Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades 1080 steel?

Local sporting goods shop owner has a grandson that makes knives and one is tempting me, but I'm not sure if its worth the price.

Nice drop point knfe for $159, but its made out of 1080 steel and I've never heard of people using that. It seems a little pricey for a more common steel.

Thoughts guys?

A good design that you like, good craftsmanship, and if he's good at heat treating the steel then I think it would definetely be worth that or more. The steel is only one component of a good knife, a very important part but there is a lot more.

MM

I agree with MM . I would rather have a knife made of 1080 than 1095 knowing how hard it is to properly heat-treat 1095.
Proper edge geometry and the heat treat will make it work just fine.

1080 is great steel. Heat treat means everything.Remember carbon steel rusts.If you take care of your knife's Jump on it!!

If I liked the knife and felt good about the maker's skill (doesn't make any difference to me if he or she is 15 or 50 and I don't have a clue how old the guys grandson is) being made of 1080 wouldn't bother me a bit. I'd give him the $159.00 and be proud that I got a good knife for a good price. You can look at the knife and tell a lot about the quality of the work that went into it. If you have a question about the steel, talk with the maker to see how he heat treats it.

The grandson is an adult and his name is Tyler May and lives in Mississippi or Missouri now. You can find some google references on him.

I think I saw a hand written spec sheet and he's heat treated it to around 55 - 60 RC. Its flat ground and polished or chromed.

I'm suspect of many knife makers after going to gun shows and looking at their pieces. The shape and style catch my eye and you're offering some validation with your posts.

Its hard to justify a second knife when my bark river drop point gunny hunter in CPM 3V for not much more cash.

If his makers mark is "May," I've seen some pictures of his work. It is easy to see why one of his knives caught your eye. He makes some good looking knives.

I understand the difficulty in justifying a new knife especially if you already have one that you like. Sometimes the justification is having one that is yours alone. One that answers what you feel is the perfect knife for the way you use it and there is little chance of seeing another like it. You just do it�. because�

Mathsr,

That is his mark - "May" and it comes up in google.

I'll debate for a while because I have been doing estate work on my parents place and it gets hard to justify adding more stuff when you're working on purging stuff in other places. Hunting in MN where you get one deer for a 3 weekend season doesn't justify having too many knives.

"justify" ??????????
Sounds like a new left wing word to keep something from you.

Having a good back up knife is never a bad idea in my mind.
Some thinking says that the back s/b better than the primary. If the primary fails, you reeeeally need the back up to work.
jmho
Tim

Hey, blade smiths have to eat too, ya know? Keep buying, and doing your part to keep a poor blade smith off the dole.


and 1080 is a fine steel for knives.

Tyler May? Wondering if he is related to Charlie May, who also is in Mississippi?

The Grandfather and Father are located in northern MN and Tyle moved to Missisppi so Charlie May may be a distant connection, but probably not.

Its a nice knife and I need to justify it still. Having said that, I go look at it everytime I swing through the shop so I suspect it will come home. Its just at the price point edge where I know I can get a good steel and need to do my consumer research. I'll never break a blade from use, but I don't want pretty safe queen's either.

As far as Poor knifemakers... There are finacially Poor ones, and then there is Poor craftsmenship too. I'm willing to pay for performance ;-)

When you buy a custom knife , you are buying a hand made item. it's the hand work you are paying for, not the materials. I can sell a Bowie for $600 that has less than 75 worth of steel, brass, stag and glue in it. In fact if I don't count the stag or use maple, I have less than $20 in materials in it. What I do have is labor at less than minimum wage.

True... I just can't justify pating $159 for a knife made out of low performance material. The steel performance must support the appearance quality and I'm asking you guys for input as a consumer wanting to maximize his dollars worth.

No offence intended.. except to the cheesy gun show guys that make knives out of junk.

I'm not sure how the statement "The steel performance must support the appearance quality" would apply to various steels. Performance in a knife blade may mean different things to different people. Some want a blade that will never rust. Some want a blade that will gain a patina over time. Some are all about edge holding and some don't mind sharpening a blade often if it is tough as nails. Some will only look at a forged knife if they are talking about a high performance knife. Others wouldn't think of a forged knife for any reason. You haven't said what you want in a knife and it makes a difference in the steel the maker uses.

If you are going to be comparing the 1080 blade steel to 3V(the steel in your other knife), there are several things to think about. Both will rust, but the blade made of 1080 is going to rust and stain a lot easier than the 3v. If it is polished well, the 3V can almost act like stainless. Both will be tough if properly heat treated. In my experience the 3V will hold an edge much longer than a blade of 1080, but 1080 will take a hair popping edge quickly where a dull 3V blade might take some work. 1080 is a steel that is readily forged and 3V isn't.

Neither are junk steels. They have different properties. You have to decide what you want in a blade steel. These are just some of my views based on 12 years of full time knife making and 50 years of knife use. Yours and others mileage may vary. Hope this helps. If not, sing out, I'll take another shot and I'm sure others will too.

I understand the op's sentiment. If you're going to pay the $ for a custom knife, you'd much rather spend an extra $10-20 for a premium steel vs. a more standard steel.

On the flip side, most of what you're going to get out of a knife is how well it's been shaped, heat treated and sharpened. So the only downside of a more standard steel is you'll have to touch up the blade more frequently.

To me it comes down to how you'll use the knife. If you'll be cutting hours a day with it, it's worth it to get a premium blade that will need to be touched up less often. If however it's a knife you'll use to gut a couple of deer with a year does it really matter if you have to touch it up once a year vs. every other year?