Bar Stock Calculatora free tool from KraftyQuote

A2 for knives

A2 is an air-hardening tool steel with 5% chromium: tough, dimensionally stable in heat treat (it barely warps), and slightly more stain-resistant than a carbon steel. It needs a kiln, foil and a plate quench, so it belongs to stock-removal makers with a heat-treat oven.

Heat treat at a glance

Good for	Camp and field knives, big stock-removal blades, woodworking and shop tools.
Forging	Forgeable industrially (1850–2000 °F) but not used by forging bladesmiths — it air hardens
Normalize	Do not normalize; buy annealed
Austenitize	1750–1800 °F, 30–45 min soak, in foil
Quench	Air or plates
Temper	400 °F twice → ~61 HRC; 500 °F → ~60 with more toughness
Working hardness	58–62 HRC

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

Buying it

Precision-ground flat stock from 1/8 to 1/2 in thick, 1–4 in wide.

Cryo or a dry-ice bath after quench converts retained austenite and adds a point of hardness.
Not stainless: 5% chromium gives a little more stain resistance than 1084 or O1, and it will still spot.

Suppliers: New Jersey Steel Baron Alpha Knife Supply Jantz

Work out the bar for your knife in A2

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 A2

Camp knife1 1/2 × 3/16 in EDC / small fixed blade1 1/4 × 1/8 in

Questions

Is A2 stainless?

No — 5% chromium is well short of stainless. It stains a little more slowly than 1084 or O1 and much faster than any true stainless.

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.