AlNiCo blade?

[rmn]

Hi. I have an AlNiCo magnet. Is it possible to make a knife out of it?

 

[marthinus]

You can shape it into a blade, but it does not have the characteristics of a knife steel we generally want.

A good HRC, Edge rolling resistance, resistance to plastic deformation. All of those characteristics at generally thin geometry.

 

[Mecha]

Alnico magnets: What we know

-Rockwell C scale hardness: 45-55, and relatively brittle
-Good corrosion resistance
-According to the interwebz, "After the heat treatment alnico becomes a composite material, named "precipitation material"—it consists of iron and cobalt rich[9] precipitates in rich-NiAl matrix."

This is the heat-treatment for making a magnet from the alloy, and other heat-treatments could result in different properties.

Conclusion: It's worth it to try to make a light-duty alnico knife, due to hard, toothy precipitates in a softer matrix, plus it would be a magnet knife!

Would you like to know more?