Cast stainless.

M

martypeterson

Joined
Sep 25, 2009
Messages
7
Ok Folks,
I'm looking for someone to cast some parts for a knife. Not the blade or tang, but a couple of parts for the handle. I'm using 440C for the blade and was hoping to use the same for these parts. If not 440C then perhaps there is another stainless that can be cast and give roughly the same finish when polished. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
 
There is a bloke at British Blades that casts 440c blades.I cant remember his name but maybe he could help.
 
Casting stainless steel for one knife is not practical. Perhaps the parts can be made by machining? What exactly do you need?
 
The question is why cast stainless? Sand casting could be feasible for a one-off or small run if you can find someone with a furnace capable of reaching the requisite temperature. The other consideration is that casting, especially stainless steels, isn't necessarily as easy as melting down a piece of barstock.
 
I don't know if David Boye still casts 440C, or if the 440C knives at boyeknivesgallery.com are made by Todd Kopp, but cast 440C knives are available. The Boye basic knives are made by the lost wax process, so you might be able to supply wax models of what you want and get them added to the mold the next time some blanks are cast. It's worth asking anyway. However, cast 440C has a different structure of carbide crystals than rolled bar stock has, and the surfaces may not match when polished out.
 
Fellows, casting dendritic blades in 440-C, and casting stainless by lost wax for bolsters is not the same thing. ( and David Boye does not cast them himself, anyway)

Parts being cast in stainless is not practical. You would need a several million dollar foundry.It isn't just melting steel and pouring it into a mold like on TV and the movies.

Machine what you need, or make it by hand from bar stock like everyone else does.
There are blanks available from the knife supply catalogs for pommels,bolsters,guards, that you shape yourself,too.

There are several machinists on this forum, or most any machine shop, who can mill your piece to your drawings and specs. You will still have to hand finish it.
 
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ditto to bladsmth even machining from barstock in small lots would put the cost in the area of custom knives.
 
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