Recommendation? Attempting to craft 7" blade from unknown steel

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Jun 30, 2017
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Hello all, I found some very dense mystery metal on the road, guessing it was either discarded or fell out of the back of a truck. I've created a 7" blade profile from it, and so far the shaping hasn't been TOO difficult. That's all I've accomplished so far, haven't began to heat treat, mostly because I have no idea how to, which is also why I'm here posting this. It will be my first knife ever, and I'd like to not lose any digits while doing this if at all possible. My question for the experienced: what do I do next, and what is the process?
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You don't want to her this, and you may well ignore it, but:
Trying to HT that blade is very likely to be a waste of time. It has many more chances of not being a hardenable steel than one that will harden.
Even if it will harden,you have no idea what alloy it is, so don't know the HT regime.

Your best path is to get a piece of O-1 or 1084 and start fresh.

Now, if you are bound and determined to try a HT, use the regime for 1084. You will find it in the stickys under Heat Treatment.
 
It was really hard to cut this stuff with my chop-saw, and by the time I got the diamond through it, the bit that was cut from it was cherry red. Also, any material removal from it with a grinder took quite a while. The only effort that wasn't all that terrible, was when I put a couple of cobalt bits through it from work. Took about ten minutes to chew through with my 5/16, but once I was done, same effect. Hot and red as hell. Any suggestions? Like, maybe I got super lucky and this is already hardened, or maybe I'm just hoping too much.
 
You can hope all you want- but you will never know what it is, and you have no idea how to heat treat it.
 
it may be a very good steel for a knife. it probably was already hardened. the problem is you have to heat treat it the correctly to get back to that way.
 
Hello all, I found some very dense mystery metal on the road, guessing it was either discarded or fell out of the back of a truck. I've created a 7" blade profile from it, and so far the shaping hasn't been TOO difficult. That's all I've accomplished so far, haven't began to heat treat, mostly because I have no idea how to, which is also why I'm here posting this. It will be my first knife ever, and I'd like to not lose any digits while doing this if at all possible. My question for the experienced: what do I do next, and what is the process?
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Cut off a piece of that mystery steel , heat with torch to dark red, and then check with magnet ...when magnet does no more catch drop that mystery steel in water and see what will happen :)
 
I agree with Stacy, if you want to make a knife that you know is hardened and functional, buy some known steel and go to work. You'll likely save time, effort and even money in the long run. If you must make an attempt though, you'll probably want to cut a few small "coupons", heat to just past non magnetic, and quench in something like canola oil. (process for 1084, as Stacy suggested, is basically the same). If a file skates off, try breaking it in half and check the grain size. If a file bites in, re-heat and try quenching in a brine (salt and water) solution instead of oil and repeating the file test.
 
I wouldn't spend much money on it, but I encourage you to go for it! Hit it with a grinder. Does it give off an abundance of bright yellow sparks? Than it's a hardenable steel. Shape out a blade, and heat treat like 1084, as described. My first heat treating was using hard firebrick, and a Harbor Freight roofers torch. Make a small brick oven & blast the torch in it at the steel until you lose magnatism(get a strong magnet). Quench in Canola oil. I put the Canola in a steel pale, & heated it to 150 degrees on an electric griddle I picked up for like $25. Check it with a steel file. If the file skates off, it worked! Then perform two temper cycles in your conventional oven at 400 degrees.(or you can pick up a cheap toaster oven) Temper 2 hours for each cycle. Finish with a cheap handle material. Oak, micarta..whatever. Even if it ends up being "junk", you will gain a WORKING knowledge for your next attempt with a known steel.
 
Ok, this may sound crude but just throw that thing in a bon fir or wood stove with a good fire in it and let the stove or bon fire burn out after the steel had gotten good and red/orange hot. Check and see if it's dead soft (anealed) after that. Makes it a lot easier to shape.
 
I'm with the others, Toss it. If your just playing around and learning how to grind then have at it. Making a knife takes so much time by hand and trying to use mistery steel just adds an entire new level of frustration. The problem you have is it's not just mistery metal it's unknown metal. I call mistery metal things like leaf springs, lawnmower blades, files, exc. To me mistery metal is somthing you know has a carbon content high enough to get hard but you don't know the aloy so heat treating is tricky. Unknown metal could be anything, that being said there is a good chance it won't get hard.

Did I hear you right that you where cutting it on a chop saw with a diamond blade?
 
My question for the experienced: what do I do next, and what is the process?
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The next process is to realized you made a mistake.
It is no mystery that you do not use "mystery metals" in knifemaking
 
Unless it fell off the back of a alien truck and you have shattered four diamond cutting wheels trying to profile, then NO!!!!
 
All new knifemakers want to save money because, let's face it, knifemaking is an expensive endeavor.

The LEAST expensive part of that endeavor is the steel, That means it is the most foolish place to try and save money.

Listen to the sage advice. Chunk the junk and get some real knife steel.
 
Per the original post, we don't even know this metal is steel...
That was my first reaction.
Mentions its quite dense,,, found roadside,, Sounds like lead to me...
Could be depleated uranium or tungsten. Was this found near an Army Range ?
 
That was my first reaction.
Mentions its quite dense,,, found roadside,, Sounds like lead to me...
Could be depleated uranium or tungsten. Was this found near an Army Range ?


Depleted uranium??? Yeah, or maybe some UNOBTAINIUM left by a Na'vi or James Cameron...Or perhaps it's a piece of Keyptonite! I hear Superman is constantly finding chunks of it! :p LOL!
 
Why, why, why do people constantly ignore the suggestions to buy and/or use known steel. This seems to be a daily question here and elsewhere. When I first started I saw the warning about using known steels every time I got on a forum so I know others see it as well. I just don't get it!

Even if it was good steel that may have been suitable for a knife you have most likely heated it to the point of ruining any heat treat it did have. Now you have unknown steel that you have no idea what the HT procedure is to heat treat it a second time.

I just recently was helping a guy build a first knife and he was insistent about using this steel he had found. I told him we should use a known steel and even offered him some of my personal 1084 for free. He refused and insisted we use his lawnmower blades he got for free. So I just let him. Needless to say he profiles, drilled, and rough out bevels on two knives. We then tried to heat treat them and he found out why he needs to use known steel. He wasted hours of his time in two pieces that wouldn't harden. Now he's using some 1084.
 
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