Everyday items into knives

E

Elmar Roux

Joined
Mar 11, 2018
Messages
7
Greetings
I am completely new to knife making and would like any and all advice. I want to start forging knives and have the tools to start (for the most part). I want to make knives out of everyday items, I do not want to buy any steels. What are good everyday items that make good knife steels? I was thinking about files, motorcycle chains, leaf springs, spanners, steel cable, saw blades and bearings. I would like to use rebar for the handel and "sandwich" the proper steel into the rebar handel and forge weld it all together.
 
Elmar Roux said:
Greetings
I am completely new to knife making and would like any and all advice. I want to start forging knives and have the tools to start (for the most part). I want to make knives out of everyday items, I do not want to buy any steels. What are good everyday items that make good knife steels? I was thinking about files, motorcycle chains, leaf springs, spanners, steel cable, saw blades and bearings. I would like to use rebar for the handel and "sandwich" the proper steel into the rebar handel and forge weld it all together.
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Leaf springs and files are definitely commonly used. I have seen cable and motorcyle chain forged into “cable and motorcycle chain damascus” where the finished blade retains some of the pattern on the surface.

There are steels that used to come as only ball bearings and had to be forged into billets in order to make a blade out of it. I believe bg42 used to be a ball bearing only steel.
 
As tyyreaun pointed out, the better place for this question is in Shop Talk. I would specifically point you to:
Sticky Threads - All The Good Info You Want In One Place. There is a ton of info in that section for new makers. It addresses the issue of known vs unknown steel among a hundred other topics.
 
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