How do you know steel

C

Cowboy Bob

Joined
Sep 24, 2003
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So I'm having lots of fun learning its going well. As I'm geting better I;m starting to look for steel to use. The thing is how do you know what kind of steel your getting. I'm not set up and ready to buy steel yet so I have been useing old horse shoes to practice with I also have been starting to use junk steel from anywere and everywere I can find it. The problem is that I don't know what knid of steel I'm useing is there and way to tell or should I even care at this point.
Cowboy Bob
 
Picking up steel at a junk yard at random means you never know what you have . It adds one more problem that a new blade maker has to deal with . You have enough problems to deal with without that. There have been some recent postings where 'smiths have been getting load shafts from John Deere dealers.These disgarded shafts are apparently fairly available and are a good steel ,5160, and a known quantity. That would be a much better way to go.
 
If you must use scrap steel, you will want to test it. I made the mistake of not testing a piece once, and really regretted it later.

One way to do it....forge out a bar about 1/2" by 1/2" by 6" long. File or forge a notch about halfway down its length. Heat this to critical and quench.

Take the bar over to your vise and bend it. If it has hardened it will snap like glass, right at the notch. If it bends instead of snapping it has no hope as knife material. If it breaks, at least you know it will harden.

Forge a test blade and give it hell...Compare it's edge holding to a knife of known value and simular geometry. Working out the proper tempering temperature can be done using the old edge-flex test.

I agree, it is best to use steel purchased from the mill, so you know exactly what you have....however, I hate to see a good piece of scrap metal go to waste...8^)
 
The junk yard list is not a sure thing , in fact they list steels no longer used such as 23xx, and 31xx. The best chance is probably leaf springs which are most likely 5160 or maybe 9260.
 
Harrow teeth are said to be 1084, and the ones I have seem to be that. I started making knives using old saw blades that were L6 or something close. I have a friend who works in a sawmill, and he recently brought me about twenty brand new blades. It seems that the mill had purchased a new saw, and the blades for the old saw won't fit the new one. I cut a 1" strip out of one and gave it a quench test and it bent way past 90 degrees without much effort. I even tried quenching it in warm water, but it still wouldn't break. Old plows are said to be 1060 or1084, and they get plenty hard. New Nicholson files are almost assuredly 1095, and they make good blades. I just made a slim fighter for my Dad out of an old Belknap Blue Grass file, and it seemed noticeably harder to work than the Nicholson's, and required a 25 degree higher tempering temp. to make the edge flex. I agree that it's best to buy new steel, though. It's not at all expensive and you know what you're working with. I do love the nostalgia of taking a cast off piece of steel and making it useful again.
 
I agree with all above and will add that the vast amount of dear time and hard work in making a good knife justifies quality in blade steel. Don't short yourself in the long run.

RL
 
well...as for John Deere Load Control Shafts.........LOL

I now am learning how to forge the load shafts too....however,,,there are a few things about the shaft that I have found true with the first few I have tried to use.


#1 - You have to weld the shaft to something,,like a 2 foot long section of steel rod. This is because by the time I get one end of the Control Shaft up to the right heat, the whole darn thing is way too hot to handle.


#2 - a load shaft is about 1 & 1/8th inch thick..and thats killer to try to forge by hand. I tried to use my normal hammer (I think its a 3-4 lbs) and spent 4 hours pounding untill my arm about fell off.

I had to cut down the handle of a full size 10# sledge hammer and bang the steel with that.

The 10 lbs hand hammer is heavy, I can only swing it about 8 times each heat, but it works.(I have to swing this hammer and mean it, Swing it with much anger)


#3 - Every time I go down to the john deere dealership looking for new shafts I have to beg. I hate begging..

They always have the scrap steel dumpster behind a fence so I have to ask...

I wish there was a place to snag free 5160 steel like a load shaft, that was easyer to grab without talking to anyone.


But still,,,free is free, and you cant beat that, and it is sometimes fun to talk to the guys at john deere anyway...
 
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