found a nice piece of steel

[blademaster01]

i found a nice piece of steel,its about 10 inch by 10 inch,how can i tell if its been heat treated,

 

[thegeek574]

for one, it probably does not have enough carbon to be good for knifemaking. see if you can drill it easily. if you can, then it is not heat treated. if not, then it probably is and will require annealing before it can be used.

 

[blademaster01]

for one, it probably does not have enough carbon to be good for knifemaking. see if you can drill it easily. if you can, then it is not heat treated. if not, then it probably is and will require annealing before it can be used.

thanks, no way to tell carbon content i suppose, it cuts not to difficult with dremel tool, not many sparks

 

[Carl_First_Timer]

Just hit it with a file. If you get shavings then it has not been heat treated. This in no way will tell you if it will or will not be heat treatable.

Precision grinding would make it more likely that it is a tool steel, but not outright proof.

 

[blademaster01]

okay thanks,i`ll pass on the idea have a good day

 

[Railrider1920]

If you found the steel and just wanted to make something out of it not to waste it or something, just keep it in the scrap pile. You'll find a use for it, if you don't use it for a knife. Since it's an unknown steel, you wont know how to heat treat it properly if you make a knife out of it, but it would be practice.

If you need steel for knife making, check out http://njsteelbaron.com/ After checking out the site, give him a call. He's does phone calls easier than email, lol.