HT on lowes weld steel??

R

redd1981

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Oct 4, 2011
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Hey guys I bought a peice of welding steel from lowes and started working on my first knife about two days before I found out its crap steel for knifes. I decided to go through the steps anyway and make it a "practice" knife. I will get some 1084 for my next one.

Ok to my question.... Im not sure what kind of steel it is. The label on the bar has some numbers that dont make any sense to me they read as follows:

weld stl-flat (8-h04) (12-e05) 0716

I planned on quenching in oil to practice for the 1084 will this work?

This knife will never see any hard use so Im not concerned if it doesnt harden perfect Im pretty much just wondering if it gonna break into pieces when I quench.

Thanks in advance.
 
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I seriously doubt that there is enough carbon in that steel to harden it with a heat treatment.
 
Probably less than 3/10 of 1% carbon. Won't harden, but you can have fun practicing your grinding/filing/sanding skills. You can even play around with quenching in oil/water/mayonnaise/virgin goat pee, but IT WILL NOT MAKE A SERVICEABLE BLADE (Unless of course you are only cutting very warm butter, then you will only have to resharpen it every other butter cut). :D

Robert (who very seldom cuts hot butter)
 
It will harden a little but you need a very fast quenchant and good control of the temperature. Under ideal conditions you could harden it to somewhere in the low to mid 40's HRc, but that's without tempering it. Still not enough to make a long cutting blade.
 
You would be better off using the mild steel for things like guards... or birdhouses.
 
HAHA thanks guys like I said I knew nothing about types of steel when I first started the project but it needs to be at least as hard as it was before I annealed it.

I guess Ill use the rest of the bar to heat my oil on the next one.
 
I'd use it as a template. Alot of my failed knives have MASTER or TEMP or something written on it with a sharpie.

Also, it's always really fun to see what smaller knives you can come up with when your grinds go awry too. Use this to inspire your creativity.
 
HT for "welding steel" :
1) Heat to cherry red.
2) Quench in panther piss (or whatever you have on hand)
3) Throw away.

I've used mild "welding" steel for guards, it will work but needs to be blued or it will rust if you look at it funny. The only thing I use it for any more is templates.
 
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