Calculator › Steels › 80CrV2
80CrV2 is 1080 with a little chromium and vanadium, which gives a finer grain and noticeably more toughness at the same hardness. It heat treats almost as easily as 1084, hardens in medium oil, and has become the default choice for big knives and for kitchen knives that need to survive a dishwasher-owning customer.
| Good for | Camp knives, bowies, kukris, choppers; also excellent thin kitchen knives. |
|---|---|
| Forging | No hotter than 2100 °F |
| Normalize | 1650 / 1500 / 1350 °F, 10–15 min each, air cool between (NJSB); or a single 1550–1600 °F normalize plus a 1400 °F cycle (Knife Steel Nerds) |
| Austenitize | 1500–1525 °F, 10 min soak (longer for stock over 1/8 in) |
| Quench | Fast or medium oil — Parks 50, AAA, or an 11-second oil; toughness tested the same in all of them |
| Temper | 400 °F twice → 60–61 HRC; 450 °F → 57–58 with peak toughness. Don't go above 450 |
| Working hardness | 58–61 HRC |
Typical shop values. Confirm against your supplier's datasheet.
Flat bar from 3/32 to 1/4 in thick and 1 to 2 in wide, usually 18–48 in lengths.
Suppliers: New Jersey Steel Baron Alpha Knife Supply Jantz
Stock removal: the bar is cut to blade + tang + clean-up, so the tang section and forged thickness below only change the finished-weight estimate. Switch to Forged and they change the stock length too.
Tang dimensions are estimated from the tang style until you change them. Measuring yours is worth doing — a forged blank's length depends on the tang's cross-section, not on what the tang is called.
Stock removal: fill factors only change the finished-weight estimate here. They set the stock length when the method is Forged. Grinding loss has no effect at all in stock removal — the bar is cut straight to the profile, nothing is drawn out.
The fraction of the blade's and tang's bounding box that is actually steel once the bevels are ground. Distal taper is factored in separately now (see "Distal taper" below, under What this assumed) and isn't editable here yet — these two fill factors are the ones worth replacing with your own measurements: weigh a finished blade, then adjust until the finished weight below matches the scale.
Steel is only part of the cost. Add abrasives, handle, heat treat and your time, and see the price that actually pays you.
Copy link to this calculationTougher at the same hardness and finer grained, for a small premium and a slightly longer soak. For a big knife, yes; for a first knife, 1084 is simpler.
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.