Metal question

[TroyH]

Was looking online at knife supply place and found already annealed steel.  Does this mean I wouldn't have to go through the annealing process, our would I need to soften it to work with and then anneal it.  Obviously I am new at this.  
Also, what is your favorite knife building supply place?
Thanks,

[RGK]

Annealed means already soft and you can easily shape and drill the metal. After your finished working the steel, you would then heat treat (based on what the metal is) and then temper to relieve the stresses from the heat treat. What metal are you using?

[TroyH]

Ok, I misunderstood the terms.  I thought annealing was the entire process, not just the softening.  My error, and that clears up a lot.
I don't presently have any that I am working with, well, I had a saw blade, but it turned out too weak.  That is why I was looking online for some metal at a knife building supply store.  What I saw was annealed high carbon 1095 steel or annealed 440C stainless.  I know either would be a good choice.

[kbaknife]

Heat treating is the "process" from beginning to end.
Annealing, if necessary might be the first step.
Followed by hardening.
Followed by tempering.
There are also numerous and various quenches, not only for hardening but also for grain structure manipulation, thermal cycling, stress relieving steps, grain size reducing proceedures, etc., dependant upon what steel is used.
Using the word "metal" when referring to knife steel always makes me cringe!
When I hear the word "metal" I think of what  my mailbox is made of.

[JMR]

I had real good luck with Jantz knifemaking supply. I looked online at what I wanted and then called the next day to order. Had my steel in a couple of days and so far have been pleased with it.

[theunluckyhunter]

unless you are absolutely determined you cant do the heat treating yourself dont get stainless. you can't HT stainless in a little garage forge

[chiger]

Hey Pastor,

JMR is right.  Jantz is good.  Admrial Steel (a lot of choices, but high on some stuff, cheaper on other), Texasknife.com (Texas Knifemakers Supply online...pretty good selection and competitively priced), flatground.com (not a lot of choices, but good prices on some stuff), onlinemetals.com (pretty good selections of all kinds of metal including knife grade STEEL Karl and competitively priced on most of it)...the list goes on and on.  Some ship right away some will jerk you around a little.  It's just like anything else.  Look around, compare prices, shipping promise dates and you'll be ok.  

Are you planing on trying to home heat treat Pastor?  And are you going to try and forge your blades?  Because, being an admitted novice, it will effect which steel you should probably start with.  

You can't get my favorite steels W1 and W2 in flat bar any more, but you can get it in round bar.  If you are forging. round bar is fine.  And it's a very dependable, simple water quench steel. Very easy to heat treat and quench safely.  About everything else requires a heated oil for a novice to quench safely.  

Then there is the fact that some grades of steel respond better to a rookies hammer than others.  I think Karl uses a 5160 mostly for his amazing blades because it's a great blade steel, but I wouldn't recommend it for the novice forger or stock removal maker.  It can be tricky to treat at home properly because of strict temp requirements, especially if your not forging.  It needs several heating and cooling cycles to get the steel's grain to grow right.  Kind of tough for the rookie.

As Karl pointed out, there is a lot that can go into making even a decent blade beyond just good steel.

If you plan on paying the 8-10 bucks per blade to have them heat treated...never mind!?  You can use about anything, cause heat treat will be somebody else's headache.  ;~0

If your planing on home heat treat or forging...we need to talk bout this a mite!  ;~)

[TroyH]

Chiger,
To answer your questions, yes I will be home heat treating but not forging, so I do want to keep it simple.
I thought 1095 flat steel would be a good choice, but if you have something better in mind, by all means, toss it out.
I appreciate any info that I can get.

[RGK]

For a beginner, 01 flat ground tool steel would be a good choice. You can't screw up the heat treating and you only need veg. oil as the quenchant. Temper in a toaster oven.

[TroyH]

Ok, so 01 is would be a good choice to begin with.
What about 1018 or 1095?
Is 01 a better choice to begin with?

[TroyH]

ttt

[theunluckyhunter]

o-1 costs more but is idiot proof, 1095 is very close though. i would go with 1095 purely because of price.

i just got 12 feet of 1/8 1095 to my door for undr $50

[Toecutter]

Unlucky,  If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the 1095 from??  Don't really need any, but at that price I can convince myself  :D  
Also, what was the width??

Thanks, Nathan

[chiger]

Hey Pastor,

The guys are right.  O1 is like the oil quench version of W1.  It's pretty hard to mess it up if you just follow the rules.  

Ah, don't think you meant 1018 did ya.  1018 is only .18% carbon and won't harden into a serviceable blade.  It's structural grade steel.  1095 is good, .95% carbon.  Hardens well and makes a pretty good blade.  You can use 1080 or better yet 1084...if you can find it.  

All 10** series steels are shallow harding steels, but 1072, 1084 have some stuff added that make it a little better for knife blades.  But 1080 and 1095 get really hard and make good blades.  

O1 actually makes a better/tougher blade since it is actually intended to be oil quenched, but the cost is a little more.  If you make a mistake, it's more money lost.  

10** series steels are actually suppose to be water quench steels, but it's extremely hard to do without cracking blades.  They are very easy to get good results with oil quench and most people couldn't tell the difference.  And if you make a mistake...you haven't wrecked as many dollars as with some of the high price deep hardening oil quench steels.  

Hope that's what you were lookin' for.  Can't wait to see what you do.