Bladesmithing Materials

The beauty of stock removal is that you’re not limited to alloys that move well at typical forging temperatures. We recommend O1, oil-hardening tool steel, as a good choice for stock removal blades. If you are looking towards Stainless Steel for a kitchen knife, we would point you to our 440C as an option. Both options require proper heat treatment for success.

While there is no definitive best steel for forging knives, your choice will depend heavily on your end goal and preferences. Our most popular choices are our tool steels as they are hard and durable with the ability to hold an edge under heat and pressure:

• W1 (water-hardening steel) is great for outdoor knives as it forges easily, is easy to heat-treat, performs well, and finishes nicely.
• O1 (oil-hardening steel) is a general-purpose tool steel and is perfect for knife blades due to its excellent abrasion resistance, toughness, and machinability characteristics.
• A2 (air-hardening steel) is not as hard with lower carbon content but is a fine grain, superior quality steel which has excellent wear and abrasion resistance properties.
• D2 has high-carbon, and high-chromium properties, resulting in high wear and abrasion resistance. When looking for the best steel for a knife, D2 is a great option as it is cheaper than specialty steels and possesses a similar high quality.

We recommend stainless steel, more specifically 440C, as it is highly corrosion resistant and requires the least about of maintenance to keep in good condition. While there are more specialty options available, 440C is a reliable inexpensive option for you to get started with right away!

First, let’s briefly explain what Damascus steel is. Its most notable features are the contrast of light and dark metal color creating a wavy pattern and its hardness and flexibility. If you’re looking to make a Damascus blade, you’ll need 2 types of steel: high carbon steel and high nickel steel. One of the most common pairings is high carbon steel like 1084/1095 and 15n20 high-nickel steel as they weld well together (We don’t currently offer these steels). An additional method for making Damascus is Canister Damascus, which would require square tube stock, metal powder, and our 52100 Chrome ball bearings.

Heat treating is a part of the knife-making process that is designed to help harden the steel of the blade for use. Most steels provided by Online Metals aren’t pre-hardened, so you will need to have a plan when it comes to heat treatment.