Guindesigns
Well-Known Member
I'm looking into making some chef knives. what is a good steel?? I want to grind thin not buy thin
I do have some 01 but I read it doesn't hold a great edge. I have a paragon HT oven so ill be doing my own heat treat. hopefully. haha need to find the specs on how I should do it. ive been looking for a list or something to help with different steels and all.what kinda steel you all got?? very few steels would not make an acceptable kitchen knife. O1 and A2 are available in 100's of sizes and many sources. O1 has the easier heat treat. for paring knives i like 1/32" or 3/64". slicers i like 1/16". heavy kitchen blades 3/32". buy thin, save money and time.
you didn't say who would HT. as said O1 or AKS 52100 have fairly simple HT and both perform well at Rc62-64.
AR I am about to make some of these as luck would have it I ordered .90 steel. Do you do the plungeless full flat on yours?
THAT is a nice kitchen knife!
basic O1 HT. i use precision ground flat stock and do stock removal. pre-heat furnace to 1475-1500F. add blade. when temperature is back to 1475, start timing. I use about 8 minutes for 1/16" stock. quench in oil, canola at 120F works just fine. when knife is cool enough to touch, wipe off oil, put in ice water or freezer for 5 to 10 minutes. Temper for 1 hour. 325F for Rc64-65, 350F for Rc63-64, 375F for Rc62-63. cold water quench. temper for 1 hour. all done. if it is a big blade, set up quench plates. quench to black then into quench plates, just to reduce chances of warp.I do have some 01 but I read it doesn't hold a great edge. I have a paragon HT oven so ill be doing my own heat treat. hopefully. haha need to find the specs on how I should do it. ive been looking for a list or something to help with different steels and all.
what are the advances of the different Rc level??basic O1 HT. i use precision ground flat stock and do stock removal. pre-heat furnace to 1475-1500F. add blade. when temperature is back to 1475, start timing. I use about 8 minutes for 1/16" stock. quench in oil, canola at 120F works just fine. when knife is cool enough to touch, wipe off oil, put in ice water or freezer for 5 to 10 minutes. Temper for 1 hour. 325F for Rc64-65, 350F for Rc63-64, 375F for Rc62-63. cold water quench. temper for 1 hour. all done. if it is a big blade, set up quench plates. quench to black then into quench plates, just to reduce chances of warp.
O1 will get sharp enough that the only way you know you have cut yourself is the bleeding.
do you mean advantages? if you look at data from Crucible, Rc 61-63 is the best ratio of hardness to toughness. best hardness for O1 for general purpose use. if you dig thru the archives, you can find posts by Kevin Cashen saying the same thing. ref: https://www.crucible.com/eselector/prodbyapp/tooldie/ketos.htmlwhat are the advances of the different Rc level??
Yea sorry had to type fast. Ok so the higher the number the harder the steel' but lower the strength or resistant to chipping?do you mean advantages? if you look at data from Crucible, Rc 61-63 is the best ratio of hardness to toughness. best hardness for O1 for general purpose use. if you dig thru the archives, you can find posts by Kevin Cashen saying the same thing. ref: https://www.crucible.com/eselector/prodbyapp/tooldie/ketos.html
i did some at Rc64-65 just for grins, giggles, and advertising. when used carefully in a kitchen knife, no chipping issues with the steel this hard. very hard to say sharper than other hardness because there are no accepted sharpness tests. hand sanding steel at Rc65 is a real pita.
The type of steel is way down the list of what is important to a good knife.