# Which steel ?



## Andy300 (Feb 1, 2018)

I've always had an unhealthy interest in cutty or choppy things since my first knife as a kid :thumbsup:

I have a distant history in the forestry industry, and for a while now I've been very interested in bushcraft, carving, any axe work, etc etc

Now my question to those who may know a little about blades .. I have my eye on a knife for my birthday in a couple of months or so, but cant decide on blade steel :hmmm9uh:

options are:

02 High Carbon Tool Steel (58-60 HRC rating)

or

14C28N Swedish Knife Tool Steel (stainless .. 57-59 HRC)

I've read that the Sandvik stainless would be a little easier to sharpen, and apparently keep its edge pretty much the same as the carbon steel ??


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## hughlle (Aug 23, 2015)

What do you want to do with the knife? What kind of knife, what kind of blade profile etc. Lots of variables can come into play. Are you ocd about a shiny blade, or are you happy with something covered in patina? Also depends what you're wanting to spend.

On steel alone though, I'd personally go for the 02 tool steel, simply because I've a bunch of knives in it, and it is fantastic, plus I've not had the best experience with lower end stainless like the 14C28N, but then I'm a big fan of s90v, so my expectations may be a little high! One of the real benefits of 02 tool steel though is that a huge number of "artisan" blackmiths use it, meaning you can then look at having a knife mae up to your exact specifications, and without breaking the bank, rather than something off the shelf (although these will largely be fixed blade, but given your stated interests, I assume you're looking at a fixed blade kife.)


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

Andy300 said:


> 02 High﻿﻿﻿ C﻿arbon Tool Ste﻿el ﻿(58-60 HRC﻿ r﻿ating)﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿


 This is more likely to chip if abused. Think of the amount of old carpenters chisels you see with broken edges.


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## Andy300 (Feb 1, 2018)

hughlle said:


> What do you want to do with the knife? What kind of knife, what kind of blade profile etc. Lots of variables can come into play. Are you ocd about a shiny blade, or are you happy with something covered in patina? Also depends what you're wanting to spend.
> 
> On steel alone though, I'd personally go for the 02 tool steel, simply because I've a bunch of knives in it, and it is fantastic, plus I've not had the best experience with lower end stainless like the 14C28N, but then I'm a big fan of s90v, so my expectations may be a little high! One of the real benefits of 02 tool steel though is that a huge number of "artisan" blackmiths use it, meaning you can then look at having a knife mae up to your exact specifications, and without breaking the bank, rather than something off the shelf (although these will largely be fixed blade, but given your stated interests, I assume you're looking at a fixed blade kife.)


 I'm deffo going for a bushcraft style knife, fixed blade, drop point .. and yes, I am leaning towards the tool steel, as I have a number of low grade stainless knives, that all do the job fine TBH, but I have made a couple of chisel type tools out of industrial hacksaw blades for wood working, and they are amazing compared to stainless for edge sharpness, and retention :thumbsup:

Gotta get to work now, as I've kinda made myself a bit late watching a Jacklore vid on YT :laugh:


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

Bit of a curved ball but try old bandsaw blades. We used 1-1/2" 2/3 vari pitch M42 bi-metallic. The come in various lengths, widths and thickness. And you get a few even out of a smaller 12' coil.

And Sandvik if you really want Swedish










They'll get through steel like the proverbial hot knife through butter so a bit of wood carving or the Sunday joint will be a walk in the park.










My admittedly very poor attempt.










:laugh: :laugh:

http://www.harrisonsaw.co.uk/band-saw-blades/


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

@Andy300 All this knife talk got me hunting for what has been my daily work knife for the past 30 odd years, but it is lost in the mayhem of a recent house move. Call me an old cynic, but watch "Mr Mears" and co, and you'll find that the stuff they use on their programs also feature heavily in the shop section of their own websites. Look at what professionals use and rely on for their daily work. Which is why I went off down the town, and got a professional buthers knife (the same as the one i can't find) for £2 out of a charity shop, which will be cut down to a 4" blade length by water jet, and then wet ground to my preferred profile.










And you can get leather sheaths for under £10.



















Considering my old one was used regularly from splitting kindling with the aid of the back of an axe, to clearing out backed on mud round track idlers on dozers, says a lot about the quality of the steel used. Sort of the knife equivalent of a "Divex watch". :laughing2dw:


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## Andy300 (Feb 1, 2018)

I'm not really up making my own knives these days tbh, I've always been too into making stuff outa wood to bother with metal :hmmm9uh:

Also, it'll be a nice prezzie off the kids as I'm quite difficult to buy for (as they cant afford a Breitling, Tudor, MM600, etc etc :whistling: )

This is a main contender at the mo:

https://www.proadventure.co.uk/acatalog/Casstrom-No-10-Knife-Curly-Birch-36564.html#SID=651


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## hughlle (Aug 23, 2015)

Andy300 said:


> I'm not really up making my own knives these days tbh, I've always been too into making stuff outa wood to bother with metal :hmmm9uh:
> 
> Also, it'll be a nice prezzie off the kids as I'm quite difficult to buy for (as they cant afford a Breitling, Tudor, MM600, etc etc :whistling: )
> 
> ...


 Looks very nice (looks, I have no knowledge of the maker). As I say though, with 02 tool steel, you could easily get a knife comissioned to your exact specs. About a year ago I had this made up for a similar price. Took a couple of months, but was well worth it. could have had it done however I wished (in hindsight I'd have had the full size knife with a scandi grind, and the smaller with a flat grind). There are a lot of very talented makers about who are more than happy to accomodate your needs, although many varying price points. My other doube knife set was £400. Although it can become a bit like watches, and you get carried away. I'm also thinking about a custom sheath that takes a regular bushcraft knife, but then also a slim second layer to the sheath to accomodate a paper thin filleting knife.


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

hughlle said:


> This﻿ is a main contender at the mo:﻿﻿


 That looks fine. Here's the two I use most in the woods at the moment.

Small fixed blade Brusletto for carving, and a Svord folder for anything else.


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## Andy300 (Feb 1, 2018)

hughlle said:


> Looks very nice (looks, I have no knowledge of the maker). As I say though, with 02 tool steel, you could easily get a knife comissioned to your exact specs. About a year ago I had this made up for a similar price. Took a couple of months, but was well worth it. could have had it done however I wished (in hindsight I'd have had the full size knife with a scandi grind, and the smaller with a flat grind). There are a lot of very talented makers about who are more than happy to accomodate your needs, although many varying price points. My other doube knife set was £400. Although it can become a bit like watches, and you get carried away. I'm also thinking about a custom sheath that takes a regular bushcraft knife, but then also a slim second layer to the sheath to accomodate a paper thin filleting knife.


 Yeah I really like the handle profile on the Casstrom, though I have no knowledge of the knife maker other what you see in the link, but they seem to be pretty good!

Those are lovely looking knives :thumbsup: .. yeah the Scandinavian grind is pretty deep on the smaller, though is that any disadvantage ? what's the thinking behind the single pin design ?

I'm thinking about popping down to the UK Knife Show in a couple of weeks :hmmm9uh: .. I would like to meet "Mr Jacklore" .. I'm a big fan of his work :notworthy:



WRENCH said:


> That looks fine. Here's the two I use most in the woods at the moment.
> 
> Small fixed blade Brusletto for carving, and a Svord folder for anything else.


 I like those :thumbsup: the Svord looks a handy little tool


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

Andy300 said:


> I like those :thumbsup: the Svord looks a handy little tool


 It is, it rusts up quick though, it's most effective sharpened with a rough grind. I've got a short fixed blade full tangGerman knife which is hollow ground, and that has a superb edge. I've got various grades of stones for sharpening, and the best for finishing is the inside out of a Rolls razor sharpener. Bottom piece in the picture. Usually find them at boot sales, then finished off with a leather strop.+a decent belt works just as well.


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## Andy300 (Feb 1, 2018)

I've always used a couple of different grade Carborundum stones, and a piece of rough leather lay flat as a strop, putting a razor edge on a 4mm tool steel blade with a Scandi grind will be a first for me 

I have a stainless sheath knife around 3.5mm thick, that I use for rough carving, and taking the edge of machined timber etc, that came with a horrible grind profile, but ignoring that, and getting about 8mm of grind edge regardless of how it looks has worked well, so I know a thick bushcraft style blade will deffo work for me and my needs

Just priced up a Jacklore to my spec, and would be around £260 ish


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## al_kaholik (May 22, 2018)

WRENCH said:


>


 I've at least three complete sets and a hand full of spare blades of the Rolls. Even though most of the blades are from the 50s and 60s, they still hold an edge remarkably. Finding one with a stone that isn't broken is often a challenge.

I should dig one out and give it a whirl round again. I think that my straight must be in the same box (post house move x2 in the last few years)

a_k


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

al_kaholik said:


> I've at least three complete sets and a hand full of spare blades of the Rolls. Even though most of the blades are from the 50s and 60s, they still hold an edge remarkably. Finding one with a stone that isn't broken is often a challenge.
> 
> I should dig one out and give it a whirl round again. I think that my straight must be in the same box (post house move x2 in the last few years)
> 
> a_k


 If you take the stone out of the metal frame and mounting it in a custom made box, they work great for sharpening knives.


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## Andy300 (Feb 1, 2018)

This is a cheapo stainless I use a lot when making stuff out of timber, has a hollow grind (which I detest) .. but but still sharpen it as you would a flat grind, and its fairly sharp, but looking forward to a new 02 jobbie :thumbs_up:


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## johnbaz (Jan 30, 2005)

I swapped one of my air rifles and a pistol for these (A BSA Superstar carbine and a Webley Hurricane), The lad was a mate too, He said one of the Spiderco knives was a fake but wasn't sure which!!, Turned out all the the SPiderco ones are fake along with two called Hinderer which i'd never heard of!, Apparently though had they been genuine they would have been a tidy sum to buy, I'd no idea that they were so expensive (The real ones!), Was told by a lad that the two Hinderer and the two Spiderco para Military would have been £1100's worth! :jawdrop1:

Obviously They would have been worth much more than the guns but i'd no idea at the time and felt that i'd been conned so he's no longer a mate!!










I still like them though even though they're cheapo Chinese rip offs! (S'ppose it's like buying the fake Rollies and Pateks!! :blush: )

John


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