Favorite caveman steel?

flatgrinder

flatgrinder

Joined
Dec 20, 2005
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What steel do you prefer to use (for a camp knife) when heat treating in the backyard? And your only quenching medium is water. Nothing fancy, just steel, hammer, water and a coal fire.
 
Flatgrinder,
Not to be an AHOLE but there really is no excuse for not having a better quenching medium than water. Fill an old paint can with used transmission fluid for Christ's sake. Thin some old motor oil with diesel fuel. Use your old peanut oil from your turkey frier...... No need to half ass it completely just because you don't have an oven.
No offense,
Matt Doyle
 
Thanks for the replies.

No offence taken Matt.

Just interested in getting into some "Tribal" knifemaking.

I already work with O1, D2 and ATS-34 a lot. -Just want to explore a new facet of this hobby. :D
 
Flatgrinder,
I see. You didn't mention that in the original thread. Here I thought you just wanted to make some crappy knives.
In that case perhaps you could go to your local butchershop and buy a bag of pork or cow fat then boil it down, thin it with something and pretend it's from the buffalo you just killled. All the while doing your best tribal dance in nothing but your wife's leather thong (worn backwards of course) and a headnet made from the parrot you bought at the petshop next to the butchers. Please send pictures. Of the dance that is.
Just a suggestion,
Matt
 
Sweany I thought you were going to show us a picture of some of the red haired boy urine!!!!!!
 
Hey Matt, I didn't know that you were a dickhead.

If I wanted to make crappy knives, I'd just take a look at your pathetic "efforts."

Insulting people for asking questions is pretty ridiculous, it's much better to share information than ridicule others.

I feel much better now. Peace.
 
Last edited:
flatgrinder said:
Nothing fancy, just steel, hammer, water and a coal fire.
Click to expand...

An Interesting question.
if limited to steel from the backyard, I would first try the old blades from my lawnmower.

Im not sure they harden, Im not sure water is the best, but they are in the backyard .
Next I might try some of the old car and truck springs. They forge well enough and you could do an interrupted water quench.
There are always some old railRoad spikes around, as well as old horseshoes.
 
Flatgrinder,
Hey man I was just joking because I didn't realize your intentions with the "caveman style" blade stuff. The rest was just a joke referring to the tribal thing. I can assure you that I really didn't mean anything by it. Just was trying to add a little bit of humor. Sorry if you took it the wrong way. I never meant to offend you on either post, nor did I mean to imply that you make crappy knives. I was being blatantly sarcastic and figured that you would realize that I wasn't serious. Truly sory it wasn't taken the way I intended.
Matt Doyle
 
Hey,

I'd stick with 1050 or something with little in the way of alloy elements and carbon, but will still harden well enough.

If you really want a true water hardening steel, get you some pure iron bar off ebay or something and carburize it. It's easy to do, even in a charcoal forge. One way I've done it is to forge the bar to about 1/8", then stick it in a goya bean can full of crushed charcoal and cook it at a welding temp until the can disintegrates. then you just fold it on itself, and forge it like a sanmai blade at a lowish heat to minimize carbon diffusion. you won't get a really deep casing on the bar, but you double the width of the HC portion when you fold it. PLain old iron and carbon with nothing else in it is outstanding to water quench in. I water quenched some of my tamahagane that I've made 6 or 7 times in a row with no tempering with no cracking, and that stuff sparks the same as 1084:D
 
That's interesting, I have some cable that about equals 1050 by the time I draw it out by hand.Am I better off water quenching? Sorry to hijack,I'm just curious.
 
Try it and see how it works. If it's relatively low Mn and your heat control if fairly tight, it should go ok.

This is a blade that I made out of 1018 that I carburized and water quenched. It came out fine.

finishedoverview.jpg
 
Going back to flatgrinder's original concept (now that everybody has vented ;)) I would use an old file, leaf spring, mower blade, maybe even a hunk of rebar (I think horse shoes are a bitch to hammer). I think his proposal was for a rough and ready "camp" knife, not a custom blade. Water works for quenching, although I normally prefer to use first-squeeze virgin olive oil. For charcoal, are we talking briquets or gourmet mesquite? For an anvil, can I use my old chunk of train rail? Just kidding ;) This is a great thread.
 
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