Hello Justin,
So many posters have been so kind to me with their words that I though the least I could do is help out as well if I can. I will examine exactly what you are asking which is what steel you could use to make the best hunter you can make. This would consider the other steels you have experience with and the current equipment that you have. There are all kinds of super-duper high alloyed steels that go all the way into the stainless range that would satisfy the descriptor of “best” for many people, and for many reasons. I will focus purely on function in the type of cutting a hunter does, and how you can achieve it with your current setup and experience.
Remember that the steel is only one third of the equation, the other two considerations are heat treatment and proper geometry. But the steel is the starting point and the other two need to match your steel choice. Also remember that toughness and strength are properties which often oppose each other and is the most common compromise we need to make in blade creation. If your blade is under 8 inches, and a hunting knife would be, toughness is not a top priority in its proper use, but fine cutting edge stability is. For this you want strength to support a fine cutting edge and abrasion resistance to maintain it.
Maximum martensitic strength will be achieved with carbon contents around .8%, if you want toughness from carbon content alone you look lower than this, but we want strength so we don’t want to go lower than .8% if we want to maximize it.
Next, we want abrasion resistance, so every percentage point of carbon over .8% can be used in the formation of extremely abrasion resistant carbides, and this is why 1095 will beat 1084 hands down in edge holding when heat treated properly. The key word here are “heat treated properly”, carbides can be beautiful things in just the right condition, but they can also make a mess of things if not condition properly. So, with the benefits of extra abrasion resistance also comes some skill requirements to take advantage of it. You will not be able to heat treat 1095 as if it were 5160 with any hope of success. That’s not to say that it can’t be done with your setup and experience, but you need to be aware of it to do it.
Next, things start to actually get complicated with alloying. Carbide forming elements like Cr, V, W, Mo and others, will make seriously abrasion resistant carbides, but are even more complicated to work with than simple iron-carbide. Something like O-1 will then definitely beat 1095 but heat treating it in forge, without some clever tricks, will only get you about the same performance as the 1084, so what is the point? One exception that I would mention is the addition of carbide formers at levels around .25% where they will not complicate matters but instead will make it easier to make a very stable edge. The best example of this would be W-2. It is no more difficult to work than 1095, but will maintain a fine grain size much better due to the V carbides present.
For these reasons, 1084 would be the easiest but 1095 or W-2 could produce the best hunter blade for you, if you want to take on a little more of a challenge.
Remember choosing the right steel is not the sole factor in making a good knife, otherwise we would not be knifemakers we would just be steel selectors. It is still our skill set in shaping and heat treating that steel that we can take pride in as knifemakers. But choosing the wrong steel is one of the first mistakes that knifemakers make in making their lives much more complicated than it needs to be.
