Cutting torch yea or nay?

E

epicfail48

Joined
Oct 18, 2012
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Ive seen a few similar questions but nothing asking what i want to know: Does anybody thing a cutting torch would be an effective way to cut out knife blanks. Elaborating on that, ive been wanting to start cutting my own blanks and am looking for a some-what economical way of doing to. Ive considered using a belt-sander/angle grinder to grind out the profiles, a bandsaw and most recently to pop into my head the aforementioned cutting torch. The grinder route seems extremely wasteful to me as whatever doesnt make up the knife becomes dust. The bandsaw would be my prefered route, but space is a major issue and ive yet to come across a bench top model that runs slow enough to cut steel and space is a major concern, so something like a harbor-freight 4x6 is unfeasible. This led me to an oxy-acetylene cutting torch, something like this: http://tinyurl.com/d6lbhx3. What little ive been able to find from other people has been that using it on hardened steel is a very bad idea, but that situation wouldnt apply to me. Id be using it on annealed 1084, 1095 or O1 stock to cut a blank before heat treatment. So does anybody have any experience doing something like this, or have a suggestion for an alternative that suts well with little waste and a small-ish footprint?
 
Good Question for Shop Talk.
But This is my opinion.
A A&O torch will damage to much area and you will be doing a good amount of stock removal to clean up.
Plasma torch second best but costs a lot to purchase and still needs a clean up.
What I like is my 2x72 grinder with a 3m 967 36 grit belt.
Aggressive and fast stock removal.
I can profile a hunting knife in around 10 min depending on the blade thickness and style.
Sincerely,
Dave
 
The thing i dont entirely get, and this may just be inexperience talking, how would it damage the steel? I could understand if the steel were already heat treated it would affect it, but not in an annealed state. Im not trying to be argumentative, i just dont quite understand
 
A horizontal band saw can be flipped up into a verticle position and will do a good job of profiling a blade after adding a table on it (many come with one) and won't take up a lot of room in the shop.

If you decide to grind them to profile then you might concider using an angle grinder. A 7" grinder with a snagging wheel will remove material much faster than a belt and is much cheaper to use. You can always touch them up later with your 2x72 belt and this will save you from buying as many belts which are expensive.

Gary
 
epicfail48 said:
The thing i dont entirely get, and this may just be inexperience talking, how would it damage the steel? I could understand if the steel were already heat treated it would affect it, but not in an annealed state. Im not trying to be argumentative, i just dont quite understand
Click to expand...

When you get the steel that hot then you will have carbon loss back a ways from the cut.

Gary
 
With a cutting torch there will be a large heat affected zone where the carbon has burned out of the steel. This area will not harden properly due to low carbon, and will have to be ground off. I would also suggest a portaband with a small stand. Standard wood bandsaws wil not work as the blades are too thin and the speed is way too high on them
 
Bandsaw is the best choice, here is a horizontal mounted upright. Second is a angle grinder with a cutting disk, this works really well and takes off alot of excess prior to profiling.

bandsaw 006.jpg
 
Okay, so cutting torch is out. Any body have any recommendations for a small-footprint metal cutting bandsaw? I do rather like the idea of a portable bandsaw in a table attachment, as ive use the portable ones a few times and theyre rather small and therefore easily stowable. A cursory google search show up with these: http://tinyurl.com/d9vs3yz
Does anybody have and experience with that particulat brand, or know of something cheaper? Thanks for all the help
 
I use a Harbor Freight bandsaw and Starett blades for cutting up steel. I think the saw was $125 on sale and bandsaw blades run $18.
 
Further research turns up this: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/394908-Portable-bandsaw-stand
Apologies about my multitude of links, but its the best way i can phrase most stuff. The idea seems awesome to me, i was just wondering if anybody had some blueprints hanging around for a stand like the one posted there, or any advice on what theyd do to replace the welds with bolts. This should be my last major question, and again, thanks for all the help guys
 
for my HF portaband, I simply use a T shaped stand made out of a couple of small scrap peices of 2x4. works just as good as a nicely built and welded angle iron frame. just secure it with a large hose clamp.

if you go that route just remember to buy some quality blades for it first.
 
As an aside, HF also sells the Morse brand bimetallic blades for the portaband in 3 packs that usually cost about $20. I use them and they work fine for the hobbyist.

- Greg
 
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