it. I use a product called ATP 641, and have no scale unless I don't coat it properly. It is available at Brownells and through ATP.

A2 is a bit more resistant to corrosion, but a lot of the chromium is used to form carbides. A2 tends to have better toughness than O1. I like O1 better for its extremely fine microstructure, but A2 is a very balanced steel that does well in many applications.

As a side note on the ATP. I just recently did some testing using it with AEB-L when oil quenching, and had no decarb after a 10 minute soak and achieved 60.5 Hrc on the test sample.


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James Perrin said:

I use a product called ATP 641, and have no scale unless I don't coat it properly. It is available at Brownells and through ATP.

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Me too, got it at Brownells. Seems to work pretty well for me so far, but you have to make sure you've got a good even coat on it. If you're sending your stuff out to be HT'd, not sure if they would do this for you. The coating's pretty fragile, you couldn't do it and then ship them.

Thanks a bunch for all the good info. Yes I send out for HT right now. I will keep the atp tip in the memory bank for when I ever get a oven.