"precision is made out of money" - love it!

I love these distilled knowledge videos. Thanks for the practical summary of a complex topic.

Wonderful video. Giving the basic rundown in a simple and straightforward way everyone can understand.

Thanks for the great vids. They really are in a sweet spot for those wanting to expand their knowledge of steel and knives but not overwhelmingly technical.

Very informative Walter. Nicely explained in a simple straightforward manner. Oh and love that “ harder than a bag of chicken livers” 😂😂😂

Walter I just want to say I appreciate your willingness to share tips & info. I live in N. Ireland & it's a nightmare getting good knife steels. I buy it all from England & even then not easy. So videos like this help me define my search. I'm retired so my brain hurts when I use it too much😂😂. Thanks again, Hugo Dale.

I'm using O1 tool steel and I love it. Thanks for sharing.

Brilliant - thanks for that Walter. A great resource to keep coming back to.

Great educational resource. Cheers & thanks. Many knifemakers put up vids but explain nothing. You explain in detail. May your genorosity of time & effort be richly rewarded.

Thanks for the video. You solved many of my questions I had for years!

Thank You Mr. Sorrells One thing that might have thrown a wrench at me was not normalizing after forging. I normalized the next two and found better results in my grinding. Stopped fighting the cracking issues, hopefully.

I was a toolmaker and engineer for 42 years. I have done some screwing around with tool steels. A couple things I want to add if I may. One is about S-7. If you get it up to temp, and quench, you will have to draw it down some. I've tested on RC up to 72. Which means it will be too hard and very brittle. I've never took a regular tool steel up that far. We would either have a vacuum furnace or tool wrap the A-2. It can lose some elements if this isn't done. Be careful of M-42 Cobalt. It will also get too hard and shatter on you. Still the best advice you can get is to keep it simple, and enjoy what you do. I am very much a novice at making knifes, but I enjoy making stuff out of old crap. My Uncle started me out in Blacksmithing when I was 8. I've enjoyed my career and was very lucky to do what I did. I got to work with some very smart people. Now I want to hammer steel, and pass on anything I can. Good video Mr. Sorrells, thank you for posting! Smiles.

This was a very informative video - I even took notes!

Lots of good info in this one. Thanks for the rundown.

For anyone who needs some beginner info on 1084, 1095 and W2, absolutely huge enormous wall of text below... I’m bored clearly, but also I think certain bits of info can make a big difference as they did for me. 1084 is the easiest of that group. It will harden in oil, and it doesn’t require any precision as far as soaking it. You just heat it up and quench it in canola oil (or whatever you have, however I’ve had good luck with heated canola oil, even with 1095). You can easily use 1084 with a small single burner forge, or even a torch I’d imagine. 1095 is a little trickier. 1095 is right on the line between water and oil hardening, it’s “hyper-eutectoid”. This steel needs to be quenched very quickly. I don’t mean that you need to run to the quench from the forge (be brisk though), it just means that it has to drop from around 1300-1400 F to 800-900 F or so in less than a second (google the exact numbers if interested, I forget tbh). This is why people recommend fast quench oil like “Parks 50”. However, water will of course work, and even preheated canola oil will work. I’ve done both. W2 is similar to 1095 in the sense that it has to be quenched quickly. This is no surprise as it’s water hardening steel 2. You can use fast quench oil here, but the only time I’ve done it I’ve used salty (with some dish soap in it also) water, slightly heated. Until recently I haven’t had fast oil available. Keep in mind also that water is a much safer method in terms of your safety and the shop’s, so that’s another thing to consider. 50 quench oil has a low flashpoint, and isn’t exactly edible. It’s also not cheap or easy to obtain. So learning how to use water isn’t a bad idea. W2 I used specifically for a hamon, and it did in fact give a nicer one than the 1095 I have. Keep in mind that with both of these steels it is recommended that you “soak” them, so they aren’t necessarily the easiest steels for just heating something up and quenching it. If you use a forge or similar method, getting it right isn’t as easy as 1084 for example. Your best bet is to get used to the colors, use a magnet, and try to at least get the steel to soak at above critical for a minute or two. Get it to that nice red, non magnetic color where the darker “shadow” spots go away, and let it go a bit higher into a that slightly orange, solid red color and try to hold it there (don’t go hotter at this point if you can, if anything let it slowly go back down a tiny bit, but obviously you have to be around the 1450 area still when you quench). If you can pull this off without over heating it TOO much to start with, it will come out well. You don’t need an oven, it’s just easier. I actually bought a pyrometer with a ceramic thermocouple that can read up to 2200 F, but I found that it doesn’t help all that much without a really good implementation of it. If you can check the temp to get a reference between temp and color, that’s a good use of it I think. However it’s difficult to set it up in a forge that’s open where air moves through and the flame itself touches or doesn’t touch the blade. I think making a small confined section out of steel to put the knife in, where you can then monitor that small area, may work. Also with water leave your grind thick before heat treat, that’s a good way to attempt to avoid cracks and warps. You can safely grind a lot of material after hardening, as long as you have some good belts, a bucket of water, and patience. Don’t wear gloves... if the blade is warm you’ll feel it. Also high quality ceramic lower grit belts like 36 take off more without causing as much heat. This is important to keep in mind. You can take off a lot of steel without the blade even becoming hot to the touch.

Wonderful information for the curious. Thanks

Good video Mr. Sorrells and thank you !

You are a wealth of knowledge and excellent communicator.

Another great video, thank you Sir!

Mahalo Walter! nice video, great information for the beginning smith.

I love Ur Videos! Really feels like i learn a ton watching! Thanks so much! Greetz from Austria

Thank you so much for helping me understand the steel i need for a tool I'm making.

Very informative. Great explanation on different types of steel

I love 01. I'd use it exclusively if it was more rust-resistant. Just look at it wrong and it starts to rust, but what an edge it holds!

Walter, thank you very much! This is probably the most informative video I have ever seen! Kudos, and I will like, subscribe and share. I like all your videos, but in my opinion this is the best one!

Thanks for the redo an update thank 👍🙏

Great information clear and to the point, nicely done. Getting closer to jumping in (no fancy shop tools) hobby, not production.

Great video! Learned a lot

Awesome video, sir.

Very usefull video. Thanks!

I came into this knowing nothing, and left know something :)

Walter, this was a very instructional video and I enjoyed every little bit. An idea for a next video would be types of steel for hammers and tongues.

Thanks Walter for solid info for the would be beginner knife maker.

Some of the best scavangible steel I have some across is snow plow cutting edge pieces. Also have had good luck with woods bushhog mower blades. Both steels are the toughest steel I have ever come across and are easily hardened.

Always great information. Thank you Walter.

Thanks for the info 👍

Great video thanks.

Your videos are excellent.. Thank you so much

Very helpful. Thank you.

Precision is made out of money - I like that!

my local steel place has drops (off cuts) O-1, A-2, D-2, etc at $1.25 / lb (they are typically around $10-13 / lb when bought full price). typically these have been in sizes and shapes.that stock removal guys wouldnt have much use for, but for smiths they are great. definatly worth checking out if your area has an open to the public steel supplier.

Thank you!

"I mean, it's harder than a bag of chicken livers, but it's not hard enough..." LOL Walter. Love ya man.

Great video, I love learning more metallurgy!! Thanks Walter

Very helpful video for a complete lay person! I've got a milk crate full of big dies (30-40#) from a diecutting company that I used to work for and I always wondered if it was suitable for a camp knife. Now I think it must be, so I'm going to hunt around for a local knife maker who might trade the steel for a knife. Wish me luck!

New sub, thanks for the content. I found your video very informative, and look forward to watching more from your channel.

Thank you Walter for your clarification on steel kinds. Sixteen minutes of pure knowledge. Now it deliberately known why tools' steel is not perfect as some of the guys promote it on yt.

I knew nothing ,think I learn some.Thanks you helped

Could do a video like this one talking about CPM series of materials and their differences

S7 and L6 makes good choppers as well

Very,very interesting edition!You probably helped more people than you know.I've been making knives as a hobby for some time and there is a lot more knowledge here than I can say...THANKS!!!

M2 is awesome knife steel. Key is asking them (best have the professionals do this one) to draw back the temper cycle to under full-hard, otherwise you will get chipping if you put too fine of an edge on it.

O1 can be sourced as unground barstock. You don't have to pay for the precision. I was on a site out of Calgary Alberta, that sold it. They sold a variety of thicknesses as well. 1/16", 1/8", 5/32", 3/16", and 1/4". By the foot.

Thank You.

How is the heat treatment with d2? Great video also!

L6 steel was the steel that saw blades were made from before the advent of carbide tipped saw blades. When the lumber industry went to carbide tooling manufactures cut way back on making L6. There is a similar Chromium Nickel steel called 8670 that is available. I have only ever seen it in 3/16 stock so industry must have a very specific use for it. Kind of like you can only find 5160 in .200 or .250. Retired Knife maker John Greco used to use 8670 on a lot of knives.

I am just a knife lover, but different steels have different qualities, so this was interesting to me from that perspective. A-2 and D-2 are common knife steels. Excellent instructions with general basics on steels. When you say M series steel, I presume you do not mean M390. I will check out your knives.

I've made lots of punches and blanking dies out of S7. I've heard of people using it for chisels as well, I'm assuming that would mean it would probably be good for an axe or machete, maybe even a cleaver. Chopping tools. I do have to sharpen them quite frequently though. I'd guess its edge holding ability isn't great but it could just be heavy use.

Thank you for this video! Just getting started into stock removal and got some O1. Was worried when everything I was seeing was talking about a 20-30 soak time. What's your tempering procedure on O1?

A wealth of information in a laid out, bare minimum amount of time. No, bull shit. I call this a win and clicked the thumbs up! Thank you for sharing on behalf the half million metal workers to come in the future.

Thanks for the info. As a woodworker, I'm interested in handplane blades, so O1 should ok. For lathe tools, a HSS such as M2 is probably best. However, my question is about sharing a programmable oven with my daughter who is a glassworker. Do you know of any complications that might occur if steel is processed in the same oven as glass? My daughter is giving me the side-eye about this. She's concerned about cross-contamination of glass with steel residues that may alter the color or hardness of her art pieces.

O1 can air harden some during forging so keep your temps up to prevent cracks. Great list of timeless tool steels! A2 is a great way to get started in the air hardening category but you need a pyrometer (omega online has good stuff) and stainless steel foil (321 is fine but worth saving for 309). Frustration is part of the ride. Be creative and have fun!

How timely. I was just having a long conversation about this. I have very easy access to tool steel locally, but steel like 1095 I have to order. As far as I know. Do you know anyone in the Atlanta area that carries other popular knife making steels? Thanks.

A-6 Tool Steel for swords? Anyone have any experience with this tool steel? And thanks for another great video Walter!

What would be good for a axe head? Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Appreciated Sir.

What would you recommend for blacksmithing tools, my next project is to make the tools i need to make my own hammer. Just starting research now.

Would you need a shock restaurant steel for the head of a throwing axe or is the mass enough that this won't be an issue

Can AR 200 be used for knife making? I really enjoy your channel.

Could you please say something about PM Steels? I bought CPM154 Steel and don’t know much about it...

I have a bar of M2, (that was given to me) on my work bench, that's been there for months now. Every time I look at it, I get nauseous thinking about trying to do anything with it.

What steel would be best for a big game hunting knife? Skinning and cutting meat? Something that holds a good sharp edge and can be easy resharpen in field, that won't chip on bone? Thanks

L6 is used for sawmill bandsaw blades and is 0.75% carbon with 1.75% nickel plus some other alloys, it's great for bush craft knives or for forging with 1084 to make Damascus. Makes great ax heads too that you can leave hard around HR 59. O1 has 0.5% of chrome and tungsten with 0.20% of vanadium which at that % restricts grain growth during heat treat a desirable thing, but if treated correctly you get chromium and tungsten carbides in the carbide matrix. That's why O1 is a great beginner's steel. Heat to 1475 for 15 minutes and you can use canola oil for the quench, then you temper in your oven at 425, let it heat up with the oven, for two hours two times. It will be about Rockwell hard C scale 59-60 which will hold and edge all day without being brittle because of that vanadium and manganese which all the steels have. If you're using a forge you heat until it becomes non-magnetic and hold it there for 5 minutes or so depending upon how hot your forge gets then quench and temper. Not as good as a heat treat oven, but it will be hard.

Walter: I don't care what you do to it, it'll never get hard! Me: *Carburizes it smugly*

what about T1 steel? will that make a good knife, if so how would I go about the heat treat?

with releases like magnacut, there's a strong preference to stainless over stain"full" Tops 154cm sells like hot cakes Can't keep them stocked Esee is releasing more and more in s35vn. People don't want the added maintenance and stress of having to constantly oil a tool or carbon steel blade, keep it dry, and separate from the sheath, and God help you if you're out in the forest with your wrinkler If it starts raining. With 154cm you're good to go

walter thank you for all your utube vids;;;lots of information ;great style;;;watched your vids long before ibecame subscribed;;;true artist;;;;gerard cahill;;;[IRELAND]DUBLIN

you can case harden mild steel

I'm a new subscriber, and found your video very helpful. I'd like to make a couple knives and a drawknife for woodworking. You mentioned 1095 but didn't give much info about it, but that was one I was thinking of using. I'm not on ANY social media so those links don't help me.

I have made hardenable steel out of mild steel. If you want to see how to make files from mild steel watch clickspring make files.

In your experienced opinion, what steel would you say most commercial saw mill planer blades be made of? I have two big planer blades, One will be made into a Kephart blade.

for the life of me i cant rember now the name but a top end knife maker said 1080 and 1085 was in his opinion the best to learn with because it was so forgiving to heat treat

freind of mine hardened an 8670 nickel steel blade in 140 degree water, doing an interrupted quench. blade came out straight and hard with no cracking.he says that hot water cools steel slower than cold water, but faster than ordinary oil.

Hi Walter , I have an old diamond tipped concrete cutting blade to practice knife making , “stock removal” I was under the impression given the nature of the blade it would be hard already. But it bent in the vice. I’ve seen a video a fella quenches in water and god a better result than oil. Could you recommend any tips to heat treat this type of steel?

Just wanted to ask you a quick question about RR spring clips what kind of steel do you think they are made of

I came here after quenching chromoly chisels in mineral oil. Good enough to compete with S7 equivalents. Would gladly use L6 or 1075 steel for chisels if I could find them in the form of bars.

I once made a good knife from a bag of chicken livers! It held an edge rather better than you might expect -- the real problem was that it began to stink eventually, and I had to throw it away.

Walter what is the best stainless steel for a beginner knife that will harden easy

S5 btw is tougher at 60 hardness than any super steel. I used it forging axes.

@ walter sorells what would high alloy mean ive tried but for the life of me cant pin this down i bought a couple of big armstrong wrenches to make stuff out of but want to get the best quality i can without haveing to guess to much for my quench seems it could be water or oil hardened should i just heat a few small pieces and test any advice would be apreciated thankyou for your time in advance

case hardening the welding steel

01 steel for me. Just finished an axe head yesterday.

If by chance you wanted to know what type/kind of steel is used in ie. Flexcut woodcarving tools. How would "you" Walter or whoever is so kind to answer this question, ask the company in a letter or whatever? Mostly they will say "High Carbon Steel". As you know there are a few different types of "High Carbon Steel". Most will not say is a D2 HC content. and Stainless Steel can come in types that are equal to and the quality can go up and down the scale like a musician on the scale. Some would not tell you with a bright light and a rubber hose used on them.

Thank you mr. Sorrells or should I say professors Sorrells. I am currently enrolled at youtube U. I take all your classes lol.

How do you profile your knives? Just put it flat on your grinder?

Would you use h series for hot cut tools?

So what would you say is the best beginner knife steel that I can easily get? I know you went into detail in the video but I’m wondering what you think is the best for me

I challenge you (and everyone) to make a knife from M2 or M3 HSS. That stuff is crazy. You can't anneal it, can't drill it except with a carbide bit, can't harden it, but that's OK, it's 65-68 RC anyway. I made 1 from flat stock, it's easy to sharpen razor sharp and holds an edge better than any steel I have seen. It's a little brittle, but not dangerous unless you do something stupid.

Would metal files/rasps be classified as a tool steel? Or would either files/rasps be suitable for making knives?

1084 is also a great starter steel for heat treating... It's funny if you read all the keyboard cowboys talk about o1... "If you don't heat treat it in an oven, completely controlled, then you aren't doing it right... People that tell you it is an easy heat treat are WRONG!!" I've read that so many times, but I've done it both ways and really didn't see much difference... though heat treating with an oven is my prefered method with all my steel... Great video...take it easy...

Really great! You should really write a book on this subject. tool making (including knives) for noobies. It would certainly not be your first! People buy books because they trust the source.