Over time I have built a modest collection of knives both folders and fixed blades. These cover blade steels such as; 440-C; 14C28N; 1095; CPM154; CPM3V; CPMS35VN; N695; N690; D2; and VG10. I'm no metallurgist so I have no intention of getting in to the fine details of composition variations (yet!) but clearly each of these steels has pros and cons in practical application and performance. That said, I think they all perform really well and are all more than capable of forming blades that can do everything a blade should without getting in to the realms of destructive testing and misuse.
However...at this very early stage in my venture in to knife making each of these steels has a fundamental issue in so far as they each require a level of precision in their working, heat treatment and tempering that I am not yet able to deliver not least in terms of not having appropriate processing equipment. Being based in the UK, my research led me to conclude that the only practical option for getting started was to use the tried and tested classic - 01 tool steel.
I have found that 01 ground flat stock is pretty easy to get hold of. Whilst it is perhaps not prohibitively expensive to buy, it is costly enough that I don't want to waste it! This means putting thought in to blade dimensions before buying steel so that I can buy stock in sizes that minimises wastage. In terms of thickness, 3mm currently feels like the optimum for smaller blades in terms of roughing out blanks and heat treating. I think 3mm stock also gives a reasonable balance for strength and slicing ability in smaller knives. I am in the process of making a larger camp knife in 5mm stock but, that is taking some serious elbow grease!
