Question about steel

[starmac]

I have heard that old wore out chainsaw bars is good steel for knives. Is this true, or a wives tale?

[Any Cal.]

People made knives out of them, but they were low carbon and really soft. It was easy to shape, a buddy did one up w/ a broken piece of grinder wheel. If you build it, then get the whole thing red hot and water quench, you might get the edge a bit hard. Seems like a fun project if you have lots of time and aren't worried about the finished product.

Maybe look for old ways of making them, their may be a technique of burning oil off over them or something that would give it a case hardening of sorts. Wouldn't be any worse than the cheap stainless flea market knives in any case, and the stock is large enough to build some big sword type stuff with.

[km101]

Chainsaw bars are generally pretty soft, and they are two pieces of steel riveted or welded together. So they are usually too thin when seperated to be good blade stock. And I dont know if it would heat-treat well.

If you are looking for steel from readily available items, old files are a good choice. They are made from good steel and can be hardened after you get the proper shape.

[429421Cowboy]

In addition to old files, circular saw blades also generally make good blade stock, from small knives out of a smaller blade on up to big stuff if you can find any from an old sawmill. I have seen several beautiful knives made out of folded chainsaw chains, but never a bar.

[inthebeech]

Lawn mower blades - usually L-6 Tool steel. Very tough, easy to HT but tough to get a razor edge.
Nicolson and Simmons files- W1 or W2 Tool steel. Excellent material but heat treatment is a challenge (warpage) not as much of an issue with thick and/or short blades.
Rear leaf springs from Ford Trucks - 5160 and my steel of choice. Fantastic.
Front coil springs (when they used this design) from Chevy trucks - 5160
Bearing balls and races IF THEY RUST - AISI 5210 - another excellent steel and one that some smiths hold superior to 5160.
Harrow tines - My estimation is tha they are 1080-1084. Fantastic steel and much underated. If you know how to take care of your sporting equipment, you need little more than this for a blade.

Enjoy.

[Gelandangan]

You guys in the USA have much easier way to get steel than us in Oz.

Why use unknown steel if the correct steel can be obtained so easily and not too costly?

There are practically no supplier of blade steel in Australia thus we have to use recycled steel, they are okay but not satisfactory.
Just this January AustralianBladeForums do a 1000 lbs steel group buy to supply our needs, thats the only way we could cut down on the astronomical shipping costs.
We get our steel from Nj Baron in New Jersey.
Fairly good prices.

Btw, new mower blades are no longer made of L6, new truck spring are no longer made of 5160, nor does the new ball bearing cases 52100.
If you going to spend hours in making a blade, you may want to use material that at least you are sure off.

[Tim357]

Power hacksaw blades

[Michael J. Spangler]

njsteelbaron.com

call aldo and tell him i sent you. better yet ask for peter his son, he handles the orders.

you can have some good steel for short money. buy some 1084 or something similar and you won't be upset.

[leftiye]

O-1 tool steel makes tough sharp blades (and will rust). Ball bearings used to be o-1. Many of the steels for drills, chisels, etc. including O-1 (oil hardening series), A series, W series, D series, and others can be bought in small (18 -36 inch ) bars and rods from Manhattan Industrial Supply Co. (MSC).

[Lefty SRH]

I used A-2 for my blade steel. I use A-2 because I am used to working with it for the past 15yrs being a tool & die maker. Its easily bought (flat ground form) from McMaster Carr. I was very satisfied with the edge it held for a hunting use knife. I typically heat treated the bldes to 58 Rc.

[Mohillbilly]

I,ve been using Monoleaf springs fron Chevy cars and trucks made in the 70s and 80s ...

[Outpost75]

Old style flat vehicle load suspension springs from junked cars and trucks work great if you are handy with a blacksmith's forge to heat, beat, reshape, quench and draw to proper temper.

[Michael J. Spangler]

carbon steel is cheap. check out alphaknifesupply.com or admiralsteel.com

you can start with a known piece of steel and have great results. takes the guess work out

[w5pv]

Common rebar that is used in slabs is an excellent source of cheap high carbon steel,if you harden it in oil you will have to draw it back to be usable or it will crack or even shatter or break.I am no blacksmith and don't pretend to be one but I have several punches,chisels and pry bars made from rebar.

[giericd]

the trick with rebar is to only work it when it is yellow-orangered. when you work that metal when it cools to red in color it will crack, you might not even see it but cracks will be forming with in it and result in a weak blade. keep the temp around bright orange-yellow and it will work just fine, oil quench and man thats hard steel! tough to file on but once you obtain the edge, it keeps it. I make a lot of stuff out of rebar- my prefered meal to work with. also with rebar if you keep the heat up and work the metal good evry little rust will form. I made a simple fire poker and worked that metal real good, reduced (draw) to half its original round diameter and worked in to square stock. That thing has been sitting out side for 2 years in the Florida rain and there are only 2 little spots that get a little powder rust forming, the rest looks perfect.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I would guess that chainsaw bars are made of different metals by different manufacturers, but nobody can afford to make truck springs less durable than they used to be. Older ones, at least, may not be quite the best edge-holding carbon steel around, but they are good enough for most applications, and Australia ought to have an archaeological stratum of truck springs by now. I've just watched the First World War series "Anzacs" on DVD, and it is amazing what ancient wrecks they found in the 80s in ancient scrapyards.

For just playing around and testing ideas, scrapyard steel can be very useful. But when we consider the time and effort that goes into a really fine blade, especially for the amateur with limited facilities, it is a false economy to attempt the job on the cheap. Good knife steel is worth buying. I am sure O1and probably a good carbon steel such as 1095 are available in Australia. (A point worth noting in web searches is that some people type the letter O in O1 (which it is, for oil hardening), and some people type a numeral 0.

Files are an excellent steel for knifemaking, and very often are 1095. But the teeth are made by a scoring process, which may create cracks a little deeper than the tooth itself. It is a good idea to grind or belt-sand to a smooth surfaced bar before you succeed, rub black felt-tip on and off, and then examine it with a good lens.

I have found http://www.jantzsupply.com/ very good for materials of all kinds. It is a great pity that US postal rates overseas have gone up so much in recent years. But probably someone who wants to buy in bulk can arrange cheaper freight of some kind.

[olafhardt]

Well, you can always buy an Old Hickory 7" butcher knife for less than $10 at most Hardware stores. They are 1095.

[b money]

Like others have said just use bar stock on your first knife(you'll thank us later) then maybe use old files, rail road spikes, leaf springs, saw blades etc.

1095 is one of the "go to" carbon blade steels with 1084 being a slighly cheaper alternative.
O1 is almost double the cost of 1095 but it is a tool steel and holds a good edge. It is oil hardening but you can send it off for about $25 and have the blade professionally heat treated and not have to worry about warpage.
W1, W2, A2, D2 are all very good choices for carbon knives all with good and bad qualitys. Keep in mind older Nicholson files where made out of W2 now they are made out of 1095.

I myself am in the process of making a knife and I picked O1. Believe me if your working by hand it will take a long time. Even using a mill to speed part of the rough sanding process up took awhile. A2 can also be a pain to machine. But then again any tool steel/good knife steel will be a bit tougher to work with then your average hot rolled.

[xd45forever]

Old plow shares are generally 1080. If you go to any farm,implement dealer or farm equipment salvage you should be able to pick up all you would ever need cheap! Probably old grader blades would be 1080!