Best mystery steels

T

Trevor51

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Jun 24, 2015
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Hi, I was just wondering what are some good mystery steel, I have a old lawn mower blade and I was just wondering if that would be any good. I took a small piece of it and heated it cherry red and dunked it into some peanut oil and it failed to heat treat. Next I tryed water and the heat treat worked. So if it's water treatable does it mean it's high or low carbon. What holds a better edge on a knife with high or low carbon? How do you tell the carbon content by using a grinder and looking at the Sparks? Any advice related to this greatly helps I'm new to knife making and know next to nothing other then the basic heat treating and Anealing principles. Thanks again for your time.
 
You can try it if you really want to, but the best you can hope for is a mediocre blade. Mower blade was my first forged knife. A far better idea is to buy a piece of 1084. It will produce far better results with considerably less headache. Best advice for any of us beginners can be found in the stickies, especially the count's standard reply. Read it over and over, then apply what you learn. That info has dramatically improved my work- It'll probably help you too.
 
FWIW, basic carbon steel is quite cheap, especially when you factor your time, trial and error, etc... into the mix. Plus it's a much higher guarantee of a useable blade after all the time and effort goes into making it.

As for lawnmower blades, they're somewhat hit or miss. They're not really made to be too hard, lest they explode on impact.
Some more "reliable" found steel is generally springs (usually a high carbon), possibly older American files, disc blades, bearings, some cold work tools, older saw blades (NOT carbide tipped), etc...

Short of calling the manufacturer (they may or may not tell you) or having an analysis done, you really won't know for sure, and we're not even talking about the extra work that goes into flattening, forge welding, normalizing/annealing, etc...

So again, at the end of the day, a 4ft bar of 1084 really doesn't seem that expensive... YMMV.
 
Best mystery steel? The stuff with the chemical composition written on the bar. Makes short work of the mystery. ;)
 
I've had good luck with old files.

BUT !!!!!!

I do not recommend beginners working with recycled steel. It's a lot more difficult to get everything right, will be harder on tools and will be a bear to work.

Put that recycled steel side for now and just buy Piece of decent stock. Carbon steel is cheap and stainless is affordable too in most alloys.

It's not worth it when you're just starting.
 
bah... come on guys, most of us have done it in the early stages, so lets not discourage him automatically or convince him its a total waste of time... but it really can be Trevor51 so take the advice given by these fine gents as really good lessons learned and factor that into your decision to keep using scrap or not. I wouldn't bother with it much myself either when you could probably get a good piece of 10xx for well under what its going to cost you to get to the same state by grinding down a mower blade or any other bent, rusty pitted hardened piece of scrap steel... but of course it can be done. my first blade ever was scrap... was also a junk blade. i used a lawnmower blade also with poor-medium results as a cord wrapped chopper, but i wouldn't recommend it. I did find that old planer blades made terrific cutters once i learned how to draw them back enough not to chip but that was all before the internet. I'd suggest if you really want to use recycled steel do a search to find out what it is you are dealing with. usually if you dig deep enough you'll find out roughly what kind of steel it is. If you want to save money and time however, i would suggest listening to these fine folks and just call one of the many supply companies and get yourself a piece that you know from the start and you'll be far better in the end.

good luck
 
If you go to your local vehicle spring shop, and ask if you can have end cuts from the 20' bars they fabricate from:
If it is marked Stanley Spring/Eagle, and it is not a tapered leaf, it is 5160-but you will have to straighten it and the thinnest section you'll see is 5/16".Talked to the company rep to confirm. Otherwise, just bite the bullet and buy some 1075 or 1084. When i was a kid back at the dawn of time I made a lot of blades out of a lot of random stuff, and while that was the only option at the time there was a LOT of unnecessary work.
 
Ok thanks for the advice. What is the best steel to buy, easy heat treating but yet will hold a good edge, 1084, 01?
 
I'll go ahead and add this: If you just want to practice basic forging technique, and have a pile of dull files, old mower blades, or heck, even some rebar or mild steel, then by all means... practice with it. I went through a small pile of mild steel flat stock practicing my grinding technique, because it was there, and I had nothing else to use it for.

That said, if you're planning on buying scrap because you think it might be cheaper, then you may be mistaken when you factor in the ACTUAL cost of extra forge time, work time, burning up extra drill bits and sawblades, grinder wheels, etc... only to still end up with a questionable heat treat at the end of a project that may have taken twice as long to begin with.

Just my $.02.
 
My time is too valuable to waste on mystery steel.

It's cheaper to buy a known steel from a reputable vendor.
 
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