I've got a 20 or 24 inch scrap chainsaw bar.... now what?

G

Gossman Knives

Edged Toolmaker
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Apr 9, 2004
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How do I cut this thing into bar stock so I can stock remove for a knife? Can it be annealed? How would it be heat treated if annealed? And lastly is it really worth the effort? I also have some old files. Need suggestions on how to anneal them. Thanks
Scott
 
The various source materials for steel on here fascinate me. What is a chainsaw bar made of?

To anneal, heat cherry red and let cool slowly (no quench of any kind). Cherry red is the eyeball factor for the transformation temperature.
 
buy yourslef some vermiculite, it's available at a few places like gardening stores, so give them a try.

Heat the piece you want to anneal, along with other pieces of steel and shove them into the vermiculite, I usually try to have at least 3 or 4 pounds of steel hot at a time, it helps hold the heat and let the vermiculite do it's job.

Come back 24 hours later, with any luck, it should still be warm, if it is, you've succesfully annealed almost anything that isn't an exotic, though 52100 is very stubborn, and I haven't had great success gettng it to anneal in quantities smaller than about 12 pounds at a time.

Hope that helps!

Tony
 
Ash works also. I think the rule of thumb is something like ...the piece should cool at a rate not exceeding 50 degrees per hour, down to a temperature of 700 degrees or so, at which time it doesn't matter anymore how it's cooled.

For some reason I was under the impression that chain saw bar didn't have to be that 'great' of a grade of steel, and was just little more than mild steel. I don't know where I got that from, though, so I could be wrong.
 
Chainsaw bars can be used to make good knives, several guys have done it here in the past. The problem is that most of them are laminated anymore. You can usually see a row of spot welds all around the edge :grumpy:
If you've got a solid bar, then your in good shape. Peter Nap made a real big bowie of of a duromatic bar awhile back, might try to find the thread and see if you can get any ideas :)

EDIT: Here ya go:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=328288&highlight=chainsaw+bowie
 
Matt I think the bar may be solid. It's rusted, but I can't detect any weld spots. Thanks for the annealing info guys. I knew about the vermiculite but was curious if there were any other ways of doing it. I was also told to heat to critical and just let it cool in the furnace as stated in the first post.
Scott
 
Matt hit it dead on. Most bars you find nowadays are laminated. If you can't tell at the moment, you will when you heat that thing!
 
So ...what, that thread just ends with no photo of the finished 'chain saw bar bowie'? I feel cheated :) LOL!
 
jiminy said:
So ...what, that thread just ends with no photo of the finished 'chain saw bar bowie'? I feel cheated :) LOL!
Click to expand...
jiminy, Don aka peter nap has not been around here for awhile. I guess that's why we haven't seen the finished bowie. :( I miss his input. May if I can get time to play with this bar I might have a bowie made up. :)
Scott
 
Ahh heck, If you just gotta see one. Here's mine that's not quite finished. Chain Saw Bar , 10 1/4" Blade, convex ground, Handle is Moose leg Bone and Buffalo Horn. Blade got very Hard. It was a "Special Order" for hunting Boar. Never heard from him again so made it anyhow.
bowiebonebuf.jpg
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Hi Scott,

It's been awhile since I ground the Blade. It came from an older blade that was solid.
Make sure you trim the edge notches off before you measure what you need. I did one and forgot about those edges. That one ended up somewhat different, as you might know.
I have a Chop Saw that I made a small table rest for. I sliced a piece wide enough with it and nibbled it to size. I then Ground it as it was and then heat treated with hot oil. Must be good steel as it hardened up nicely.
 
to see if the chainsaw bar u have is laminated or not , look at the tip end of the bar. The lamination is usually a u shaped hss on the top of the groove of the chain guide. U can see it bcus its usually shiny. Better yet just take a file to the tip and compare to the middle part to see is the tip is harder. If it is its probably laminated.
 
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