Thread: Drill bits for knife making

Originally Posted by hotbarrels

The only negative with O1 is that it is a hypereutectoid steel (carbon >0.8%), which means that to get the most out of it, you need to be able to soak it at a stable temperature of 800-820 deg C for 10-30 minutes to get all the carbon into solution before quenching. For a beginner, this can prove to be difficult, and you run the risk of de-carbing the steel, which will result in a poor hardness.

This is why for beginners, 1084 is ideal as it is a eutectoid steel (carbon ~0.8%), so you heat it up until it becomes non-magnetic and then quench. Because 1084 is so simple to heat treat well, its performance will exceed that of O1 with an average heat treat achieved without a temperature controlled furnace and de-carb paste. Plus, 1084 or 1075 are way cheaper to purchase than O1.

Technically you are completely correct. However, I still have most of my early knives that were heat treated with a short dwell time and they are perfectly serviceable blades. Not as good as my later work with scale protection and a proper furnace, but far better than any knife cut from an old sawblade or made from a file, I never managed to find a good source of 1084 or 1075 in NZ. Availability was the main reason for me choosing to work with O1.