Blade steel from big saw blades ?

[RU shooter]

Found a 16" dia circular saw blade in the scrap bin at work this morning ,It's a modern carbide tip blade and .130 thick . A question for you knife guys would this be hardenable steel suitable for a blade ? If so I'm planning on cutting a few blanks from it on the waterjet if it is blade worthy .

[waksupi]

Lots of people use them for blades.

[EMC45]

Do it. It will work for blade steel.

[MT Gianni]

Get a good outline as you will want as many as possible out of it.

[bob208]

that is what the bucks used when they started making knives. I have made some wicked butcher knives out of power hacksaw blades.

[gwpercle]

Excellent knife steel....cutting out blades on waterjet sounds a lot better than the cutting torch we had to use . Post photo's as process goes along .
I've been a knife guy since I was a little kid ...whittled them out of wood at first .
Later found out Grandfather was blacksmith who made knives ...must be in my DNA .
Gary

[PbHurler]

I have a knife my grandfather made from a saw blade. It stays in the kitchen, I use it for the christening cut on pies.

(I wouldn't dare lose it!, it's too special)

[EMC45]

Found a 16" dia circular saw blade in the scrap bin at work this morning ,It's a modern carbide tip blade and .130 thick . A question for you knife guys would this be hardenable steel suitable for a blade ? If so I'm planning on cutting a few blanks from it on the waterjet if it is blade worthy .

I had a couple old solid (not laminate) Stihl saw bars at the machine shop when I ran Waterjet (Romeo, Calypso) years back that my buddy "nested" a bunch of blanks on them for me that I never got around to cutting out. I ended up quitting and my saw bars stayed in the corner. Probably still there today.

Go for it with the saw blades. They make great knives.

[RU shooter]

Thanks all , maybe a trade of sorts is possible if anyone's interested , send me a drawing of what you want out of this material I can cut it and send it to ya in exchange you can grind an edge on the blade blank I'm planning on making or trade for ?? . I don't have a belt sander and it would take me quite a while with hand files . Pm me if interested I can get quite a few blades outa this thing more than I needor can use.

Tim

[M-Tecs]

Old blades were great, however, the new ones not so much. This applies for both the carbide tip blades and the bi-metal blades. By old I am referring to mid 80's or older. A simple spark test would be the first step.

[RU shooter]

Old blades were great, however, the new ones not so much. This applies for both the carbide tip blades and the bi-metal blades. By old I am refereeing to mid 80's or older. A simple spark test would be the first step.

The lighter/whiter color sparks means higher carbon content correct ?

[LUBEDUDE]

Southern Grind makes these machete knives out of saw blades.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191115/a805accb1199bbfaa2186db498cd3403.jpg

[M-Tecs]

The lighter/whiter color sparks means higher carbon content correct ?

http://www.capeforge.com/Spark%20testing.html

https://www.weldinghandbook.com/types-of-metals/metal-identification/#Metal_Spark_Test


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=parpu3fPF2Q

More on knife making from new blades

https://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?/topic/24037-are-circular-saw-blades-good-for-knife-making/

[Tom W.]

When I worked at the saw mill I made several knives from circular saws. I'd make sure that I tempered them with the torch, watching the blue band going up the blade.

And if you collect enough of the carbide tips there is a place in Michigan that will pay quite a bit for them.

[Drm50]

New saw blades are not good knife stock. The blade is nothing but a tooth holder. The bales with teeth cut into blade are tempered just along cutting edge. Power hacksaw blades are only hard along the cutting edge too. You can see temper line when you polish it. Older blades and specialty blades may be ok. It's best to find out what you have before you waste time with it. I worked in maintence dept of a factory and use to make knives out of power hacksaw blades the new blades will hold a good edge until the design shape leaves the hardened edge. I was always on the hunt for good knife steel but today most blades are common steel except for cutting edge.

[RU shooter]

Yeah this isn't an old blade maybe 5-6 years tops I'll give it the spark test next week when I get back to work

[Tom W.]

That's why they need to be tempered with the torch. If not you'll have a pretty blade just like some of those that Ronco used to sell on the t.v.

[Elkins45]

New saw blades are not good knife stock. The blade is nothing but a tooth holder. The bales with teeth cut into blade are tempered just along cutting edge. Power hacksaw blades are only hard along the cutting edge too. You can see temper line when you polish it. Older blades and specialty blades may be ok. It's best to find out what you have before you waste time with it. I worked in maintence dept of a factory and use to make knives out of power hacksaw blades the new blades will hold a good edge until the design shape leaves the hardened edge. I was always on the hunt for good knife steel but today most blades are common steel except for cutting edge.

This would be my suspicion as well. When the cutting edges were the same steel as the blade body they were made from a hardenable steel, usually something like L6. A carbide tipped blade doesn’t need to be hardenable-that’s what the carbide is there for. I would be surprised if there’s very much carbon in the blade body of a carbide blade.


Old blades were great, however, the new ones not so much. This applies for both the carbide tip blades and the bi-metal blades. By old I am referring to mid 80's or older. A simple spark test would be the first step.

Bi-metal means they braze a hardened edge onto a mild steel back. If you were making a sheepsfoot blade with a straight edge you might be able to use a bi-metal blade.

[knifemaker]

The newer blades with carbide tips are normally low carbon steel and not fit for knife blades. Only the carbide tips are harden to cut longer and the blade body is low carbon steel that is cheap to buy over high carbon steel. Years ago the entire blade were high carbon steel and made very good knives.
I can not understand why some one would use a "mystery steel" to make a knife when he does not know what steel it is and will not know how to heat treat that mystery steel to make a good knife that will hold an edge. If you want to make a good knife, buy a billet of O-1 carbon steel from a supplier. You can get a 18 inch long billet that is 1=1/2 inches wide by 1/8 inch thick for 19 dollars that will make you two hunting knives. O-1 steel is also very forgiving for heat treating and a good steel for a new knife maker to start out using from the beginning.

[rking22]

I have a large carbide tooth circular blade used for degating aluminum castings. I asked the rep for the tooling company about steel spec for the blade body. Trusting my memory here, but I am pretty sure he told me it was 4130. I would be surprised if that isn’t about the best case for a saw blade body, and not something I would make a knife from.
I understand the interest in repurposing scrap steel, but without knowing the specifics heat treat can be an adventure. I have used truck spring (5160), a 10 inch circular saw blade, not carbide, and a file (1095 most likely). The saw blade knives were ok, but they run from easy to sharpen to easy to chip. Was guessing it was a basic tool steel like O1. based on results, it was something else. Usable but not great and I don’t know that I could get repeatable heat treat, tempered to straw color gave best results. I cold ground one place and it is decent. Lots easier to work with a known steel, 5160 is the only scrap available that I feel 90% comfortable knowing what it is.