Just chop up some w2 or 01, 5160 even. Small car coil springs for 5160, pre 1990s metal files for w2/1095. Essentially free material. All available easily from knifemaking suppliers.
I decided to make my own chissel blanks. W1 and W2 are quite hard to get even in the US, NJ steel baron (a lead supplier of knife steels in the US) is usually out of stock. Those steels are simple carbon steel and the German spec number woul be 1.2833 or C100 in the old system. Those you would get only as round stock and very rarelay in small diameters. An alternative would be silver steel. No there is no silver in that steel, it is precision ground to, I think H7 tolerance. It has a silvery, shiny surface, hence the name. Readily available but only round stock but also smaller diameters e.g 6, 7 or 8 mm. So with simple carbon steels or silver steels you either need to forges or have a round chisel blank. I got myself O1 tool steel, which in my opinion is equally suitable for those chissels. (I make knives so I think I can judge) I got flat stock 6x10 mm, my supplier sell at a minimum length of 500 mm. Flat stock can be easily just shaped with a file only, no need of forging. Heat treatment is as simple as with W1/W2, just use oil as a quenchant. Canola / rapeseed oil will do, just preheat the oil to about 80°C
Just chop up some w2 or 01, 5160 even. Small car coil springs for 5160, pre 1990s metal files for w2/1095. Essentially free material. All available easily from knifemaking suppliers.
I decided to make my own chissel blanks. W1 and W2 are quite hard to get even in the US, NJ steel baron (a lead supplier of knife steels in the US) is usually out of stock. Those steels are simple carbon steel and the German spec number woul be 1.2833 or C100 in the old system. Those you would get only as round stock and very rarelay in small diameters. An alternative would be silver steel. No there is no silver in that steel, it is precision ground to, I think H7 tolerance. It has a silvery, shiny surface, hence the name. Readily available but only round stock but also smaller diameters e.g 6, 7 or 8 mm. So with simple carbon steels or silver steels you either need to forges or have a round chisel blank.
I got myself O1 tool steel, which in my opinion is equally suitable for those chissels. (I make knives so I think I can judge) I got flat stock 6x10 mm, my supplier sell at a minimum length of 500 mm.
Flat stock can be easily just shaped with a file only, no need of forging. Heat treatment is as simple as with W1/W2, just use oil as a quenchant. Canola / rapeseed oil will do, just preheat the oil to about 80°C
Thank you.