First Boar Hunting Knife

Hi, I am finishing up the first Wild Boar Hunting knife I have done, (been making hunter/ skinners mostly since 2008). It is O1 tool steel which I heat treated to specs with Even heat oven etc. Blade is almost 8 inches with straight clip point top 4 inches will be fully sharpened. 3/16 thickness. It looks lethal but I have never been on a boar hunt. I am going to do another one in D2.
What is my point?
1) Steel type, I normally use CPM154 and S30 V and Alabama Damascus on my knives.(more expensive) What about my choices of D2 and O1???
2) There are a lot of examples of Boar knives out there. I sort of used my imagination rather than copy one. What are the basic features for any Boar Hunter?
3) I feel good about the one I am completing and would definitely sell it.
But more experienced advise would be helpful,
Thanks, Kurt

I'm still new, so I guess my opinions are too, but I love O1. For carbon steels, I've used O1 and 1095 and the O1 seems waaaaay more predictable with heat treating to me. I like the fact that it fully hardens without any fuss. For me, 1095 fully hardens at the edges, but hardness varies throughout the rest of the knife.

I've only used D2 once so far, but it seems pretty darn good too. I don't think there is a thing in world wrong with either one of them.

My two go to steels are 01 and A2 ,I don't have a
a lot of exexperience with D2 and if I was going to use it I would only use CMP D2.

I've cleaned a bunch of hogs. I use the same knife I use on deer, a drop point.
If your talking about a knife to actually do the killing, 3/16" with an extremely sharp point and a large handle.
watch the hog doesn't cut you first and watch you don't cut anyone's dog. good luck.

I definitely will NOT be the one using the knife . It IS for killing and thanks for the answers so far. 3/16 is the thickness I used and wondering--- what is a good range for the length of these knives?
Also,--- what to tell buyer about rust prone for the O1 steel. It started a little rust from a few drops of quench water I didn't get off in only a few hours. I am so used to my CPM SS being no problem with rust. Would anybody here put a" forced patina" OR sell it with the hand rubbed finish I have now( which looks nice) and give the buyer good instructions if they are not already familiar with carbon steels? Patina is A-ok , but I absolutely hate rust.

Just to throw in on this, if you're gonna stab a pig you want long and narrow blade for penetration and so don't have to have a cup of coffee with the thing before you kill it. I would probably use a steel more prone to high impact toughness (D2, S7, M4) and not for extreme edge holding (CPMS60) which is more chip prone when stabbing through tough bone and hide and make it some type of dagger design. If customer wanted, would design a spear shaft attachment to handle. Would go with a tough synthetic handle such as G10, leather, or micarta.

D2 tool steel would be an excellent choice. It's pretty tough and near stainless. Patina really wouldn't form on it and it gets scary sharp. I can't speak for the CPM version of it. Never used it. I would suspect it is a finer grain. Not as toothy. Just thinking out loud. D2 is a fantastic steel for hunters and such. 8 to 9"blade would be enough to penetrate the vitals of a hog and get the job done easily

My vote would be for CPM-3V. Extremely tough stuff, fairly stainless and holds an edge very well. Survive knives (the company) makes a lot of their knives out of it. Have read a lot of very impressive stuff on them.

My experience with knife steels are primarily with the basic 10XX steels, so I wont comment too much on that,
BUT, back in 1995(I think, its kinda fuzzy, but seeing this was somethin g you jut can't forget! At the time, I was buying
m first, custom made knife, matter of a fact, it was a MANN Made Knife!!!! Jerry Mann of Motngomery,AL !!! It just so
happened that Jerry was working on his Hawg Hunting Knife, this knife was MADE to dispatch a 400# Russian Boar with MUCH prejudice!!
I was fortunate enough to see the video of the hunt, ( I used that word loosely, as far as sportsmanship in it, there isn't much due to the inherent
danger involved with hunting hogs in this manner, even with 2 Pit Bulls that looked like they were actually sired by Arnold Schwarzenegger
or at the very least, were on the same STEROID TRAINING he was on in the 70's! These LOOKED LIKE KNIFE DOGS!!!! Anyway Jerry was given
specific instructions on how to do the deed, he was to walk up from the back side of the hog as quick as he could get there safely,
then he was to plunge the knife blade into the beast right behind the leg and shoulder, as the blade is going in, he was to start pumping it up and down,
just like you're "Pumping water from one of the OLD water pumps, to pump it up and fast hard and continuously!!! It was amazing to watch the video,
this hog went from furious to Angel in about 3, maybe 4 seconds once Jerry went to work, honestly, aside from the chase, it looked about as humane as
the way they were butchered for years, and probably still do in many places in the world.

Now about his knife, from what I can recall about it was that it looked a lot like a Loveless Design, it had bolsters and a pommel, I think it was Full-Tang
because that what he was told he should have, also it was almost a dagger, more of a really long Chute Knife, just like Bob Loveless made, only thing I
want to say I recall was that the blade was like 10" long! It had a really good guard that was more about function than it was about aesthetics. Don't get me
wrong Jerry makes some beautiful knives, but he also makes knives that are affordable, that just about anyone that wants a well made custom knife can get one with a little effort. Anyway, back to your knife, it sounds close, I said I wasn't going to get into the steels but one of the thingsI think would be mportant is a knife with a soft back draw, that was tough but would allow some flex, which to me screams 5160! Not a steel I've used much, still learning it and reading about it, but it sounds like a goo one, not that I'm knocking O-1, its been a go to steel for generations, its good stuff, but keep this in mind the entire time your working on it, YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND ON THAT KNIFE!!
Thats not joking, these hogs kill people every year, they are a menace! More so than destroying 100'2 of millions of dollars worth of crops every year, those tusks are razor sharp, and they have this little quick move that would make you think of the Matrix, with tusks that can be, well I have no idea how long they can get, I've seen some long ones, but I dont know if they ever stop growing at any point or if they keep getting longer and deadlier! Please be careful, its a dangerous thing, remain alert of your surroundings at all times. Hogs are as unpredictable as they are mean! Dont think they are dumb by any means, they have managed to all but take over a country they were dropped off on with NOTHING but their own instincts to survive! I think you will have a blast, but do see if yo can ocate someone and see if any of those suggestions sound familiar. Personally, I would build a knife with a 10" Dagger shaped blade, with a double edge atleast 6 inches up thebck side, maybe just go straight dagger, maybe with a kinda flare in the blade sorta like the Roman swords, I would do a clay coated HT on it, but I would use either 1084 or 1095, for the same reason you used O-1, its what I know! Good luck, Rex