steel from solingen

Hi! I'm new here in this forum and in the world of knife making. Is anybody tell me about steel from Solingen? How can I get them? Are they high carbon steel? Basically I'm trying to look for the best metal that I could make my knife blades and I'm groping arround. Dimensions would be 1/8x1x?????. Pls. somebody tell me about this steel from Solingen. Is there a web site that i could visit? I don't like stainless steel!

poco4, much of the steel from Solingen (a town in Germany) is indeed stainless.

Among knifemakers and collectors, stainless does not have the bad reputation that it did a decade or two ago. It used to be synonymous with "inferior." Today, stainless knife blade steels include high alloy tool steels like ATS34, BG42, CPM440V, AUS8 and several others that make fine blades indeed. If you are really looking for the *best* steel for your blades, don't rule out stainless.

Check out Admiral Steel's website for a look at some of the varieties available.

Other options you might consider in the high carbon tool steels include O1, D2, and others. Again, available from Admiral and other suppliers.

You should also have a look at RWL-34. It is a sweedish produced steel similar to ATS-34 but in powderconstruction. It is an excellent steel. It is available from Damasteeldealers. Try www.downieknives.com/