W1 will work fine for knives in fact it is one of my favorite steels to make integrals out of. w1 and w2 are almost the same W1 has 0.25% silicon and w2 has 0.15% of tungsten and 0.25% vanadium according to alphas web site but tool steels are looser alloys in some ways needing to meet a specification rather than a percentage of alloy.

MP

Matthew, thanks. Integrals is what I was going to use it for, I have been using 52100 but wanted to do some with hamons. Landon

Landon, W1 will work fine. Forges well and makes a fine knife. Just slight differences in alloy content. See you in Little Rock.

Brion

One of the best performing steels I've used is W1.

W2 - with that bit of V - is like W1 on steroids. A little bit finer edge and a tad tougher.

I would take a W1 knife over many of the others available out there.

Thank you Karl and Brion, I have not seen W1 mentioned alot, and was not shure how much the alloy diffrences would effect it. Will it take a hammon as well as W2? Brion will be good to visit at Little Rock, Karl hope to see you there also. Landon

Landon, W1 will produce a fine hamon. Parks50 will work great. See you there.

Brion