A36 steel

A36 is actually a high strength structural steel and can be heat treated due to the high carbon level. Nothing mild about it.
 
actually it is mild steel. every steel supplier i have talked to states that it is mild steel. if it wasnt mild steel then we would have been using it a long time ago since it is so widely available. it can be found in any hardware store. all that flat and round stock you see at the hardware store is generaly A36. its a cheap steel that isnt good for knife making.
 
Dont they make some pipes out of that steel?....I thought someone here said that one time

(I remember now, someone made a hollow-handle survival Rambo type knife and said that the handle was this steel but was welded to a 5160 blade....It seemed to work like a charm...)
 
Don't smoke anything. Sales person sent me the wrong info. Have the right stuff now though. At our service center we just call it plate. All is good now I have the correct sheets. When he told me that it had 20 points of carbon in it then It would have been a high strength.
 
When in doubt you could Google and if you need more info ask a metallurgist !!
 
A36 that I have worked with is highly variable in terms of chemistry but is sold as mild steel. It is generally a product of remelted steel and quite often contains anything and everything that could be considered steel. Some A36 I tried to soften or anneal by heating and slow cooling actually got harder and unworkable like an air hardening steel....some of it etches with bright silver streaks and veins like it has stainless in it. Some of it hardens nicely in water or oil depending on what was used to remelt when it was made. Most of it is just steel of unknown and unverifiable chemistry.

Real live 1018 or 1010 of guaranteed or controlled chemistry is a completely different animal in terms of working properties and how it takes a patina than A36. I use it (A36) for guards and fittings and the only thing consitant about it (even pieces out of the same 12' bar....) is that every inch of the stuff is inconsistant. If you need mutt steel for generic purposes then it is just fine but for making blades or steel objects that require relatively precise knowledge of carbon content or alloying elements you don't want A36.

Brian
 
I came on here trying to find out if A36 was any good because I heard this is what Creek Stewart was making his knives from. I cannot believe he would charge 100 bucks or more for a knife forged from this steel. He has them built from a blacksmith out of Kentucky called Reptile Toolworks.Now I see why when you look at the type of steel it claims his knives are made from it simply says "carbon". What do you guys think?

This is the link to Reptile Toolworks that explains the process they claim to use to make each knife.

https://www.reptiletool.works/what-is-a36-carb
 
Sounds like they are carburizing the exterior of the knife. If not the whole exterior then the cutting edge at least. Very very odd decision to go that route.
 
Wow I thought you where joking that someone makes knives out of a36 but hot damn someone does. What thy are doing is carbarizing the steel. Basically heat the blade to a high temp in the presence of a carbon bearing material (old way was antler shavings and carbon powder I think) and the a36 absorbs some carbon into the surface. But just becaus you can harden somthing does not mean it will hold an edge. This has been tryied by others and yes it gets sharp but it was quite lacking in edge retention. And using a36 is crazy because for all intents and purposes it's a mystery steel in that it's alloy is not very defined like say 1018. That's just crazy that he is making blades that way. Also the hard skin is not all that thick and over time you will sharpen it enough to go through it.
 
I've seen bonemeal and ground leather suggested in old literature as well.
Definitely not a way I'd make a knife....
Be cheaper to just buy something simple such as 1070 or 1084 than screw around with that
 
In any case I felt the need to bring this to everyone's attention on here cause I know a lot of people like Creek Stewart.His Whiskey Knives are popular yet very little information was released about the steel they were making the knives with.Messed up thing is they are charging more then some do for good solid 1095. And thank you guys for explaining the process cause I didn't honestly understand.
 
JTknives said:
Wow I thought you where joking that someone makes knives out of a36 but hot damn someone does. What thy are doing is carbarizing the steel. Basically heat the blade to a high temp in the presence of a carbon bearing material (old way was antler shavings and carbon powder I think) and the a36 absorbs some carbon into the surface. But just becaus you can harden somthing does not mean it will hold an edge. This has been tryied by others and yes it gets sharp but it was quite lacking in edge retention. And using a36 is crazy because for all intents and purposes it's a mystery steel in that it's alloy is not very defined like say 1018. That's just crazy that he is making blades that way. Also the hard skin is not all that thick and over time you will sharpen it enough to go through it.
Click to expand...

LOL yeah man I wish I was joking cause I always like Creek Stewart but I guess greed wins in the end sadly.
 
This was a fun and interesting video to watch regarding carburizing iron using tums. You can actually control the depth of the carbon migration with extended soak times at high heats. I'm not at all saying that this a good way to makes knives, but just thought it was still pretty neat seeing the different cross sections of the case hardened iron, which you can see at 8:35 in the video.


~Paul
My YT Channel
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... (It's been a few years since my last upload)
 
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