Recommendation? Canister damascus w/ SAE 304 needles?

T

Thayne

Joined
Jul 7, 2016
Messages
4
Hey everybody!
A buddy of mine is an acupuncturist and has a 10 lb. sharps container of SAE 304 acupuncture needles. He asked me if they could be used for smithing and I immediately thought of canister damascus with some powdered 1095 to fill in the gaps. Would that work? Are there better options for a filler steel? One that will play nice with the 304 but still contrast in the etch? Would this make a good knife or would it be too soft to do work? Could carbon steel be added or would that create forge welding problems? I don't think I've ever seen a damascus blade made with needles before and I think the pattern could be really cool if I can pull it off so any info y'all can share would be most appreciated!

Sincerely,
Thayne
 
From a medical perspective, there's a reason used needles are put in a sharps container for proper hazmat disposal.
 
See if you can buy new needles off of him. As a psych nurse, the idea of opening a sharps container is terrifying. I had to go through testing once many years ago from a needle stick injury.
 
If you do that you guarantee getting stuck.

NFW

leave them alone.

Get new ones if you like the idea.

You could also get tig welding rod and cut it up into little bits.
 
Ok, duly noted about the hazmat aspect, I’m not trying to get HIV. What of the metallurgy tho? I might use sewing needles instead but I think those are carbon steel which is a different recipe all together. Thoughts?
 
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