Lawnmower Blade Knives

I would think that lawnmore blades are made from soft steel. Maybe suitable for a machette?
 
Nearly every gun show I ever showed at there was always someone raving about the best knife he ever saw was made by some old man out of lawn mower blades. Never saw one myself nor have I ever tried it.
 
A friend of mine made one and used it at work for rough stuff, cutting fireproofing, sod, etc. It was quite tough, but dull, since I dont think he ever sharpened it. I'm not sure how he hardened it, but IIRC the hardness was about 50 HRc.
 
My grandfather made some nice machetes out of mower blades,and I started a boot knife years ago,now ya reminded me and I have to finish it!
 
the thing about lawn mower blades is that they're made to cut grass and be able to hit rocks without breaking, I sharpened the blade on my grandpa's lawnmower the other day that he bought 4 years ago and never had sharpened, and there was deformation an inch back from the "edge" from where rocks had just whaled on it and because of its toughness it had simply squished up instead of breaking, you don't want that on a knife because most of the things you use a knife on are fairly wear resistant in and of themselves and you don't want to hit a tough spot in cardboard and have your edge roll. seems to me that lawn mower blades would be fine made out of mild steel, the one I sharpened even took and "edge" like one
 
Has anybody ever made a lawnmower blade out of a Buck knife? I think you would do better if you used a big file. If you do use a mower blade, after it is shaped,put it in the middle of a pile of charcoal,light the charcoal and let it burn overnight. Take it out the next morning when it is cool and sharpen it. This will harden the steel,but don't burn the blade when you finish the edge.
 
popcornpicker said:
Has anybody ever made a lawnmower blade out of a Buck knife?
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...I think you mean the other way around :confused: :confused:

and a buck knife is a brand I believe...

popcornpicker said:
If you do use a mower blade, after it is shaped,put it in the middle of a pile of charcoal,light the charcoal and let it burn overnight. Take it out the next morning when it is cool and sharpen it. This will harden the steel,but don't burn the blade when you finish the edge.
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also you just explained the process for annealing a blade...not hardening it, annealing is when you make the steel as soft as you can so it grinds easier
 
No, I meant it exactly what I said. The steel in a Buck knife is about as appropriate in a lawn mower as the steel in a mower blade is to a knife. Doing as I said to a mower blade will increase the carbon content. If you leave the blade in hot charcoal for 8 to 12 hrs, pull it out and quench it in oil for a minute then air cool it ,it will be case hardened. Make sure it is the way you want it first and it will have the consistancy of a military finish.
 
and how are you going to protect it from the decarburizing atmosphere? most case hardening methods either completely cover the steel in a turco like compound, or they have a specially controlled ovens that purge the atmosphere first, on top of that practical case hardening only penetrates around .050" into the steel, and even if you were able to get around all those problems, you'd still have to keep the steel above critical the whole time (there's a reason charcoal forges use a tuyere) and when you quenched it you'd get cracking and warping on the edge due to it being too thin...bottom line, just pay a few bucks and get yourself a couple feet of a known hardenable steel
 
I seem to remember hearing that mower blades were made from D2. Of course, you would have to heat treat it properly. Don't follow the heat treating instructions in this thread.
Bill
 
Templar,If I ever get around to it,and if it turns out well I'll post some pics.

Law mower blades are far from the perfect knife steel but a good source for practice material,and to me make decent machetes and probobly throwers etc.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
I seem to remember hearing that mower blades were made from D2. Of course, you would have to heat treat it properly. Don't follow the heat treating instructions in this thread.
Bill
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More like 1065 or 1050. D2 wouldn't take the impacts.
 
Heh. I was just thinking it'd be amusing if someone were to start marketing replacement D2 lawnmower blades to knife nuts. :)

Who knows? Knife nuts have fallen for goofier trends...
 
I've heard CPM 3V is hte new god-of-steels steel these days, but I try not to keep up with the latest and greatest; can't afford it! Afterall, if I'm happier with 1095 than S30V, why push it?
 
I heard that old lawnmowers used to have decent carbon steel blades but new ones now use cheap mild steel that is much use for anything. I have no evidence of this though.
 
I made a lot of knives out of recycled steel in the past, Old mower blades seemed to harden up well, in the low 50s which is OK with me. The newer mower blades wouldn't harden, which is what led me to actual buy new steel.
 
We had an Appocalypse KITH in another forum which challenged us to fashion a knife from scrounged materials using primitive methods. I used an edger blade to fashion a workable knife and after HT it would take and keep a pretty good edge.
Here's a shot of the finished knife.
apocalypse4.jpg
 
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