Is 1084fg for me?

Shane Wink

Shane Wink

Well-Known Member
I am looking for experiences with 1084fg from Aldo for use in a series of bushcraft knives. 3-4- 6.5" blades 1-8 -5/32- 3/16ths spines 6.5 to 12" overall. The reason for asking is I am looking for toughness as well as wear resistance. I have used O1 on the small skinners and have not had any issues but I have heard good things about the 1084fg, so how does it compare to O1 or 5160?

I am rough on my knives as in hammering in wooden snare stakes, making one stick fires, chopping, etc which is why I was looking at the 1084fg. The price and heat treat are both nice as well but I am using a HT oven so correct temp is not an issue as it would be in a forge. I do plan to use PBC or satanite.
 
If I were choosing a steel for toughness then I would stick with a hypoeutectic steel such as 5160, 9260, 1070, or one of the oil quenching S series tool steels. However, there is a trade off and that's decreased edge retention. If you want to get fancy and invest in the equipment to do it you could try austempering 52100. That would give you more carbides for edge retention but give you the toughness of bainite. How, exactly, this would compare to martensetic 5160 or 9260 on edge retention I'm really not sure. I only put this out as a possibility. Austempering will give a 52100 blade that will bend more easily than a martensetic blade so it would also technically be less strong but , from limited testing, I would expect a 90° bend without a crack in the edge.

Doug
 
I have used it in several swords , It does not put out a big showy hamon but, you can D/H the blade . Correct temp is not an issue in a forge , if you know what to look for . Faint red ..950-1050 F
dark red 1150-1250F
dark cherry 1175-1275 f
Cherry red 1300 1400 f
bright cherry 1475 1575 f
Dark orange 1750 1850 F
orange about the same
yellow 1800 1900 f
yellow white 2000 +
Takes a little getting used to but, after a while it will come naturally
 
I am using an kiln as I am color blind so I never did get consistent results with my forge. I use 52100 now for the larger blades, also from Aldo, but was looking for more in how the 1084fg compared to O1 and 5160 in toughness and wear resistance since I have never used 1084.
 
I would say that it would be tougher than the O1 with lower edge retention but less though than 5160 with maybe a little better edge retention. Be aware that there are other factors that come into play here, such as blade geometry and as tempered hardness. Also remember that toughness and edge retention usually increase one at the expense of the other. It's all a system of trade-offs. Even with austempering you dramatically increase toughness, maintain hardness and edge retention better-depending on steel selection, but loose a lot of strength.

Doug
 
Sorry man I did not know you were color blind . The reason I brought up Hamon because you mentioned satanite , 52100 is one of my favorite steels . I use it in my sanmai often .Its a good steel as many will attest . I believe if properly tempered it will out perform both O1 and 5160. Doug is correct there is a trade off when going for toughness and edge holding ability . Some makers believe SR-101 is a mofified version of 52100 used by Busse,with a proprietary multi-stage tempering protocol ...
 
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Hello Bubba-san its all good :) I have the 52100 and recently purchased the Kiln so I could get repeatable results and not be a hack since i have tried for years to be consistent with the forge but I cant see the correct temp range so other than using a magnet that was it. I understand the trade-offs and its one of the things I was asking about as I have no experience with 1084, just O1 and 5160. After Doug made mention of the austempering 52100 I went and looked it up but am not sure if I have the equipment to do it just yet. I wont have a low temp salt pot till nov so can I austemper with just an HT oven, Parks 50 and a tempering oven?

Oh Bubba I mentioned the satanite because i was told to coat the 52100 with it or PBC to keep it from scaling up. Is it needed or was I told wrong?
 
With not being able to achieve a low oxygen atmosphere in an electric heat treating oven something to prevent oxidation would be good, especially that 52100 needs 5-10 minutes of soak time. I don't know about the Satanite but the PBC should work. An inert gas would also work if you have a way to inject it into the oven.

Doug
 
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