Best Steel?

[Rich Hale]

A bit about SS blades,,,I can understand how lots of folks are not happy with the sorry ss blades you see alot of,,,but remember ther are a lot of sorry carbon steel blades also. SS blades have to first be made of good knife making steel,,,Something like 440C,,ATS-34..154CM...There are more but I am familiar with these,,,then they have to be heat treated correctly,,Atmospheric contolled oven for the correct time at the proper temps,,then for finishers a crygenic treatment. The whole of that takes ab out 24 hours...Some folks have had succes doing 440C at home but I send it out also,,,,,Then the blade has to be edged correctly, it just does not work with the Apple seed shape that some makers like on a HC steel blade. When all is correct SS has a respected following of hunters and collectors...If you still feel all SS knives are sorry,,,give it another thought ...

[Wadhams]

I'd have to swear by 5160. They are awesome for making plane blades. They cut through knots and never break...Even when used outdoors at sub zero temps! I cannot tell you how many blades I've seen break when used outdoor in the cold northeast. Note to selves...This stuff dosen't weld to iron well, at least not for me anyway. Alot of old plane blades were wrought iron with a steel bit welded for the cutting edge. Steel used to be precious and would be today if you had to make it. Normalizing your blades will make a surperior blade. Don't be afraid to do it 2 to 3 times with 5160. I also temper my blades 2 to 3 times(each for an hour) as well. 350 for an hour, 375-400 for the second tempering and I finish it off at 400-425. This will give a hardness of 58 or 59Rc. Don't wait to temper this stuff after hardening. There's alot of stress in steel after hardening. Why wait and chance dropping it. I've even heard of blades cracking into two or more pieces overnight just sitting on the bench. Then again those folks never normalized. Hmm...Well the point is that I've never had a knife or blade chip or crack that was made out of 5160! Oh well that's a bit more than 2 cents.