Help with cutting A-2

kristoffsky

kristoffsky

Joined
Mar 8, 2011
Messages
64
After being interested in knives and lurking at BladeForums for quite some time, I've decided to try my hand at making knives. I've read quite a bit about it, and I was pretty confident that I could get started without a problem. I got a piece of A-2 from Jantz (planning to send it somewhere for heat treating, so I figured it should be air quenching), and I want to cut it in half so I have the length of steel I want to start grinding. Problem is, I can't cut it with a hacksaw. I've destroyed a couple of different blades and barely scratched the steel.

Am I supposed to anneal the steel before I start working it or something? I guess I'd just assumed that it would be workable until it was heat treated. Any advice on this matter (and advice in general) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
What kind of hacksaw blades are you using?
Cheap ones are no good for steel you need bimetal hacksaw blades.
I don't think it would be hardened A2
Bob
 
It should be annealed from jantz as it is. I'm with Robert are you using bimetal blades?
 
Metal cutting wheel on a four or four and a half inch angle grinder should do the trick nicely. You can buy a pack of these wheels cheaply from Harbor Freight. If you don't already have one, you can get the grinder there as well, although if it is going to see a lot of use, I would probably opt for at least a Ryobi or Makita.
 
thermite should do the trick :-) just kidding go with the angle grinder and the cutoff wheels, should make easy work of it
 
Why not call Jantz and ask them what the deal is. Maybe they'll send you a new piece of steel.

- Paul Meske
 
Another thing is to use a high tension hacksaw frame. They cost about $25 and you will be amazed at how much better they cut. That plus a 10-pack of Lenox Bi-metal blades will cut for years.
 
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