4 foot round saw mill blade

C

cmrbucks

Joined
Jul 15, 2013
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I am new to knife making I have made a few out of files and some railroad spikes .a friend of mine gave me this huge saw blade if I cut it with a plasma cutter do I need to heat treat it or temper it. help.
 
I have used some of those 4's in the past. I was hot into the black powder shooting and of course the knife and tomahawk thing. I never did or have made a tomahawk but did make and sell quite a few big throwing knives. I'm thinking they were 15" in total length and I heat treated the blade part of the knife. Well, I thought I did.Frank
 
Here's my problem with knives made from sawmill blades: I can talk all day about how great this or that steel is, and why new steel is better than reclaimed, and the pro cooks that I see frequently STILL rave about their sawmill chef knives, from various makers, and they want more.
So I keep making them, and it makes them happy. When they're happy they cook great food, and that makes lots of people happy.

CMR, read the stickies at the top of the forum page, and when you feel you kind of understand basic heat treating, do some testing on your own- all you need is a small strip of the steel. You'll work out a good heat treatment, and eventually make some good knives.
Let us know how it goes!
 
I've got a chopper I made a while back from a 3 footer. While I agree about
known steels, I'm also not crazy enough to say they can't be good steel. I
ground it cool after having a freind slice it up plasma. The handle is sort of a
"rubber micarta" and I'm very happy with it. This one tests a solid 57-58 on
my Rc tester. OAL- 15 1/2"
Ken.
 
Oh- speaking of mill blade, I was just looking at some old practice blades and realized that some of them came from a buzz saw blade that had carbide teeth.
I haven't Rockwell tested them, but one that I kept and some that belong to my kids are known to hold a good edge through hard use.
I've always assumed that mill blades with carbide teeth were 4140 or similar, but I can't imagine 4140 holding an edge like these do. Next step, hardness testing.
 
If I can remember math, you've got 1809 square inches of material. Send out one square inch for testing. Likely you'll have good blade steel, but it will sure help to know what it is. Could be 8670 or a half a dozen other steels.

Or, try a couple heat treats on some small pieces and see what you get. If 1500 for 10 minutes then medium oil won't get it hard, I'd be surprised. If it doesn't get hard enough, try a faster oil, or try 1550.
 
I can't wait to see how it turns out for you. I've been eyeing a similar piece of steel - not free, unfortunately.
 
thanks for the help I think I will try to heat treat a piece this weekend if I edge quench it do I still have to temper it.
 
It wont be hard to tell..We have two large ones right now..one is something like 1080+ nickel the other is something like 8670 I think..It air and work hardens to a big degree so Im sure it has moly in it..
take a strip, normalize it..then bring to about 1475° quench in fast oil..Put some glasses on, place the strip in a vise and tap with a hammer..It will probably snap like glass with a pretty fine grain..if it just bends over then sorry..
 
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