Back hoe tooth steel

[legato1]

i dont know exactly what it is but its a pretty decent amount and i was wondering if it can be usefull for knife making any info on what it is or how to work it would be much appreciated.

 

[CrowValleyForge]

A lot of 'hoe' teeth need a hard surfacing rod (a welded protection, a bead of hard facing) to last any length of time. That may suggest that it is a steel more for it's strength (and weld ability) then a higher carbon steel.

When you hit it with a grinder, how far dose it throw a spark? (you may get an idea how much carbon it has?),,,, (I am done 'experimenting' with steels that throw a longer then 2' spark.)

Thats just from the hip, try it and see what you get, experimenting is fun!

 

[Matt Shade]

Since that is a bolt on shank, as opposed to a weldable shank it might be better quality steel. It also might be a casting, which would probably affect how you need to work with it. I've never tried forging cast steel down so I can't offer advice on that.

You can definitely do a spark test as suggested by crow valley. If its high carbon the sparks will have a "short fuzzy" look to them, splitting apart one or more times. Low carbon sparks stay in one hunk and fly in a straight line.

 

[legato1]

il test it when it stops raining and share results thanks

 

[mete]

The 'teeth' are properly 'grousers' .Some of them are cast of Hadfield steel which is a high manganese steel , for the most part unmachinable !

 

[Bubbanumber1]

Yes, you can use it but not for blade material. If you have a anvil with a pritchet hole see if you can weld a stem onto them to use as working tools. There is also the choice of welding them to heavy plate for banging hot steel into shape laying on the ground.

 

[legato1]

thanks, i guess il use it for cutting the preforms when i get my forge running. thanks guys.

 

[P.Brewster]

Its probably 'grade 50' (approx 0.25% carbon), 4130/4140, or at the absolute best 1045.

 

[legato1]

so the best use would be to weld a stem to it and use it as a forging tool?

 

[P.Brewster]

You could make a hammer, wrench, pry bar, hatchet, hawk, etc; just not a knife.

 

[M.Griffin]

You could make a hammer, wrench, pry bar, hatchet, hawk, etc; just not a knife.

Interesting, I have access to a pile of these. Probably 100 of them, but some are too large to really use. Maybe I will try to make a hammer from one. Thanks for the info.
-Mike

 

[P.Brewster]

no prob; you could send one out for analysis too.

 

[legato1]

how would i go about making a hawk, would i just forge it like a knife?