Bar Stock Calculatora free tool from KraftyQuote

CPM-154 for knives

CPM-154 is the powder-metallurgy version of 154CM and, for twenty years, the default stainless for custom fixed blades. Fine carbides, good edge retention, respectable toughness, and it takes a high polish. It needs a kiln, foil, a plate quench and a cold treatment to do it justice.

Heat treat at a glance

Good for	EDC fixed blades, hunters, kitchen knives; anything a customer wants in stainless.
Forging	Do not forge; stock removal only
Normalize	Not applicable — buy annealed
Austenitize	1950–2000 °F, 30 min soak, in foil
Quench	Plates, then cryo or dry ice
Temper	400 °F twice → 60–62 HRC. A 900–1000 °F secondary-hardening temper is possible but Crucible warns it costs corrosion resistance and toughness (sensitization)
Working hardness	58–62 HRC

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

Buying it

Hot-rolled or belt-ground bar 1/16–3/8 in thick, 1–24 in wide, 12–36 in lengths from NJSB; precision-ground 3/32–1/4 in, 1–4 in wide, 18/36 in from Jantz. Priced by the inch.

It is about four times the price of 1084 per pound — the calculator's cost line is where you notice.
Send it out for heat treat if you do not have a kiln; a batch of ten blades is cheap per blade.

Suppliers: New Jersey Steel Baron Alpha Knife Supply Jantz

Work out the bar for your knife in CPM-154

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 CPM-154

EDC / small fixed blade1 1/4 × 1/8 in Paring knife1 × 1/16 in Fillet knife1 × 1/16 in

Questions

CPM-154 or MagnaCut?

MagnaCut is tougher and more corrosion resistant at the same hardness and costs more. CPM-154 is the proven, cheaper, easier-to-polish choice. Either will make a customer happy.

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.