All of mine were 1084. Once finished there really isn't a good way to know without being told what the steel is. I would recommend you use what you are familiar with and go simple. A simple well made knife looks a lot better than not quite nailing a new technique one knives as important as this set. Good luck!

Pretty much just stick to the steel type you are most familiar with. The performance knife is the one one that matters when it comes to steel type. You are not being tested on metallurgy.

I did, however, choose to have a nice hamon so that required me to use a shallow hardening steel like W2. The other four were 5160.

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I was wondering if I should try to use more than 1 type of steel for my presentation knives. I'm familiar with 5160, 1080, and have recently been playing around with some 0-1. I know that 5160 is difficult to get a non cloudy looking mirror finish but I'm not going to be doing a mirror finish anyway. Just wanted to hear your thoughts. One steel or several?

Great question, I hadn't even thought of it. Thanks for asking.

-Evan

Thanks for the information. This is kinda one of those questions that I never really considered up to this point.

my set had 3 in 1084 1 in 1075 and 1 in w1, I had one in 80crv2 but when i heat treated it I got alloy banding, by the time polished enough to see that it was to late to re heat treat it.

MP

Jared,

I used 1084 and 5160. All were polished to 800 satin. The hamons were visible, but not etched and polished. I did not want to be graded on my ability to properly polish a hamon. Enough to worry about on fit, finish, and symmetry.

Best of luck,

Bob

Use the steel(s) that you are most familiar and comfortable with. Over the years I have seen many folks who either tried a "new" steel, or new techniques, and most of the time it bites them in the rear end.

Presentation testing IS NOT the time to "try" something new. Again, I've seen many try to "impress" the judges by trying something they'd not done before....and they did it poorly, and they failed.

What you have to remember is..... the people who are judging your knives are ALL Mastersmiths. Anything you can do, they have either already done, or a least tried. If you want to impress the judges, create simple designs, and execute them to the Nth degree. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />