laminating sawzall blades.

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bighat10

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I have made a few sawzall blade knives by simply grinding em to shape and being very careful not to ruin the already sufficient harden. But the issue is the thickness one of the main issues is you can't really put much of a grind on it. So I was thinking, What if you took 3 blades and laminated them together? I was thinking if you just used a few rods at the spine of the blade to keep them all aligned, would it work? Or is it going to be weak? I would think the pins in the spine and the pins in the handle would hold everything together quite nicely. Has anyone every tried doing something similiar?
 
By laminating, do you mean you intend to forge weld the layers together?

It seems like your saying you want to drill holes in the spine of the blade and then put handle pins in there. I don't think that would work. You need the blade to be solid. And once you started to grind your flats in, you would sand off the peened heads and the blades would come apart.

Just buy some 1084 from NJ steel barron. It's really cheap and a good starter steel.
 
scubasteve4sq said:
By laminating, do you mean you intend to forge weld the layers together?

It seems like your saying you want to drill holes in the spine of the blade and then put handle pins in there. I don't think that would work. You need the blade to be solid. And once you started to grind your flats in, you would sand off the peened heads and the blades would come apart.

Just buy some 1084 from NJ steel barron. It's really cheap and a good starter steel.
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Yea thats what I was thinking. By using some epoxy and pins. I am going to try it out tonight. You are probably right though.

I have a pile of suitable blade steel. But I also have 300 unused sawzall blades I got for $5 at a flea market. Thought I would put em to use for something other then slowely using them for there intended purpose.
 
I can tell you now it's not going to work. If you heat them up in a forge and forge weld them together you could probably do it.

Look up two brick forge on youtube.

I'd be very carefull, the epoxy is going to melt from the grind heat, and as soon as you grind the heads of the pins the whole thing is going to come apart. In fact I would say don't do it, it could be dangerous.
 
scubasteve4sq said:
I can tell you now it's not going to work. If you heat them up in a forge and forge weld them together you could probably do it.

Look up two brick forge on youtube.

I'd be very carefull, the epoxy is going to melt from the grind heat, and as soon as you grind the heads of the pins the whole thing is going to come apart. In fact I would say don't do it, it could be dangerous.
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well when I am working with my knives, I never let them get too hot to touch. But yea, I still want to do it, simply in the name of science. But its on the backburner for now. I have HDPE to play around with for scales and sheaths.
 
You are wasting your time. And ours. Not being a jerk but are you for real? The steel is mild steel. The teeth are the only hardened steel and you are grinding them off. All you are doing is wasting time and money to make them into knives.
 
Yeah, I gotta agree with Brian on this. Your biggest mistake is believing that the "sufficient harden" extends past the teeth. Even if it's not a bi-metal blade and the steel was decent, the heat treat wouldn't extend beyond the teeth.

The best laminating you could do, with sawzall blades, would be to spot weld the blades together. However, it's NEVER going to be good enough to make it better than even the cheapest 1084.
 
Brian Ayres said:
You are wasting your time. And ours. Not being a jerk but are you for real? The steel is mild steel. The teeth are the only hardened steel and you are grinding them off. All you are doing is wasting time and money to make them into knives.
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Atlas Knife Company said:
Yeah, I gotta agree with Brian on this. Your biggest mistake is believing that the "sufficient harden" extends past the teeth. Even if it's not a bi-metal blade and the steel was decent, the heat treat wouldn't extend beyond the teeth.

The best laminating you could do, with sawzall blades, would be to spot weld the blades together. However, it's NEVER going to be good enough to make it better than even the cheapest 1084.
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Sosa said:
You could sell the blades and buy quality steel:
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Guys, I know its sucky steel. i know good steel isn't all that expensive. But Its fun, and its something to practice on. If I am going to make a knife to use, I go straight to something like 0-2.
 
Welcome to Shop Talk.

I will try and sum up what the gang is saying:

The Sawz-all blades are bi-metal, and won't make a good knife...... they might not even make a poor knife.

You can't "glue" and/or rivet steel together to make it thicker for a knife blade.

Proper knife steel can be bought from many places, like Aldo or USA Knifemakers Supply, and 1084 is a good and low cost choice. O-1 is a good steel, but requires a more elaborate HT.

When asking a question, listen to the answer. Sometimes you follow it and sometimes you don't, but when you are a novice and experts are giving the advice, it is a good idea to follow it.

The stickies has a lot of good info that you may want to read.

Stick around, fill out your profile, and enjoy making knives.
 
Hi Bighat,

You have been given some solid advice here.

You can make what you like and have fun doing it.

But here in ShopTalk the makers do not use sawzall blades for quality knife making.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Welcome to Shop Talk.

I will try and sum up what the gang is saying:

The Sawz-all blades are bi-metal, and won't make a good knife...... they might not even make a poor knife.

You can't "glue" and/or rivet steel together to make it thicker for a knife blade.

Proper knife steel can be bought from many places, like Aldo or USA Knifemakers Supply, and 1084 is a good and low cost choice. O-1 is a good steel, but requires a more elaborate HT.

When asking a question, listen to the answer. Sometimes you follow it and sometimes you don't, but when you are a novice and experts are giving the advice, it is a good idea to follow it.

The stickies has a lot of good info that you may want to read.

Stick around, fill out your profile, and enjoy making knives.
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The fact that the steel in sawzall blades is horrible, is not news to me.

I did listen, then I went my own way. You guys said it wouldnt work, thats fine you are most likely right. But! I do not care. I enjoy trying out crazy ideas, and 99.9% of them fail.

AVigil said:
Hi Bighat,

You have been given some solid advice here.

You can make what you like and have fun doing it.

But here in ShopTalk the makers do not use sawzall blades for quality knife making.
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I never said the blades were of any sort of quality. I wouldn't give one to my worst enemy. But hey, its practice that costs nothing.
 
Forgive me for being blunt, but your final reasoning is silly. Also, your original question was about gluing and riveting three blades together...which is even sillier.

Why did you ask the question if you didn't want an answer?
 
It doesn't cost nothing to use scrap metal. Most of your expenses are from everything else like abrasives. The only thing you'd be "saving" is $5 and actual experience from doing an actual knife.

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Forgive me for being blunt, but your final reasoning is silly. Also, your original question was about gluing and riveting three blades together...which is even sillier.

Why did you ask the question if you didn't want an answer?
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To grace the community with his scientific experiments of course.:D
 
Depending on what brand and what size they are, you might get up to $1.00 apiece for them on ebay, 300 bucks will buy alot of 1084
 
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