Another "what kind of steel is it" question...

[i4Marc]

Just had a very long talk with a guy from the power company who was clearing out a corridor through my property. I was not happy, but that is a separate discussion for another place. He was a very nice guy though and just doing his job. In the course of our discussion it came up that I make knives so he offered me a saw blade he had in his truck which had damaged teeth. Yes, I know they can replace the teeth but he was being nice and gave me the blade. It is a 24" x .180 x .260 forestry blade for a Jarraff. Does anyone know what kind of steel these things are made from?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Steel

 

[Juha Perttula]

I guess it is pretty close to 1075. Perhaps it has also Cr, Ni or V alloying. Anyway, it is suitable for knife making.

 

[i4Marc]

I'm trying to reach out to sellers and manufacturers of these types of blades for a better idea of the composition but no luck so far. I typically do not work with found steel or junk steel. But it would be good to know what it is made from just the same.

 

[Ken H>]

I typically do not work with found steel or junk steel.

That is a lesson I learned the hard way. When I started knifemaking it was forging all this "unknown" steel. I made several " pretty good" knives, but did have a couple with tiny cracks showing after forging when I started cleaning up on the grinder. With much reading (thank ya'll on the forum) I finally learned that old fatigued steel can develop micro cracks that don't show up until after much forging. With the exception of a favor to somebody that wants a knife forged from Grandpa's old (insert name here), I tend to use "known" steel. Seems to be the cheapest knife material

 

[i4Marc]

I don't generally use the found steel for knives but it can come in handy for when I'm making tools for myself in order to get other work done. For instance, I use pieces of coil spring to make punches, broaches, chisels and other small tooling to use around the shop. Who knows what I might use the saw blade for but I can't use it if I don't know how to heat treat it.

 

[Robert Dark]

It's always a guessing game with unknown stuff, but it's always fun to play with if you have the time and inclination. I usually spark test it and if I like the results, then I may spend the time and energy to try heat treating a few coupons at different temps and tempers to see what crops up.

But then again............ We both know that it's always better to use known materials.