cold roll steel good or not

[Gary Short]

my father inlaw got me alot of cold roll steel ranging from 2 inchs down to 1 inch wide. I don't know if it's good for making knives any body know if this is good steel or not.

 

[polarbearforge]

It depends on what the steel is. Cold rolled steel isn't a type of steel, it's a process. You can have cold rolled low carbon or cold rolled 1095 or cold rolled pasta. If the type isn't known, then you'll have to experiment to see if it's good or not.

Jamie

 

[LRB]

Chances are it is low carbon. Cold rolled is a term commonly used for cold rolled low carbon steel. Hot rolled low carbon looks much the same but has impurities in it and I believe is made from recycled steel. Cold rolled is good for when LC steel is needed for steel parts other than the blade.

 

[JCaswell]

Hot rolled low carbon looks much the same but has impurities in it and I believe is made from recycled steel.

CR is, as the designation implies, rolled cold from the mill whereas HR is rolled hot. The practical difference is that CR is usually a reasonably precise, clean (white) finish, while HR has a black oxide 'bark' surface. Because one is rolled cold and the other hot, there are probably internal differences, but I'm not sure these differences are best described as impurities. I've never heard that there was a difference concerning percentage of recycled materials, etc.
CR is well suited for building little fixtures, etc. I prefer a CR finish on high-carbon alloys for pattern welding because there's less surface preparation, though some folks just weld HR with oxide bark intact.
Your steel is almost certainly simple low-carbon CR, which is, as LRB said, nice to have around for things other than blades.