O1 durability questions

AJH_Knives

Well-Known Member
Hey there folks,
I made this pocket widget for my brother. it can be used to open a beer bottle, scrape off glue or gaskets, or maybe even pry up a staple or small nail, or paint can top. I only have O1 in the shop so I used that. Its about 4" long 1/2" wide, 3/16" thick. It have a chisel ground on one end ( .02 thick edge) and a bottle opener on the other.

what hardness should i try to achieve? or will this thing just snap? mid 50s or like my blades, in the 60-62 range?

thanks in advance

Aaron
 
Aaron, it’s a tough call. When one looks at what O-1 was designed for you will see high hardnessfor fine abrasion resistant type cutting, rather than a steel made more forapplications requiring higher toughness. But your description really doesn’tinclude much in the way of impact toughness requirements. Some is abrasion resistance, but it is theprying typing applications that give pause, and there it is not the overall hardnessso much as the thickness of the metal. Iwould make it beefy and keep it around 59HRC and above. If you really worry about abuse you could go alittle lower but at that point you are working outside of the O-1 performance zone.
 
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