Blades from 1045??

Phillip Patton

Phillip Patton

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
Messages
5,359
Does anyone have any experience using 1045 for knives? The reason I ask is that I have access to a huge supply of 1045 for 30 cents a pound, in sizes up to 2". ( I'm assuming it's 1045. It's turned ground and polished shafting. Still has the cardboard wrapping on it. ) I just destroyed a test blade made of it last night. On the cutting side, it made about 50 cuts on 1/2" manila rope. Then I put it in the vise and did the 90 degree bend. It didn't break, so I turned it around in the vise and bent it all the way over to 90 degrees on the other side for the first 180 flex. And kept going. On the 42nd 180 degree flex, the edge cracked, 13 more flexes and the back broke. For a total of 55 1/2 180 degree flexes.
I didn't keep any records, because I was mainly doing this blade to see if it would show a nice hamon. (It didn't, but that's probably my fault.) But here's the heat treating as far as I can remember. forged from 7/8" shaft. 3 partial normalizings, 3 full normalizings. 3 1100 degree annealings.
quenched at least twice, in oil. The first one was an edge quench, the last one was with clay on the back.
I didn't temper it at all.
Obviously the toughness is pretty good, but does anyone have suggestions for improving the edge holding?
 
what grind did you use flat, hollow, convexed? it sounds like pretty good knife material to me!
 
I'd use it for damascus. Mix in some W2 and some 15N20 and you'll have some blade material that not only cuts extremely well, it'll look great too. By itself, I'd make hawks and throwing knives.
 
bartblade, i used a flat grind. i agree it would seem like a good material where flexibility is good, but i wish it would hold it's edge longer.
 
Danbo, I am using it with 5160 in a damascus billet, thinking it would be a good combo for a sword.
 
Mete, I do wish it was higher carbon. Another steel i have access to is H13.
That stuff would be great for knives, if it had twice the carbon.
 
Phillip Patton said:
Danbo, I am using it with 5160 in a damascus billet, thinking it would be a good combo for a sword.
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That would make a good sword, but I'd still throw in some 15N20 saw steel, so that it'll have a bunch of nice, shiny lines. 15N20 won't hurt your toughness either. It's pretty tough by itself.
 
Good for hammers, hawks and forge tools but not too good for knives. Mix it half and half with 1095 and run it up to around 1200 layers, you will get some killer hamons with a nice grain and good performance :thumbup:
 
Danbo said:
That would make a good sword, but I'd still throw in some 15N20 saw steel, so that it'll have a bunch of nice, shiny lines. 15N20 won't hurt your toughness either. It's pretty tough by itself.
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Sounds like a good idea; I'd probably use l-6, since that's what I have.
BTW, where do you get w-2? I've been wanting ti rty that for a while, but can't find any.
 
sunfishman said:
Good for hammers, hawks and forge tools but not too good for knives. Mix it half and half with 1095 and run it up to around 1200 layers, you will get some killer hamons with a nice grain and good performance :thumbup:
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I'll give that a try sometime. It'd probably even work for damascus with lower layer count, since the difference in manganese content would make then etch different.
 
Phillip Patton said:
Sounds like a good idea; I'd probably use l-6, since that's what I have.
BTW, where do you get w-2? I've been wanting ti rty that for a while, but can't find any.
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L6 would work. As for W2, try www.tremblaytoolsteel.com

They have just about any kind of steel you could want.
 
I can't remember where I got the info, but another maker said that he'd water hardened the blades and got a bit extra edge holding from it, but the best way to use 1045 was for extreme shock tools like axe heads.

I also heard that using 1050 gives a significant increase in edge holding even though its just 0.05% carbon difference.

Personally, if you wanted a low carbon high-toughness steel, 5160 and S7 are more versatile. As the others may have indirectly suggested, you could probably use 1075 or 1084 for EVERYTHING and ANYTHING and never have to argue the point. Jason.

Jason Cutter
Knifemaker, Australia
Jason Cutter Bladeart
www.jcbknives.com
 
Jason Cutter said:
I can't remember where I got the info, but another maker said that he'd water hardened the blades and got a bit extra edge holding from it, but the best way to use 1045 was for extreme shock tools like axe heads.

I also heard that using 1050 gives a significant increase in edge holding even though its just 0.05% carbon difference.

Personally, if you wanted a low carbon high-toughness steel, 5160 and S7 are more versatile. As the others may have indirectly suggested, you could probably use 1075 or 1084 for EVERYTHING and ANYTHING and never have to argue the point. Jason.


Yeah, 5160 is definitely better. I have a lot of that too. (From Admiral Steel) I wish I had a local source for the higher carbon 10xx series.
I was just asking about the 1045 because I have a lot of it. Thanks everybody for your replies.
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According to the anvil video 1045 is the highest corbon steel you want to try in superquench. Chuck Robinson says high carbon steel goes off like a hand grenade in super quench, but apparently 1045 is fine, some say 50 points. So it would seem that would be the obvious way to get greater hardness out of it. I found some 1045, and would like to make some hammers out of it, but I haven't tried it yet.
 
Protactical said:
According to the anvil video 1045 is the highest corbon steel you want to try in superquench. Chuck Robinson says high carbon steel goes off like a hand grenade in super quench, but apparently 1045 is fine, some say 50 points. So it would seem that would be the obvious way to get greater hardness out of it. I found some 1045, and would like to make some hammers out of it, but I haven't tried it yet.
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I might try the superquench someday, in the meantime I've got lot's of 5160...
 
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