Need advice /k/
>buying custom made knife
>guy is a metalworker
>told me to draw up my knife
>he does fixed blade only
>he says to ask my choice of metal
What metal should I tell him I want.
He says O1 or 1084 steel.
What am I sposta do
Pic is my work knife
Made him clone a benchmade contego in o1 1/4 stock
I, like probably most people here, have a bunch of knives made from different steels. (some good, some not so good) I would just get one that holds an edge well and doesn't rust easy.
>>29842511
>guy is a metalworker
Stop right there.
Get a guy who's a dedicated knifemaker. Just because he's a metalworker doesn't mean he's good at making knives.
As for what steel, pick what's best for what ever application of the knife you want made.
>>29842511
What knife is this?
>>29842511
If he can into correct heat treat 1084 will perform same as O1
Full flat grind or bust faggot
>>29842511
From the choice of materials he gave you I would guess that he isn't set up to heat treat anymore more complicated than oil or water-quenched steels.
They'll both do well enough. O1 is a tool steel, 1084 is a plain high carbon. If that matters. They're both pretty idiot proof when it comes to heat treat.
I'd chose pic related,but not more than 3mm thick, so it will cut better,and if custom,you won't pry with it,won't you? for steel, i'd say S30V will be good or something better like CPM 3V
>>29843414
You're more likely to receive great results with O1 though which is what I'd go for in this case.
>>29842511
you've come to the wrong place for advice anon.
you'll just get a bunch of conflicting opinions from a handful of idiots who don't know anything
>>29842511
valyrian steel?
1084 is a good steel for beginners due to easy heat treat, which also means I would look elsewhere for a custom knife because most experienced makers move on from 1084 pretty quickly.
If you are really in the market for a custom knife, I would recommend you contact Jerry Fisk and have him make one for you. Don't waste your money on a new knifemaker.
>>29846863
Another option would be to find a good used Bob Loveless hunter.
If you want a custom folder I suggest a hand built Ken Onion or Rick Hinderer.
>>29846863
Jerry Fisk please go.
Larry Fuegen is another maker I would highly recommend.
If you are unsure of exactly what you want in a knife maybe its not time to get a custom yet. Otherwise just tell the guy to pick whichever he thinks is best.
>>29845069
That knife looks neat.
>cpm 3v
I don't see the point of using that steel on a small knife like your pic related.
maybe that fruit loop that makes knifes here can make it for you? i could do the sheth if you need a good quality kydex sheth
>>29846984
Pls post sheths Tommy senpai
>>29847216
this is the custom punisher sheth
>>29847252
Are bringing your mom and aunt to summer nuggetfest to help with the obvious safety concerns?
>>29846984
>>29847252
>Flandre's ban is up
custom zomby skulls sheth, knife is custom hawgswat knife with custom handles by me
>>29847334
we travel together so yes, ant will be driving me there and we hpe to run the meet as usual as we have for many other ones.
>>29845069
>i'd say S30V will be good or something better like CPM 3V
Why on earth would you mention these two steels in the same breath? They almost couldn't be more diametrically opposed in their properties.
Also 3V is pointless in a 3-4" blade knife, ELMAX is strictly better than s30v, and unless you really are desperate for high wear resistance, I'd avoid steels like ELMAX, M390, CTS-XHP, etc in customs anyway.
Branch out, try something in O1, 1095, 52100, AEB-L, etc, because they will have some really amazing properties as they should be heat treated by a custom maker.
>>29848855
>I'd avoid steels like ELMAX, M390, CTS-XHP, etc in customs anyway
Care to explain why?
>>29848895
The heat treat process on a lot of the high alloy stainless steels can be pretty fucking exacting and requires a level of heat which can push the average kiln to it's absolute limit, if the HT is borked then the high end stainless was an absolute waste of time.
>>29849753
If you can't rely on custom makers to take the maximum performance from high end stainless steels, in who or what can you rely?
>>29843411
Not OP, but it looks like this
http://www.knifecenter.com/item/KS1304BW/kershaw-1304bw-own-it-4-piece-set-assisted-opening-blackwash-folder-led-flashlight-mini-tool-and-dog-tag
Model number is on the blade, and it has the KAI logo on it.
>>29849828
Generally you'll find custom makers which will have a pet steel and will become known as proponents for said steel, for eg: Big Chris and CPM-3V, through extended trial and error they will find a HT combo that delivers the results they want, but achieving said results is costly and time consuming and most custom makers don't turn over enough knives to make it worth while, especially seeing as you can achieve spectacular results from various high carbon/tool steels with much more affordable gear.
Even big companies can have dramas getting specialist heat treaters to deliver the results they're after, look at ZT and Elmax, once the company works out the kinks they're golden but someone has to wear the cost. Even in house treaters like Bark River can have troubles and go back to the drawing board with certain applications and you'll see other companies like Busse who have a HT of their pet steel they're super happy with and stick to that steel which performs well despite being a very basic tool steel on paper.
>tl;Dr HT is a butch, excellent results from OK steel are superior to unreliable results from great steel.
>>29850991
I totally get what you're saying and agree with that but at the same time if it was me buying a custom small knife I would want some special snowflake stainless steel and I'm fairly sure that are makers out there than can deliver.
Another question, do you think the big companies(zt, benchmade, spyderco etc) take the maximum performance from the steels like m390, cpm 20cv and such?
>>29851071
>Another question, do you think the big companies(zt, benchmade, spyderco etc) take the maximum performance from the steels like m390, cpm 20cv and such?
Nope, they will always err on the side of caution because there will always be tards that go out of their way to break knives to make a point, same reason we have knives that are unnecessarily thick.
I think for the normal custom maker there's more of a focus on getting really good HT of a steel they know and aiming for significantly better cutting geometry than your run of the mill production knife, so even with, on paper, inferior steel in reality they perform excellently.
There are of course makers who specialise in very high end steels, often this comes at a significant premium though, they have to cover their development costs.
>>29848895
Mainly because I believe those steels are better suited to a production environment due to the difficulty of heat treating some of them precisely without expensive equipment, and because high carbide volume steels tend to suit the kind of thicker blade geometries you get from production makers.
For a custom I would want a very fine grained, low carbide volume steel run at high hardness because those are the kinds of steels and heat treats that tend to take maximum advantage of the thinner geometries and individualized HT attention you tend to get from custom makers.
>>29851071
There is nothing more special snowflake in today's knife market that ultra fine grained low carbide steels at high hardness.
You pretty much will not see steels like O1/1095/52100/AEB-L, etc run at high hardness by production makers. Too hard to run those steels that hard or use most grain size minimization techniques in a production environment.
Not to mention the irrational fetish most production knife buyers have with wear resistance, discouraging production makers from even exploring fine grained steels for the most part.
