Hey all, I am another of the damn newbies trying to make knives. I have been trying to find some SAE 1050 to work with since it is supposed to be fairly simple to harden and temper. The problem seems to be finding the damn stuff. My local Scrap and Steel shop says they can't source it and Nobody on the internet that I have found seems to have it. I want somthing that I can get buy annealed and do a basic water hardening preferably. I'm looking to get bar stock that is better than 1/4 inch for sword material. I used some 3/8 stock mild steel for a test run on a bastard sword and that seems to be a good blank stock to start with. It allows me to whittle away at it and still have a good amount of steel left over when I get done (haven't built a forge yet). So how is O1 for working with? I could put together an oil quench but I don't what to get involved with five to ten hour temperature controlled tempering processes and such. Any advice I can get on easily obtainable stock would be appreciated. Thanks all!
Greyangel