I'm going to stick with the 1080/1084 camp here. It doesn't get much more simple or forgiving that a simple eutectoid steel.
O-1 can be challenging to do properly for the guy just starting out for a few reasons:
- It's a hypereutectoid steel which means is more carbon than wants to naturally fit in the iron matrix. This can cause all kinds of weird things that can frustrate you. Just an example. If you treat O-1 like a simple carbon steel and try to anneal it by heating it up and sticking it in wood ash, etc to cool slowly, you will get SOME soft steel along with a lot of big sheets of nasty carbides in the steel. So, this means when you try to drill it, etc, you're just going to eat tools.
- It's got alloying elements that can complicate things for the simple heat treater. To have O-1 really work properly it requires a good long soak (15 minutes or more) in a controlled heat environment. Otherwise, all the extra alloying elements that make it hold such a good edge won't be in the right place in the steel and you won't get the benefit of their presence.
Now, if you're sending it out for heat treat, ignore what I just said
If you plan to HT yourself though, do yourself a favor, save some money, and get some 1080/1084.
Tell you what. PM me your address and I'll send you a piece of New Jersey's Finest 1084 that I get from Aldo Bruno to get you started. It's great stuff and easy to work with.
-d