So, you want to try a new (to you) steel, or you are just starting out the question is what to do. I never really found the answer to this in the Bladesmithing books I have, including Introduction to Bladesmithing. Shown in the picture is the minimum you need to try new steels. I just bought a piece of ‘Silver Steel’ to try from Pops Knife Supply and figured I would wire a little what-to-do guide for what to do when you get a new kind of steel. I bought a 25mm x 1 M round, but they sell a .98’x 3 39.5’ but they also sell a 20mmx1m .78’x39.5’. However, they also only had rounds, and I like working rounds. Generally, when I try a new steel, I will buy a 12’x 1.5’ 1/4^th’ bar. And make several little knives out of it.(To Be honest I when I was first starting out, I just hammered on it with no other thought.)

1: before you even light your forge (likely well, waiting for it to be delivered of your new steel) look up the specification and heat treatment data from the supplier. Pops has some basic info on how to heat treat their steels on the website Silver Steel is known as Werkstoff 1.2210 and heat treats similar to 80CRV2. but I wanted a little more information, so I looked the steel up on a handy free app called Heat Treaters Guide by the American Heat treatment society and did not find it…Because it’s a British alloy specification. So I then opened another handy app Called Knife Steel Chart I got from Zknife.com (you can download it from the website to your phone), which gives you Equivalents to the steels in several different designations. Since we are using an American heat treatment guide, we want the ASIS equivalent steel, which lists L2* with a note saying makers list this as a similar or replacement alloy. With that found, I looked up L2 (which is also listed as 80crv2 on the knife steel chart.) if you have a kiln next, check NJSB’s heat treatment section…they list 80CrV2… there's your heat treatment plan…If you have a Kiln or other major heat treatment equipment… which I don’t.

2. ok, you have your steel, and you have the heat treatment data. You still have more to do even if you have your heat treatment plan. You need to see how it forges. My 1-inch width tongs need replacement, so I welded about ½’ of round (it might have been ½’) to a holding stick and drew it down to about 8’x1/2’x1/4’ ( 2cm x 20x Cm x 5mm) round and cut it into eight pieces(hot cut, angle grinder/chop saw/bandsaw whatever you prefer to use to cut material) and do some heat treatment tests to see if I could get fine grain well using my temperature gun to check the temp. I learned I couldn’t leave it to sit stagnant and needed to do four thermal cycles to glowing red to get a fine grain quenching at the water quenching temperature on the Heat treatment app's number at about 1480F (248 C), which was in the recommended hardening range for the steel. The purpose of doing this is to get a feel for the steel. Also once you have a  piece with fine grain...get it shiny (40 grit is fine) and etch it if you got it to do pattern welding to see if it etches bright or dark.

3. The next step should be taking 1’ inch of round or about 2’ of bar stock and making a small knife like the ones shown. However, I just took about 6 inches and made the big knife shown. I also learned you don’t furnace cool this steel, as that’s how I broke the chunk when I went to mark it to drill it. (It drilled beautifully after 3 dull red thermal cycles times as I did it by eye. You should check with the temperature gun, though). The reason for making small knives first is this reason. (You can get about 3-6 small blades like the ones shown out of 12’x 1.5’x ¼’ of steel and a lot more out of 12’ inches of 1’ round stock. So make a few blades from that bar before the next step I set these up for a paracord wrap, but you can do hidden tang)

4. I have yet to get to this part, but next is Heat Treat the Knife. I am going to clay the steel as I learned about pops selling this from Walter Sorrells's video, The Chef's Ultimate Tool! Forging an Integral for Pop's Project of the Month that it will take a hamon. I am obsessed with Hamons, so I want to see how it takes one in a controlled way. However, it also does not hurt anything if it’s shallow hardening steel to see if it will take a hamon and what it looks like. Otherwise, just heat to the right temperature (that Temperature gun comes in handy) and quench it in your preferred quenching Media…claying is also optional, but if you clay it, here are some tips for a simple hamon. 1. Do not have a sharp termination of the clay or you will likely crack that steel. 2. Have the tang end cut off about ¼’(1cm) into the Ricasso, and have the clay stop at half the blade bevel end 3. Do not time the quench when your quenching media stops boiling (oil will bubble vigorously) it's ready to come out. Of course, having a kiln makes this part a lot easier with the heat treatment sheets. But if you're doing it in a forge, that’s another matter. Also, the steel may not like agitation as it might be sensitive to cooling rates and crack.

5. if it did not crack polish it up and mount it. 

By taking these steps, you should know if you like steel and, hopefully any of its little finicky points.

so i hope this helps some of you new to the craft which is why I put it here and Please add to this if you think more should be done when you get a new steel to try out.