Bar Stock Calculatora free tool from KraftyQuote

1095 for knives

1095 is the higher-carbon sibling of 1084. It can get a point or two harder and holds an edge a little longer, but it is shallow hardening and has a very short window to get below the nose of the curve, so it needs a fast quench — Parks 50, or brine for anything over 1/8 in — to reach full hardness. Canola will leave it soft.

Heat treat at a glance

Good for	Stock-removal knives where you have a fast quenchant; kitchen and hunting knives; hamons.
Forging	Up to ~2100 °F; stop at 1500 °F. Cracks if worked cold.
Normalize	1650 / 1500 / 1350 °F (NJSB); Cashen uses a single 1575 °F
Austenitize	1450–1475 °F, 5–15 min — no higher
Quench	Fast — Parks 50; brine or water for sections over 1/8 in. Canola will not fully harden it
Temper	400 °F twice → 60–61 HRC
Working hardness	59–63 HRC

Typical shop values. Confirm against your supplier's datasheet.

Buying it

Widely sold as annealed flat bar and as precision-ground stock in 1/8–1/4 in; often the cheapest 'knife steel' at general suppliers.

Big cross-sections (over 1/4 in) will not through-harden — that is a feature for a hamon and a bug for a chopper.
Retained decarb is thicker than 1084; grind it off before you judge hardness.

Suppliers: New Jersey Steel Baron Alpha Knife Supply Jantz

Work out the bar for your knife in 1095

Your knife

Method

Blade length

Blade height at ricasso

Spine thickness (finished)

Tang length

Tang style

Steel

Price per lb (edit to match your supplier)

$/lb

Advanced: allowances & bar lengths

Forging / grinding allowance

Forged: scale, decarb and clean-up (10–15%). Stock removal: extra length for layout (about 5%).

Cut-off per blade

Saw kerf plus the stub you can't use.

Forged thickness

Forging to shape, then grinding the spine to size? Go one size up.

Buy this bar

Recommended stock

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Stock per blade

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Steel weight per blade

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Finished blade weight

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Steel cost per blade

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Waste

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Minimum bar length

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Bar length	Blades	Bar cost	Per blade	Left over

What should I charge for this knife? →

Steel is only part of the cost. Add abrasives, handle, heat treat and your time, and see the price that actually pays you.

or skip ahead and save it as a quote in KraftyQuote

Knives to make from 1095

Drop point hunter1 1/4 × 3/16 in EDC / small fixed blade1 1/4 × 1/8 in Paring knife1 × 1/16 in

Questions

1084 or 1095 for a beginner?

1084. 1095 only beats it if you have a fast quench oil and a kiln; in a forge with canola, 1084 will come out harder and more consistent. Austenitize 1095 at 1450–1475 °F, not higher.

Free: the one-page stock size chart

Bar sizes for ten common knife patterns, weight per inch for every standard flat bar, and quick heat-treat numbers for the usual carbon steels. Print it, tape it to the grinder.