lawn mower blade steel

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Kevin R. Cashen said:
I have spent a bit of time tweaking them to cut the way they should. I have re-heat treated them to no avail. But I do have a set on my mower that really hold up now, I accomplished this by cutting out and replacing sections of the blades with good steel that will hold an edge on my lawn and they behave nothing like the original blades did.
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Yeah, that is some high quality over-the-top knife nerd stuff right there. :thumbup:
 
I just turned a truckload of random old car parts into a bandsaw, the scrap yoard had an old bandsaw, and I asked what they wanted for it, I had just gotten $20 for my scrap, the guy wanted $20 for the saw, it needs new tires and a motor, but it is a solid saw, looks like it was made in the 50s based on teh cracklepaint

-Page
 
Sam Salvati said:
69, do you mean 48" as in inches or 48' as in feet?
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48 feet, it was about $214.00 or thereabouts. the receipt is at home at the moment and I'm at work :( but the steel is with me, as this is where I do my forging...

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I have a buddy who lives in Middletown, MD and he used to take his mower blades to Bill Moran for sharpening. Bill was only to happy to sharpen them for a buck a blade. I'll bet those mower blades cut well. -Doug
 
Hokay....
I think that pretty much answered that question.
5160, 1095, 1055, A2, D2, hand hammered beer cans and bumpers......

..IF.. I decide to try this route, I will definitely get the material tested and do some trials. This concept was to be used on a line of "backwoods survival" knives. Nothing pretty, slab side wood or leather handles, probably be sharpened on a river rock.

Quite a cultural experience for me, considering everything I have made has always been the highest grade steel I could afford.
 
If you have an unlimited supply of free material, have it analyzed by Fastenal. The $25.00 or whatever it costs for the analysis will be well worth the comfort of knowing exactly what steel you have and exactly how to HT it to get the most out of it.
 
My father used to edge harden LM blades for commercial lawn care guys back in the 80s'. Most of the high dollar blades would harden fine but the cheaper ones would not.

I've been toying with the idea of making myself a good set of LM blades but just too busy making knives.......
 
with all the time and energy, and belts and propane, etc., it just makes sense to use a good quality known steel. it is too easy to order some blade steel, and not worry about it...
 
This topic came up a couple of years ago and shortly afterward the president of Rotary Corp. (they make millions of the mower blades every year) was in our shop, so I asked him about the steel they use for mower blades. He indicted that the blades they make are primarily designed to not break. Edge holding ability is not on their radar screen. He is a guy that is interested in custom knives and his comment was that the material they use you would not want in a knife blade at all.

I don't know who all else makes mower blades besides Rotary Corp or what materials they use. The others might use some material that would be suitable for knives, but there are a bunch of blades out there that aren't.
 
I can't believe we still spend this much energy talking about lawn mower blades!!:yawn: If you have 1,000 pounds of them, cut off 1 square inch of 1 and get it tested. That settles it! If you have 1 or 2 of them bang them in the ground like a stake and use them to hold up tomato plants! When you're done give me a call and I'll sell you some BRAND NEW lawn mower blades!!:eek:
 
Thanks Harry-
That's good info.


Hmathews said:
This topic came up a couple of years ago and shortly afterward the president of Rotary Corp. (they make millions of the mower blades every year) was in our shop, so I asked him about the steel they use for mower blades. He indicted that the blades they make are primarily designed to not break. Edge holding ability is not on their radar screen. He is a guy that is interested in custom knives and his comment was that the material they use you would not want in a knife blade at all.

I don't know who all else makes mower blades besides Rotary Corp or what materials they use. The others might use some material that would be suitable for knives, but there are a bunch of blades out there that aren't.
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In defense of the lawnmower blade I do have to say that I DO use them often to practice. I am very new to this and have found the free mowerblades I get from co-workers are great for attempting to learn how hard this hobby can be.

I now have some O1 that I'm gonna start to use and make something that is useable.
 
All good posts....except Sam's.:(
When I type in , "pretty woman", the first hit is the photo of the movie poster with Julia and Richard.:D
Probably been so long since Sam has seen a pretty woman that he doesn't recognize one.;) Having seen his legs, I am not surprised.:eek:
Stacy
 
DougSeward said:
I have a buddy who lives in Middletown, MD and he used to take his mower blades to Bill Moran for sharpening. Bill was only to happy to sharpen them for a buck a blade. I'll bet those mower blades cut well. -Doug
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:confused: Bill could do a lot of neat things with a blade, but I doubt he could alter the chemistry just by sharpening:confused:.

Actually that is one advantage I found in inserting good steel into the cutting edge. With the steel that the blades are initially made from a good obtuse 45 is about the best you can go in balance of sharpness and edge holding via strength, but you can drop that angle down a bit for a cleaner cut and still survive the occasional stone or two with good steel inserted:thumbup:.

In a way I feel bad for old Bill. With his notoriety I can just imagine how many odd items were brought to his shop for working on. Around here when they hear what I do I get my share of folks dropping by to ask how much this blade is worth, can you sharpen my scissors, hedge pruners, plane blades etc... I had one old guy show me a couple of neat neat old kitchen knives and asked me if I could sharpen them, I said heck why not, stop down to the house and I will sharpen your knives for two bucks. He later dropped of a whole box of cheap assed stainless imports expecting me to do all of them while I was at it:rolleyes: There's nothing like having to stop my work on a $4,000 order in just to get dirty looks from a guy when I ask $5 to sharpen his Chinese made axe:rolleyes:
 
I hear you, Kevin. Long before I ever ground a KSO, word got round among my friends that my knives were nice and sharp. It's amazing how folks who can't do it, think since you "make it look easy", your time isn't worth anything... :confused: Then there's the ones who say "bah, I can do that with a bench-grinder in about 10 seconds!" and then wonder why their pretty blue-edged blades have to be sharpened everyday. :D Believe me, the same things apply to tuning/intonating guitars, and I bet auto mechanics get similar BS all the time...
 
I was on a survivalist forum, shamelessly showing off my knives and some guy was swearing by his mothers grave that lawn mower blades were of superior quality and made some of the best knives. I tried to explain to him that they were probably made of mild steel, but he would have none of that. So I just slowley backed away from that argument. It was un-winable. To his defense he did a nice job on a big chopper made from a mower blade.
 
The problem with a poor steel blade is it looks just like a good steel blade. The only difference will show in use.
Stacy
 
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