1.4116 Steel Knife Blade Blanks
1.4116, also sold as X50CrMoV15, is the steel we recommend for a first knife. It is forgiving in every way that matters when you are learning: it sharpens on almost any stone, it resists corrosion very well, and it takes abuse without chipping.
We run 1.4116 at 54 to 57 HRC. That is deliberately softer than our premium steels. A softer edge rolls rather than chips, and a rolled edge comes back with a few passes on a strop.
Where it wins
A working kitchen knife that gets used daily and touched up often. A camp knife that will be batoned and pried with. Any blade that lives somewhere damp. And any build where you would rather spend the money on handle material than on steel.
The trade is edge retention: 1.4116 dulls sooner than N690 or the powder steels. If you enjoy sharpening, that is not a real cost. If you would rather sharpen once a season, look at Elmax or M390 instead.
How these blanks are made
After laser cutting, each profile is hand ground in our own workshop on belt grinders, using jigs made for each profile, through 40, 120 and 240 grit. Heat treatment is done at Voestalpine in industrial vacuum furnaces; the mill that made the steel hardens it, with documented cycles and no decarburised surface layer to grind away. Blades ship sharpened unless the order note asks otherwise, ready for handles, with free laser engraving.
New to this? Our guide to turning a blade blank into a finished knife walks through the whole build.
Related categories
Building your first knife? Start with how to turn a blade blank into a finished knife, then read what HRC really means.