Sgian Dubh blades; opinions?

[Old Hippie]

I've had good luck with an ATS-34 blade (stainless) sgian, though I prefer carbon steel (5160 or 1084).

I don't mean to be dishing on stainless. Made a few blades in it, myself. I just find stainless stock to be a cast-iron bugger to work. I like a good tough blade that tests right on Rc 60. I started using A2 back in 1990. It's not a good choice for big blades, but for small ones it's aces.

The downside is you either have to flood the kiln with nitrogen or wrap the blade tightly in stainless foil before heat-treating. Or send it to a specialist, in which case a nice small blade is an advantage because they won't charge you an arm and a leg to do the work, as it fits in a smaller kiln.

Been looking at some pre-made sgian blades, myself, thinking about an addition to the "armoury."

:ootd: